Changeup Will Key Success For Pirates’ Levi Sterling In Pro Debut

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The Pirates have had a run of success recently when drafting high school pitchers.

Southern California prep righthander Levi Sterling will look to find his place in a pitching-rich system after Pittsburgh drafted him 37th overall in 2024.

The Pirates identified Sterling as someone they thought could join the ranks that have featured big leaguer Jared Jones, top prospect Bubba Chandler and Florida Complex League pitcher of the year Zander Mueth as former prep pitchers who have distinguished themselves as pros.

“Our West Coast supervisor at the time Brian Tracy did a great job at identifying Levi from the get-go as a kid who checks a lot of the boxes that matter to us,” Pirates scouting director Justin Horowitz said.

Sterling’s changeup stands out immediately as a potential plus pitch down the road, but one he has already shown comfort in throwing.

“He has a very natural feel to turn over a changeup with some action to it that could miss some bats, and then he has some feel to spin the baseball as well,” Horowitz said.

The ability to throw strikes while having a feel for his changeup should give Sterling a leg up when he begins his pro career, most likely in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League. 

“Any time you have a prep pitcher like that coming into a system who has natural strike-throwing ability and paired with a secondary pitch of some kind,” Horwitz said.

“In Levi’s case, the changeup being the most advanced, it just allows him to be able to go into games against professional hitters with confidence to attack and, ultimately, to look forward to developing other areas of his game.”

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