Bucco Boys Prospect Weekly: Gourson's Hot Return, Sanford and Blanco Keep Mashing
By Simon Lane ·
Bucco Boys Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Pirates farm system.
Gourson Comes Back Swinging at Indianapolis
Duce Gourson (AAA, 3B, Rank: 25) returned from a seven-day IL stint on September 15 and made an immediate statement, going 4-for-8 with two home runs, four RBI, and three walks across 11 plate appearances in his first two games back. The nature of the injury was never confirmed, but the production suggests no lingering effects. The home runs are the most attention-grabbing part of the line, given his 45 raw power grade, a grade that his 2026 season has made increasingly difficult to accept at face value. Combined across Double-A and Triple-A this year, he has hit 12 home runs in 521 plate appearances, which is not a jaw-dropping total, but it is a step beyond the utility-infielder power expectation attached to his scouting profile.
The fuller context of his season makes last week's pop worth noting rather than dismissing. At Triple-A Indianapolis, Gourson is hitting .286/.393/.461 with a 13.6% walk rate and a 24.5% strikeout rate across 184 plate appearances, numbers that reflect the patient, contact-leaning profile his scouting report describes. Over the last 30 days at that level, he is slashing .324/.429/.577 with three home runs, five doubles, and two triples in 85 plate appearances, a stretch that shows genuine offensive engagement rather than one lucky week. His 15.2% walk rate on the season, spread across both levels, is the most consistent feature. The projection still reads as a utility infielder or second-division second baseman, and nothing about two home runs against Triple-A pitching rewrites that ceiling. But at 23, in the final month of a season where he has outproduced his power grade at two levels, the return performance was a good reminder that his offensive package has more texture than the 45 power grade suggests.
Sanford Stays on His Late-Season Power Binge
Wyatt Sanford (A+, SS, Rank: 8) went 5-for-19 with two home runs, two RBI, and two hit-by-pitches across 19 plate appearances last week, continuing a stretch of High-A production that has genuinely outpaced his scouting grades. He is a 50 hit, 40 power shortstop whose season line at Greensboro now reads .292/.423/.551 with 17 home runs in 341 plate appearances, and the gap between that slugging figure and his raw power grade has been a persistent theme all year. Over the last 30 days, the acceleration is even more pronounced: eight home runs in 101 plate appearances, a 7.9% walk rate, and a 25.7% strikeout rate against a 51.6% swing rate and 63.5% contact rate. The swing rate has ticked up from his season-long 46.9%, meaning he has gotten more aggressive rather than more selective as the calendar has turned, and the results have followed.
The honest tension in the profile is between a power output that would play at any level and a contact rate, 60.8% on the year and 63.5% over the last month, that remains the lowest-grade component of his offensive package. A 29.3% strikeout rate for the season is sustainable if the walk rate stays around 14%, and his season-long 14.1% figure is real, but the last 30 days show the walk rate compressing to 7.9% as the swing rate climbs. That may be a small sample artifact or it may signal that pitchers have found a way to attack the more aggressive approach. Either way, at 20 years old with 33 stolen bases, 17 home runs, and genuine shortstop actions, Sanford has a profile that earns a Double-A assignment whenever Pittsburgh decides to test it. The power may or may not hold against better pitching, but last week added two more data points to a case that keeps accumulating.
Quick Hits
Tony Blanco Jr. (A+, 1B, Rank: 16) · delivered six hits, a home run, and five RBI across 18 plate appearances last week, his 25th home run of the season at Greensboro. He is a 60 power, 40 hit profile with a clear carrying tool and a real contact question, and the season line.258/.341/.576 with 25 home runs in 334 plate appearances, reflects that combination: big damage, modest average. Over the last 30 days he is slugging .597 with seven home runs in 87 plate appearances, a 29.3% first-year strikeout rate that has stabilized rather than ballooned. The walk rate at 10.2% for the season is modest for a first baseman, but the power is not modest at all, and at 21 he has time to improve the pitch-selection piece. I'd take the over on his current 40 hit-tool grade if the trend continues into next year.
Reinold Navarro (A+, LHP, Rank: 22) · was the standout arm in the system this week on a pure stuff basis. He struck out nine batters across 3.2 innings, generating 19 swinging misses in the process. A 60-grade fastball sitting 96-99 mph and a 55-grade slider in the mid-80s give him two genuine weapons, and the 46.6% strikeout rate over the last 30 days at High-A backs up the raw arsenal. The catch is a 20.5% walk rate on the season, rising to 20.7% over the last month, and a 20 pitches-per-inning pace that makes sustained outings nearly impossible. He projects as a setup reliever, and last week was the embodiment of that: four innings is the ceiling when the command is erratic, but the stuff in those four innings is legitimate. The ceiling is real; the floor is a walk machine who never finds the strike zone consistently enough to stay in the game.
