Notes: Prospect & Ex-Buc News; All Quiet On the Player Front

As the flakes fall...

Notes

• Baseball America ranks RHP Paul Skenes as its #9  prospect, followed by three other young Bucs in the Top 100:  RHPs Bubba Chandler (#59) and Jared Jones (#74) along with 2B Termarr Johnson #77). 
• The Pirates have two players in Baseball Prospectus Top 101 Prospects: Skenes at #9 and Johnson at #90, with righties Jared Jones and Bubba Chandler close to cracking the list. Skenes is new to the roster, Johnson was #31 last January and C's Endy Rodriguez/Henry Davis dropped off the '23 list upon joining the big club.
• MLB Pipeline has been ranking young 'uns by position. So far, Skenes was chosen as the #1 RHP and Anthony Solometo as the #5 southpaw.

Paul Skenes - 2023 MLB Future Stars

• On the international front, the Pirates signed 21 players from seen countries on Friday. The top end guys, both Dominican, were OF Bralyn Brazoban, 18, who signed for $2M and SS Abdiel Feliz, 17, whose bonus was $1.2M. Brazoban was #38 and Feliz was #50 among MLB Pipeline's Top 50 international prospects. 
• Baseball America rated four members of the Bucco internationals as Top 100 prospects - Brazoban (#12), Feliz (#32), Dominican SS Kendrick Herrera (#79) and Venezuelan RHP Irwin Ramirez (# 91).
• May the circle be unbroken: IF Diego Castillo, DFA'ed by the  Mets, was claimed by the Yankees. He returns to the club that sent him to Pittsburgh in 2021 as part of the deal for Clay Holmes. Another ex-Yankee, ex-Pirate, LHP Manny Banuelos, signed to pitch in Taiwan.
• RHP Robert Stephenson, who the Bucs traded tp Tampa Bay for SS Alika Williams last year, just signed a three-year deal with the Angels worth $30M with an option for a fourth year.