We are a couple weeks into the minor league seasons and some prospects are off to very hot starts. Others are still struggling to find their way. Today we will be looking at five Pirates prospects who are off to amazing starts in their 2023 campaigns. 

RHP Will Kobos

The 25 year old reliever from Charlotte, NC has looked phenomenal in the 2023 calendar year thus far in High A Greensboro. Kobos, a 2018 19th round pick out of George Washington, is entering his 5th year in the Pirates organization. He showed really good flashes of brilliance in 2021 with the Hoppers, and started with the Altoona Curve in 2022. He was off to a hot start once again, but then a nagging Hamstring injury took away most of the 2022 campaign. A full season of work could see the right hander move quickly up the ladder through Altoona, and even right into AAA Indianapolis. Us at BSBWRITES are very high on Will, and see him as the one of the biggest breakout candidates in the organization. 

2B Jesus Castillo

All Castillo does is hit. Since his debut in 2021 with the DSL Pirates, Castillo has always found a way to get on base and hit the ball very well. Last year with the rookie ball team, Castillo had a .352 average, 21RBIs and a .822OPS. This year the trend continues to sky upward, as he is hitting a phenomenal .400 average, a 1.025OPS, with a RBI and a stolen base in his 20 at bats. Yes, another small sample size, but looking at the trend of this kid so far, Jesus Castillo is in the mold of a future lead off hitter who in the words of the great movie Moneyball “He gets on base”. 

UTIL Jase Bowen

Personally one of my favorite prospects, Bowen is the ideal Pirate. He can play anywhere, and do pretty much whatever is asked of him. Last year he started to break out with Low A Bradenton and earned himself a mid season promotion to Greensboro. After some learning curves and a full offseason to capitalize, Bowen has found the power in his bat once more. In his 26 at bats, he has an average of .346, an OPS of 1.047, 2 home runs, 9 RBIs, and a stolen base. With the eventual promotion of Marcano to Pittsburgh, which will most likely cause a chain reaction that should result in another mid season promotion for Bowen at this rate. 

RHP Michell Miliano

The 23-year-old right hander is making his 3rd appearance with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, following his acquisition to the Pirates back in the summer of 2021. After a bit of a rough go last year, Miliano has really seemed to find his rhythm here early in 2023. He has struck out 9 batters in his 4 innings of work, and has not allowed a single run thus far. He hasn’t recorded a walk at all as well. I know it’s a small sample size, but it seems to be Miliano is making a case for an early promotion to Altoona along with fellow teammates Bowen and Kobos. 

SS Tucupita Marcano

The numbers Marcano has put up with AAA Indianapolis are ones that you could see in the MLB the Show on Rookie mode. In 45 at bats already this season, he has 19 hits, an average of .422, an OPS of 1.147, 3 stolen bases, 10 RBIs, a .689 Slugging percentage, and a home run to sweeten the stats. He is also coming off AAA International player of the week. Marcano has really taken advantage of an opportunity in Indianapolis, and looks to be headed back up to the big leagues any day now. Edit: as I’m writing this, Marcano just got promoted to the bigs for the injured Ji-Man Choi.