Keith Law released his first mock draft of the year today. With the eighth overall pick, Law has Deven Marrero going to the Pirates. That’s the same as Baseball America’s mock draft last week.
In the top seven picks, Law had Mark Appel, Byron Buxton, Lucas Giolito, Kevin Gausman, Mike Zunino, Albert Almora, and Carlos Correa, in order. The big surprise there was that he had Kyle Zimmer falling to 14th, citing Zimmer’s hamstring issue. Law had Max Fried going ninth, who is a guy I’d take over Marrero.
As for Marrero, Law notes that the entire industry thinks the Pirates want him eighth overall. He also notes that they’ve been looking at Mississippi State right hander Chris Stratton, who Law had rated 22nd overall in his rankings last week.
This mock draft might be more telling than the Baseball America one, just because it comes from Keith Law. Law was all over the Tony Sanchez pick in 2009, suggesting the Pirates could take him a month before the draft. He also correctly guessed the picks of Taillon and Cole in the last two years. He’s been very accurate with the Pirates, and he’s been suggesting Marrero for a while now.
Tim started Pirates Prospects in 2009 from his home in Virginia, which was 40 minutes from where Pedro Alvarez made his pro debut in Lynchburg. That year, the Lynchburg Hillcats won the Carolina League championship, and Pirates Prospects was born from Tim's reporting along the way. The site has grown over the years to include many more writers, and Tim has gone on to become a credentialed MLB reporter, producing Pirates Prospects each year, and will publish his 11th Prospect Guide this offseason. He has also served as the Pittsburgh Pirates correspondent for Baseball America since 2019. Behind the scenes, Tim is an avid music lover, and most of the money he gets paid to run this site goes to vinyl records.
You can’t compare our draft picks to those of the Nats and in addition the Nats have spent $$ in free agency and traded for Gio Gonzalez. This isn’t a fair comparison in any manner.
my question is, how in the world does Law even know what guys the Pirates are even looking at anyway?? their scouts probably have interest in drafting in draft everyone not named Appel, Buxton, Zunino, Gausman, and probably Zimmer because they won 217;t fall to #8 . and I know he is very anti-Pirates when analyzing things over the years so I really don 217;t trust what he says!
This is the same thing that people were saying when Law was suggesting the Pirates would take Tony Sanchez.
so you are basically saying Huntington may be back to going for the “safe pick” once again because of the big change in the CBA? because if thats the case, that is a pretty bad drafting philosophy and Pirate fans DO NOT want to set the system back a year with a poor 1st round draft selection everyone is accustomed to always seeing. and with the Nationals in town before, I kept hearing so many times (especially on 93.7 the fan) commenting on how great the Nationals drafts have been and how those guys are making contributions now unlike the Pirates guys from those same years. and they said how both franchises were awful at the same point and that the Nats are the ones making the progress, not the Pirates. yeah they got two slam dunk prospects in Strasburg and Harper, but I get tired of hearing people complain all the time. I always keep a stout and clear mind about the Pirates every season. I mean even you don’t think drafting Marrero would be a good idea!!
Law actually pointed this out on Twitter today. Marrero isn’t the same as Sanchez. Marrero was a top five prospect coming in to the year, and is still a top 15 prospect.
Plus, this isn’t exactly a “safe” pick. It’s the opposite. The reason Marrero is even available is because his bat is in question. I would rather take Almora or Fried, or Giolito if he’s there. You don’t really need a “safe” pick if Almora is on the board. And Marrero’s question marks don’t really make him a “safe” pick. It makes him kind of a risk, because if he can’t improve on his hitting this year, he’s not going to have the upside that Almora, Giolito, or Fried have.
Marrero isn’t a reach, but he’s also not the best guy on the board if you believe his offensive struggles are legit.
I like your thinking. There are a plethora of great fielding SS 217;s to be found but ones that can hit are the rarity. Why spend a #8 overall pick on that? If he is struggling hitting in college what would make anyone believe he 217;d do even better in the Minors and someday in the Majors? I don 217;t know alot about all the players this year, but would hope we don 217;t get stuck with a slick fielding light weight hitting guy.
I like your thinking. There are a plethora of great fielding SS 217;s to be found but ones that can hit are the rarity. Why spend a #8 overall pick on that? If he is struggling hitting in college what would make anyone believe he 217;d do even better in the Minors and someday in the Majors? I don 217;t know alot about all the players this year, but would hope we don 217;t get stuck with a slick fielding light weight hitting guy.
I am TOTALLY aware of Marrero on how he was a top 5 guy….he was even in consideration for the #1 overall pick at one point if I am not mistaken?? I am also on your side in terms of taking someone like Fried, Almora, or Giolito because of the higher ceilings they have! As I have said before on here, I am personally a big fan of Stephen Piscotty (#1 5 on MLB.com) from Stanford and Richie Shaffer from Clemson (who I have heard if climbing up boards now and is #1 7 o MLB.com).
Even though fan opinions matter very very little, if they do draft Marrero, Pirate fans galore will somehow get ahold of his stats from this season and info from other media outlets talking down on Marrero. they will then proceed by bashing Marrero and automatically pounce on Huntington, Coonelly, Nutting, and the rest of the front office and scouting department like they always do. and start the same ol’ Yinzer talk of “Pirates are cheap”, “they always go with the safe pick”, “they never draft good”, “same old Pirates” I just don’t want the selection of him to be a PR nightmare
I think people who follow the draft will have more of a problem with it. Casual fans will probably say “great, a shortstop!”.
Your examples do raise an interesting situation though. I think if they were talking about taking Shaffer, the move would be more accepted. Yet Shaffer is consistently ranked lower than Marrero.
Touche with that first paragraph! That is the absolute truth right there. And thanks…but someone brought up Shaffer on John Sickels’ Minor League Blog the other day on the Pirates Mock Draft Diary (I am one of the people that is going to be a part of the group selecting for the Pirates first 4 picks in the Mock Draft on there). I looked him up on MLB.com’s top 100 prospect list and watched the video and he looks very interesting that is for sure. I think him and Piscotty could end up being those hidden gems