Bucco Boys Prospect Weekly: Blanco Jr. Goes Deep Four Times, Florentino Walks It Off
By Simon Lane ·
Bucco Boys Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Pirates farm system.
Tony Blanco Jr. Goes Deep Four Times at Greensboro
Tony Blanco Jr. (A+, LF, Rank: 25) went 9-for-19 with four home runs, a double, seven RBI, two walks, and three strikeouts over the past week, pushing his High-A total to 23 home runs across 294 plate appearances at Greensboro. The four-homer week included back-to-back shots in a single game on August 23, his second career multi-homer performance and the clearest reminder yet of what sets him apart from most players at this level: sheer, punishing raw power. Over his last 30 days he has hit 10 home runs in 76 plate appearances with a 13.2% walk rate and just a 22.4% strikeout rate, the latter number notably better than his season-long 28.2% mark at High-A. The power has been real and consistent all year, and the modest contact improvement over the past month is a trend that matters most when evaluating whether the profile has a chance to carry at higher levels.
The honest evaluation here starts with the tools and ends with the questions. Blanco is a 65 raw power, 40 hit profile, and his production at High-A in 2026 looks like someone whose bat speed and leverage match what that grade suggests. He hit 10 homers across 184 plate appearances at Single-A and complex ball in 2025; he has 23 at High-A this year with plenty of season left. The swing is long and pull-heavy, and advanced pitchers will keep probing the outer third and the high fastball because the miss-rate invites it. His 48.6% swing rate and 63.7% contact rate on the season are the honest caveats: aggressive, not particularly selective, and still prone to stretches where the strikeout rate climbs. The projection as a first base/bench power bat could look conservative if a month like this one becomes the norm rather than the exception, but the contact picture needs to stabilize before Double-A becomes the obvious next conversation. For now, what he is doing at 21 against High-A pitching is hard to dismiss.
Edward Florentino's Walk-Off 24th Homer
Edward Florentino (A+, OF, Rank: 2) connected for an 11th-inning walk-off home run on August 25, his 24th of the season and the exclamation point on a week that included a triple, another home run, seven RBI, five walks, and two hit-by-pitches across 26 plate appearances. The walk-off was his fifth home run over his last 10 games, a stretch that also featured a 13.0% walk rate and a 25.2% strikeout rate in his last 30 days, with his contact rate climbing to 70.6% over that same window after sitting closer to 67% season-long. The combination of a 15.7% season walk rate, a 39.8% swing rate, and 24 home runs at 19 years old at High-A is not a collection of numbers that requires a lot of interpretation.
What makes the Florentino picture compelling is the power spike paired with patience. He is a 55 hit, 55 power, 55 speed profile still a teenager, and the gap between his .228 average and his production volume reflects who he is right now: someone who accepts walks, creates damage when he connects, and carries some swing-and-miss risk that advanced pitchers will keep targeting. His last 30 days show 7 home runs, 23 RBI, and a walk rate that has not meaningfully eroded even as he has been more aggressive in counts he can handle. He hit .290/.400/.548 between rookie ball and Bradenton last year across 351 plate appearances; this year he has 24 home runs in 428 at a level two rungs higher. The case for a Double-A assignment before the season ends is the most obvious developmental question Pittsburgh faces with its best position prospect, and another week like this one makes it harder to put off.
Quick Hits
- Reinold Navarro (A+, LHP, Rank: 44) · made his High-A debut with Greensboro and delivered 4.2 innings of one-run ball, scattering one hit, issuing one walk, and punching out eight in 68 pitches. The promotion to Greensboro is his first look above Single-A, and the strikeout rate has been the story all year: a 39.7% K rate across 74.1 combined innings, backed by a 43.2% whiff rate. He carries a 95-99 mph four-seamer and a 60-grade slider; the command is well below average with a 19.4% walk rate on the season, and the changeup is not yet a reliable third pitch. The ceiling is a late-inning setup arm if the strikes come; the floor is organizational depth if they do not. I'd take the over on those grades if the command takes even a modest step forward.
- Mitch Jebb (AAA, SS, Rank: 29) · went 9-for-26 with three home runs and five RBI this week at Indianapolis, a notable power display for a player with a 40 raw power grade who had zero home runs in 62 plate appearances at Double-A earlier this season. The three-homer week is an outlier against a season-long .288/.362/.515 line at Triple-A with seven home runs in 149 plate appearances. He is a 55 hit, 60 speed profile who projects as a utility piece; the contact quality and base-stealing value are the tools that will determine his big-league role, not the power.
- Jared Jones (A+, 1B, Rank: 36) · drove in six runs on 6 hits, including three home runs, across 24 plate appearances at Greensboro. His season line at High-A stands at .300/.401/.520 with 19 home runs and a 13.9% walk rate in 352 plate appearances, and his last 30 days show nine home runs in 102 plate appearances. The contact rate of 66.6% and a 29.8% strikeout rate on the season remain the primary concerns for a corner-only 23-year-old whose profile requires the bat to carry; the power is real, and the approach is better than the raw swing-and-miss suggests.