Levi Sterling (A+, RHP, Rank: 32) · scattered one hit across 4.2 innings, walked two, struck out five, and generated 11 swinging misses on 64 pitches in his best recent outing at Greensboro. A 20-year-old with a 55-grade fastball sitting 93-95, a 55-grade slider, and two additional secondaries, Sterling has a 28.9% strikeout rate on the season and a 36.8% whiff rate over the last 30 days. The command, graded at 45, remains the bottleneck: a 10.0% season walk rate is too high for a starter, and the early-inning pitch count spikes that come with it cap his workload regularly. His ERA sits at 6.39 in three starts since arriving at High-A, but the peripherals from this particular outing, one baserunner over 4.2 frames, point to a pitcher who can piece together a plus line when the command shows up. The path to a four-starter ceiling runs through tightening that walk rate; last week was an encouraging sign that the pieces can work together.
Murf Gray (AA, 3B, Rank: 9) · went 4-for-14 with a double, a home run, two RBI, and two walks across 14 plate appearances at Altoona, a steady if unspectacular week from the best pure hitter in the Pittsburgh system. He now has 32 home runs and 97 RBI across three levels this season at age 22, slashing .305/.402/.567 in 558 combined plate appearances. Over the last 30 days at Double-A, he is hitting .291/.379/.557 with five home runs, a 12.6% walk rate, and an 80.1% contact rate, the latter figure well above his season-long 75.5%. The 55 power, 60 arm profile with a developing hit tool has produced at every stop; the question that follows him to Triple-A, whenever that comes, is whether the 50 hit grade proves conservative or proves accurate against upper-level velocity and breaking stuff.
Axiel Plaz (A+, C, Rank: 29) · drove in three runs on four hits, adding three walks and two hit-by-pitches across 19 plate appearances. His season at Greensboro now reads .305/.389/.513 with 18 home runs and a 17.2% strikeout rate in 412 plate appearances. The strikeout number is the most encouraging development for a bat-first catcher whose contact had been the question mark coming into the year. Over the last 30 days the strikeout rate has compressed further to 17.9% with a 75.6% contact rate and a 11.9% walk rate, a combination that suggests his approach has genuinely matured rather than just running hot. The defensive profile keeps the ceiling at a bench or part-time role, but the offensive refinement has been consistent enough to make that outcome look attainable.
Connor Wietgrefe (AAA, LHP, Rank: 43) · allowed one earned run on four hits across 5.2 innings at Indianapolis, walking three and striking out four. The 44 strikes on 98 pitches reflects the efficiency concern that has followed him to Triple-A: his command grades at 55, but a 7.6% walk rate at the Triple-A level this season and a 42.6% strike rate over the last 30 days suggest the command has not been as sharp as advertised in recent weeks. The season ERA at Indianapolis sits at 3.32 across 78.2 innings, which is a usable number for a back-end starter profile, but the whiff rate has ticked down at Triple-A compared to Double-A, from a 24.6% K rate to 17.7%. He is a left-hander who sequences well, misses bats with a 55-grade slider, and can eat innings, but the ceiling of a fifth starter depends on those secondaries staying sharp against hitters who have seen him multiple times.
Hunter Barco (AAA, LHP, Rank: 10) · had a rough week by any measure: 6.2 innings, seven hits, three earned runs, and six walks against nine strikeouts in 34 batters faced. The six walks are the number that matters most, because Barco's biggest obstacle all season has been command consistency, and a 12.2% walk rate at Triple-A, rising to 13.2% over the last 30 days, puts a ceiling on how far the plus slider and mid-90s sinker can take him. His Triple-A ERA sits at 4.05 across 73.1 innings, workable on the surface but aided by some run prevention that the peripherals do not fully support. The stuff is a 60 slider, a 55 sinker, and a fastball that sits 95-97, which is a legitimate rotation foundation if the control tightens; a 12.7% walk rate across all levels this year is the main reason the 25-year-old lefty has not held a big-league spot. One rough week does not change the profile, but the walk totals this month have been a consistent problem rather than a blip.
Edward Florentino (A+, OF, Rank: 2) · went 2-for-19 with two home runs, two RBI, and four walks across 19 plate appearances, a week where the contact evaporated but the selectivity held. His 39.8% swing rate is the most disciplined figure in the system, and even in a poor batting average week, he drew four walks and still hit the ball out twice. Over the last 30 days he is slugging .654 with nine home runs in 106 plate appearances and a 18.9% walk rate, numbers that underline how much damage the 19-year-old generates in his productive stretches. The .228 season average and 115 strikeouts at High-A remain real concerns for the 45 hit-tool grade, but this was a one-week contact dip from a player who is otherwise in the middle of his best sustained stretch of the year.