WASHINGTON – The Pirates wrapped up their 2016 draft signings this week, missing out on their 41st overall pick, prep LHP Nick Lodolo, but signing 33rd round prep RHP Austin Shields.
Lodolo turned down a reported $1.75 M, which was over his slot amount of $1.576 M. As a result, the Pirates will get the 42nd overall pick in next year’s draft. Neal Huntington met with the media prior to today’s game in Washington against the Nationals, and our own Alan Saunders asked about Lodolo turning down the offer, and the signing of Shields.
“We were aggressive in terms of what we felt was an appropriate signing bonus,” Huntington said. “He’s got a great opportunity to go to TCU. It’s a fantastic school and a great program. At the end of the day, what we offered wasn’t enough. He feels that he’ll go to TCU and have a great college experience and we wish him nothing but the best. We knew there was a risk when we selected him. We get the 42nd pick in next year’s draft and maybe we’ll select him again in three years when he comes out.”
This was a risk the Pirates knew about on draft day, and it became more clear when Lodolo commented after the draft that he didn’t know the Pirates would be taking him. Prior to that, he had floated a high price that scared some teams away from taking him early. The Pirates still took him without much contact, knowing there was a risk he wouldn’t sign. That risk didn’t really exist with guys like Travis MacGregor or Braeden Ogle, where they planned the pick ahead of time. The current draft system requires that you know a player’s asking price in most cases, but there are still areas where teams will take a risk.
“It’s still about talent,” Huntington said. “It’s still about the quality of the player that you’re drafting in each of the spots. We do have the ability to be more aggressive than ever in terms of what it will take [to sign a player]. In Lodolo’s case, we took a shot, but we couldn’t convince this young man to join our organization given the success stories that we’ve had and given the need that we’ll have, the perpetual need that we’ll have due to the market size, what we can do to help these you men grow on and off the field. At the end of the day, it wasn’t enough. We wish him the best and we look forward to a good pick next year.”
Fortunately, the Pirates had a Plan B. After Lodolo turned down their offer, they took the remaining bonus pool money they had and gave it to Austin Shields. He’s a right-handed pitcher who is at 6′ 6″, 220 pounds, and touched 94 MPH with his fastball, along with a potential plus slider. He does have command issues, and is more of a project, but adds another high upside arm to the 2016 draft class.
“He was one of those guys that we had targeted in those post-11 round picks that if you have some money available, depending on how much money you had available, they might come off their initial ask,” Huntington said. “Max Kranick was another that we liked a lot in the draft. So to add Max and Shields are two good arms that we added to the system and again, we get pick No. 42 next year. Maybe not how we drew it up, but it’s certainly not a bad Plan B.”
Kranick seems like he was more part of Plan A, since he signed well before Lodolo’s decision. He signed for $200,000 over slot, and I don’t think that money would have been the tipping point for Lodolo to sign. But between those two, plus Travis MacGregor and Braeden Ogle, the Pirates have four prep pitchers who have already hit 93 MPH or higher, all have projectable frames to add more velocity, and have potential with at least one secondary pitch. Drafting prep pitchers is all about getting quality and quantity, so the fact that they were still able to come away with four talented guys gives this draft class a better chance of producing a legit pitching prospect. Plus, they’ll have that compensation pick next year, which means Lodolo passing on signing wasn’t a total loss.
Josh Bell to Receive Time in the Outfield
Neal Huntington said that Josh Bell would be receiving time in the outfield, going back to his natural position. Don’t expect him to give up first base, as the outfield is just another option for him, and a way for the Pirates to get him in the lineup.
“It will be just a refresher,” Huntington said. “He’s very comfortable in the outfield. In fact, he ran around the other day here in right field as were working through when Gregory [Polanco] is ready to go. With what he’s done offensively and with the number of years and the number of balls he’s taken in the outfield, we felt he could be a good fall-back choice for us if there would be an injury or something were to happen at the major-league level, we’d have another outfielder.”
If Polanco needs to go on the disabled list for his hamstring — and that decision will be made on Tuesday — then I’d expect Bell to return and replace him, rotating into the lineup and sharing time with Matt Joyce and Sean Rodriguez. Until then, it doesn’t sound like Bell will get a lot of time in the outfield in Triple-A.
“It will probably just be one day per week, if that, in the outfield, because we have work to be done at first base,” Huntington said. “As you look at this club going forward, first base seems to be the most viable option down the road with Polanco, [Starling] Marte and [Andrew] McCutchen under contract.”
As for Bell’s ability to move back to the outfield, it should be an easy transition, since that’s the position he played coming up. There would be the concern that he added weight to his frame in his move to first base. I talked to Huntington about this back in April, and at the time he said that they still viewed Bell as a guy who had the outfield in his back pocket, for a situation like this.
“Actually, he’s moving as well athletically as he has since the knee injury,” Huntington said back in April. “So he’s moving very well. Again, our focus is at first base, but the knowledge that he grew up an outfielder, and the knowledge that athletically he’s as sound as he’s been since the knee injury, there always could be that in our back pocket if need be.”
It looks like that need has come, although this might not speak well about Polanco’s hamstring issues. Then again, it could just be getting Bell prepared for September, or whenever he comes up.
Prospect Notes
**Austin Meadows is currently on the Triple-A disabled list with a hamstring strain, and Huntington updated on his status.
“Austin is working through the hamstring strain and making quality progress,” Huntington said. “We look forward to him working back. Medical is a gray area, as we’ve talked about every Sunday since I’ve been here. But we wanted to put him in a position to be out there and be healthy. … He’s a talented young man that’s intelligent and works really hard. He takes instruction well, he has a great feel in the batter’s box and is developing performance.”
**Steven Brault had a great outing last night, pitching six no-hit innings in his second start back with Indianapolis. He has a 2.44 ERA in 44.1 innings this year in Triple-A, with a 57:18 K/BB ratio.
“On Brault, with six innings, no hits, and five or six punch-outs, the report was that the stuff matched the line,” Huntington said. “When a guy doesn’t have a very good line, you get that the stuff was better than the line. In this case, we got that the stuff matched the line.”
**Trevor Williams is also putting up some good numbers in Triple-A, with just one earned run in 20 innings over his last three starts, along with a 13:2 K/BB ratio and nine hits allowed. He’s the only Indianapolis starter so far who hasn’t been called up to the big leagues.
“Trevor has been aggressive with his fastball,” Huntington said. “The velocity has been low-to-mid 90s. He’s a competitive young man that’s intelligent and has some feel on the mound. There’s another option for us as we progress this season.”
