The Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2026 season didn’t end with them playing playoff baseball, as the front office hoped it would after all of its moves last offseason and during the regular season.

That said, the Pirates clearly have a young core in place that will hopefully help the franchise return to the postseason.

That core goes well beyond just the big-league roster, though, as the Pirates ended the regular season with a handful of Minor Leaguers in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list.

Seth Hernandez wasn’t just one of the best pitching prospects in Pittsburgh’s farm system, but one of the top arms in all of Minor League Baseball during the 2026 season.

The 20-year-old made his professional debut in April and immediately hit the ground running. After six stellar starts at Single-A, the Pirates promoted the right-hander to High-A.

Hernandez made 18 starts during his first year of affiliate ball and finished with a 2.43 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP, along with a strikeout rate of 29.8 percent.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, Hernandez's season ended early after he suffered a left oblique injury at the end of July. Still, he proved himself to be one of the top young arms in baseball with what he did do on the mound.

Edward Florentino is only 19 years old, yet he’s already making a name for himself as one of the Pirates’ best Minor League hitters.

Like Hernandez, Florentino only reached High-A in 2026, but his final numbers suggest a player who could start flying through the farm system in 2027.

Florentino finished the Minor League campaign with a .875 OPS, including 27 home runs and 19 doubles. The left-hander is young, but the power is real.

To be rated higher in these rankings and have a better chance at sustained success at higher levels, Florentino must cut down on swing-and-miss. He had a strikeout rate of 25.7 percent, and that’s not a number that typically drops as a player progresses through a farm system.

Looking at all of Pittsburgh’s top prospects, the player with the best chance to debut in 2027 is the Pirates’ first-round pick from the 2026 draft: Derek Curiel.

Curiel is acclimating to the Pirates organization and has yet to make his debut with the affiliate. That said, he still carries with him the pedigree of a No. 5 overall pick.

At least for right now, based on what scouts saw in college and at the draft combine, he is a top-100 prospect, and it’s hard to disagree with that.

If everything goes as planned for Murf Gray in 2027, he could find himself graduated from prospect status and the Pirates’ starting third baseman.

The 2026 season was also Gray’s first season playing affiliate ball, like his other top-prospect counterparts, but Pittsburgh wasted no time pushing the 22-year-old through the organization.

Gray ended the season at Double-A, and mashed his way through the farm system along the way. The right-hander slugged 32 home runs and 27 doubles, along with a .969 OPS throughout the year.

Given what Gray has already accomplished and the level he’s already reached, there’s a case for him to be much higher on this list.