Some rumors for the draft picks from the first two days. It appeared that the Pittsburgh Pirates saved some money on later picks, which either tells you that they were making room to sign the prep pitchers taken in the first four rounds, or that they intend to go over slot for some players they select tomorrow. I expect all of the picks in the top ten rounds to sign and if they take a pick in the 11th round who looks like he may cost over slot as well, then the Pirates will be making that pick with the knowledge of that player’s bonus demands. Here are the rumors so far:
**The Pirates took some prep pitchers with commitments to top school. Nick Lodolo goes against the common theory that teams call a player first because he says that he intended to go to school and the Pirates never contacted him. Apparently, they are willing to meet his high price tag and buy him out of TCU.
**Second round pick Travis MacGregor has also indicated that he will be signing, giving up on a Clemson commitment.
**Third round pick Stephen Alemais will sign, as he has already indicated he’s happy to be with the Pirates and he was congratulated by his school for going pro.
**Fourth round pick Braeden Ogle committed to Florida, a team that had four pitchers get drafted during the first two days. He told Joe Santucci that he intends to sign.
.@baseballjbhs LHP Braeden Ogle said he plans to sign with the #Pirates rather than go to #Florida. @braeoglelhp #TCPrepZone
— Jon Santucci (@JonSantucci) June 10, 2016
**Fifth round pick Blake Cederlind turned down an offer in the fourth round, before the Pirates took him in the fifth. He says that he had a good figure in mind to get him to sign and the Pirates met that price, so he will sign. He also notes that he was once teammates with Kevin Kramer.
**Catcher Brent Gibbs, taken in the seventh round, said he is leaning towards going pro. He told the Belleville News Democrat that the Pirates called him a few minutes before making the selection, which tells you that he must have agreed to sign.
**Ninth round pick Clark Eagan already knows he will be playing right field in Morgantown and that the Pirates would like him to sign immediately, which he will do.
**Tenth round pick Matt Anderson is a senior, so that tells you he is signing, but just to confirm it, his coach is happy that he will represent Morehead State in the pros.
Nothing firm on the other three picks, but I can’t imagine any of them would be hard to sign. Will Craig has basically said he’s excited about pro ball and being picked so early. The other two are junior pitchers taken where they were projected to go. Cam Vieaux is already 23 years old, so he’s already older than most seniors in the draft. If he went back to school, it would be very tough to get more money as a 24-year-old senior sign. Dylan Prohoroff is a reliever, so that’s another spot where a senior would have a tough time improving on his bonus.
Here is our draft tracker so you can follow along as the signings become official.