- Wyatt Sanford (A+, SS, Rank: 12) · went 7-for-26 with a homer, two doubles, two RBI, two walks, and a hit-by-pitch in his week at Greensboro. He is now hitting .282/.419/.521 at High-A with 13 home runs and 29 stolen bases in 299 plate appearances on the season. The 15.5% walk rate over his last 30 days reflects his ability to get on base without relying on average, and the stolen base total is the best argument for why the everyday shortstop projection is realistic even if the raw power settles in closer to average.
- Murf Gray (AA, 3B, Rank: 20) · was 3-for-22 with two home runs, four RBI, four walks, and a hit-by-pitch at Altoona this week. The raw numbers look subdued but the walk total matters for a player whose Double-A season line reads .212/.397/.424 with a 17.6% walk rate in 131 plate appearances. He has 29 home runs combined across three levels this year with a .300/.404/.564 line; the question at Double-A has been whether the hit tool and swing decisions hold against better pitching, and the early look suggests the contact has been harder to sustain at this level than below.
- Keiner Delgado (AA, 2B, Rank: 46) · went 8-for-27 with a homer, two doubles, two RBI, and two walks at Altoona, his best offensive week in some time. He is hitting .245/.347/.373 with a 12.1% walk rate and 25 stolen bases across 471 combined plate appearances at Double-A and Triple-A this year. The speed and patience are the carrying tools; the contact has been inconsistent enough that the bench utility projection fits the current profile.
- Duce Gourson (AAA, SS, Rank: 42) · went 7-for-26 with two doubles, a triple, three RBI, and three walks at Indianapolis. He has an 18.0% walk rate over his last 30 days and has stolen 36 bases combined this year, the on-base and baserunning value that keeps his profile relevant even as the power remains limited. His season line at Triple-A sits at .270/.379/.396 with a 14.4% walk rate.
- Connor Wietgrefe (AAA, LHP, Rank: 47) · worked 6.2 innings at Indianapolis, allowing two earned runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts. His Triple-A ERA sits at 3.17 through 65.1 innings this year, and his combined 132-inning ERA of 3.34 across Double-A and Triple-A makes him one of the more durable starting options in the upper system. He is a contact-management lefty rather than a swing-and-miss arm, with a 55-grade slider and a 7.5% walk rate on the season being the two numbers that best describe how he operates.
- Chris Rembert (A, 2B, Rank: 6) · went 5-for-18 at Bradenton with a double, a walk, two hit-by-pitches, and three strikeouts. His season line at Single-A reads .304/.429/.370 with a 16.1% walk rate, a 38.8% swing rate, and an 80% contact rate over 56 plate appearances. He is a 55 hit, 50 power, 55 speed profile who does not swing at much and makes contact when he does; the development questions are more about how the approach holds as pitchers adjust than about the underlying tools.
- Wilber Dotel (AAA, RHP, Rank: 39) · threw 4.2 innings of scoreless ball at Indianapolis, scattering four hits and two walks while striking out three. His recent form is better than his season-long Triple-A ERA of 4.50 would suggest; over his last 30 days at Indianapolis he has a 2.77 ERA across 13 innings. He carries a 60-grade four-seamer that has touched triple digits, and his command grade of 55 has looked more like that number in recent outings than earlier in the season. The MLB ERA of 4.71 across 28.2 innings this year reflects the execution gaps that have kept him from sticking in Pittsburgh's bullpen.
- Levi Sterling (A+, RHP, Rank: 24) · made his second High-A start at Greensboro and ran into trouble, giving up seven earned runs in 7.2 innings on six hits, five walks, and nine strikeouts. His command has been the central issue at this level: a 13.5% walk rate across his two Greensboro starts compared to 9.9% at Bradenton. The 19 whiffs on the day reflect that the stuff is playing up at High-A, but the five-walk total and the pitch-count inefficiency are the persistent pattern. The four-pitch mix is the reason for optimism; the walk rate is the reason for patience.
- Jhostynxon Garcia (AAA, CF, Rank: 9) · was placed on the seven-day injured list by Indianapolis on August 20. The injury has not been confirmed publicly. Garcia had been hitting .270/.337/.419 with seven home runs at Triple-A this year across 249 plate appearances; he also logged 50 plate appearances with Pittsburgh at a .167/.200/.188 line. His return timeline is unknown.
- Tre Phelps (A, 3B, Rank: 14) · went 4-for-14 with a double, two RBI, a walk, and two hit-by-pitches at Bradenton in a short week. He has a 13.2% walk rate and a 39.9% swing rate across 53 plate appearances at Single-A, a contact-and-discipline foundation that fits the 50 hit, 55 power projection. Still early in his Bradenton tenure, but the plate approach looks like the real part of the profile.