The Pittsburgh Pirates have drafted right fielder Jordan Luplow from Fresno State in the third round with the 100th overall pick in the draft. This is not a bad pick in the third round. Luplow was ranked 103rd overall by Baseball America. He was slightly higher by MLB.com (94th) and Keith Law (95th).
He’s had some medical problems in the past, needing labrum surgery during his senior year of high school, and dealing with injury problems his first two years of college. Baseball America said that if teams have no medical concerns, he’d have the bat for the first three rounds. Luplow hit for a .385/.478/.629 line in his junior season this year.
Defensively, he’s a former third baseman who can play all three outfield positions, and has the arm strength for right field. The Pirates announced him as a right fielder, which is where he’s expected to play. This is the second college right fielder they’ve taken in this draft, after announcing that compensation pick Connor Joe would be a right fielder.
Keith Law says that Luplow could be an everyday outfielder with above-average offense, although he notes that there’s a lot of work to be done with his swing. MLB.com throws out an A.J. Pollock comp, saying that Luplow makes hard contact on a consistent basis, and doesn’t have any other tools that stand out but is an all-around performer.
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.
I remember when Al played for the 1967 Pirates.
That’s great! Congratulations!!
Thanks so much – he’s a pretty special young man (not that I’m biased or anything) but he works so hard and cares so much about this – like I said, we’re all very proud.
That’s great! I look forward to keeping tabs on his progress and hopefully seeing him here in Pittsburgh!
Really wanted Oliver from Arkansas. I would be happy with Curtis from Texas coming up. Healthy and regaining his stuff he has a lot of potential.
Any bloodline connection to the great Al Luplow?
how do you hit 385 in college without consistently squaring up the ball or having great speed?
He does. I believe Tim mean’t to put “does” instead of “doesn’t”. MLB.com profile says “The right-handed hitter makes consistent hard contact with good bat speed. None of his other tools particularly stand out, with Luplow being more of a solid all-around performer in an A.J. Pollock kind of way.”
Actually I just forgot to delete “doesn’t” when I re-worded the sentence.
Thanks, sounds like he could eventually be a solid 4th OF for a good team
For all of the comments I keep seeing about too many OF’s, folks need to realize up and coming guys can be trade bait or potentially replacements for one of our MLB guys. In fact, if I used my 8 ball (can you guess my age?) to predict the future right now, I’d say Rojas will be traded for something of need in the next 12-18 months (unless they can unload Tabata’s contract), then Marte will be gone 3 years from now when Meadows or Ramirez is ready to replace him… by far the biggest concern for Pirates is the eventual replacement for Pedro at 3B and it’s not even close
My first thought, too.