Pirates pitching prospect Wilber Dotel breaks out in Double-A, earning 40-Man roster spot
Wilber Dotel’s leap at Double-A Altoona in 2025 turned raw velocity into results — and forced the Pirates to protect him on the 40-man roster.
While many pitchers took meaningful steps forward during the 2025 campaign, there’s a strong case that Wilber Dotel’s rise was the most impressive of them all — not just because of the production, but because of how unexpected it was.
After struggling significantly in 2024 at High-A, Dotel re-emerged in 2025 as a legitimate pitching prospect at Double-A Altoona, flashing premium stuff and forcing evaluators to recalibrate his ceiling.
Across 125 2/3 innings for the Curve, Dotel posted a 4.15 ERA, 3.89 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP, while striking out 131 batters — a total just 11 shy of the club’s franchise record.
The final stat line doesn’t fully capture the shape of his season. A midseason slump and a handful of abbreviated starts pushed the ERA north late, but the broader trend was unmistakable. Dotel cut into his walk rate, increased his strikeouts, and fundamentally changed his profile with the development of a splitter that became a legitimate weapon.
Those gains vaulted him onto organizational prospect lists, with Baseball America ranking him No. 9 in the system.
At just 23 years old, Dotel made 27 starts, handled a full Double-A workload, and showed the kind of underlying growth scouts look for when projecting major league roles — even when the surface numbers aren’t pristine.
That progress didn’t go unnoticed. Earlier this December, the Pirates added Dotel to their 40-man roster, protecting him from the Rule 5 Draft and signaling that his development had reached a point where exposure was no longer an option.
He routinely touched triple digits with his fastball, averaging 96 mph on his four-seamer, which shows natural ride up in the zone. He also features a two-seamer he can run down in the zone to generate weaker contact.
The separator, however, was the splitter. Still inconsistent at times, the low-80s pitch flashed late fade and gave him a real answer against hitters — particularly left-handers — who previously could sit on his fastball.
His secondary mix rounds out with a mid-80s slider with cutter-like action and three-quarter tilt that can miss bats and a developing changeup that remains more of a show-me pitch.
The arsenal gives Dotel multiple pathways to the majors, whether as a starter or in a shortened role.
Dotel’s rise didn’t follow a typical prospect arc.
He signed late in the 2019–20 international signing period, joining the organization in October 2020 for just $65,000 at age 18. He made his stateside debut in 2021 and climbed slowly — and at times inconsistently — through the system.
Even so, he remained young for his level, pitching at Double-A at 22 years old in 2025. The strides he made in strike-throwing and pitch development represented one of the most significant year-over-year jumps in the system.
Dotel still carries a career walk rate north of 4.5 per nine, and the biggest hurdle standing between him and sustained big-league success is his tendency to give up the long ball. His fastball, while electric, was punished at times when left over the plate, leading to several towering home runs.
As his command improves and the splitter becomes more consistent, evaluators believe that issue should begin to stabilize.
Dotel is expected to open 2026 at Triple-A Indianapolis, with a realistic path to making his major league debut at some point during the season.
Given his velocity, power arsenal, and two fastball shapes, Dotel already has the raw ingredients to survive in a big-league bullpen. On an organization loaded with young pitching depth, he’s the type of arm that could realistically be carried in relief as early as 2026, with the long-term goal of stretching him back out into a starting role once command and pitch consistency continue to improve.
Even if his long-term future remains in a rotation, his ability to contribute in multiple roles raises both his floor and his organizational value — and you can never have too much controllable starting pitching.
Whether he ultimately sticks as a starter or transitions into a high-octane bullpen role, Dotel’s 2025 season firmly established him as one of the system’s most intriguing arms.
After pitching for Double-A Altoona, it’s easy to understand the excitement. The leap was real. The stuff he possess is loud and the trajectory is suddenly far steeper than it was a year ago.
