The Pittsburgh Pirates have drafted Oregon third baseman Mitchell Tolman in the seventh round. He’s listed at either 5′ 11″ or 6′ 0″ and around 190-195 pounds. He’s a good hitter with gap power, hitting 20 doubles to tie for the conference lead this year. He’s a left-handed hitter, and improved his K/BB ratios this year, with 44 walks and 40 strikeouts in 231 at-bats. He hit for a .325/.457/.468 line this season.
Once again, this is a typical Pirates pick. You’ve got a good contact hitter with advanced plate patience who is limited to gap power. He plays a premium defensive position, and might not stick there, profiling better as a future utility player. Baseball America says he has enough arm strength and the hands for third, but needs to improve his first-step quickness. The Pirates don’t have many third base options, so he won’t have much of a challenge for playing time at third in Morgantown this year.
This could be another under-slot pick, although probably only to get a few thousand dollars. The Pirates took that approach last year, going under-slot on a lot of day two guys, but only in small amounts for each pick. The result was that they were able to sign Gage Hinsz in the 11th round to a big over-slot deal.
