Now that the draft is done, I thought it would be a good time to give some thoughts on how it went for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The first thing to say is that the Pirates didn’t go by the rankings you see on Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. The popular thing to say is that they had their own rankings and their scouts saw things different. It goes without saying that people will have different opinions on draft prospects. It’s also important to remember that places like BA and Pipeline are getting different opinions from all over the industry, possibly from scouts from the Pirates, and then ranking guys based on what they hear and also see.
So while the Pirates have their own opinions, the major prospect lists are put together by a larger group of opinions. That’s not saying anyone is right because there is no definitive right answer, but some people are quick to dismiss prospect rankings because they don’t realize how much input actually goes into them from different sources. They just see a person’s name attached to it and think the lists are his personal opinion only. That’s far from true.
Since we don’t ever see the draft board of the Pirates, which would indicate exactly where players were on their lists, then we have to go by those major rankings. It’s highly unlikely that Travis Swaggerty was their top choice, but he was the best one left on their draft board. He was taken right where most people had him ranked. There were other players on the board who I thought were better picks, but this draft class was strong with quality depth in the first round, so you couldn’t go wrong unless you really reached. Basically, he wouldn’t have been my choice, but he’s far from a bad choice.
With their 36th and 51st pick, the Pirates went with two projectable right-handed prep pitchers, Gunnar Hoglund and Braxton Ashcraft. These picks were slight reaches according to the rankings, but both players made late pushes to get this high. It reminds me of what we heard about 2016 second round pick Travis MacGregor after he was drafted. MacGregor made huge strides this season with the West Virginia Power before a recent injury, but it’s important to note that he also put in a ton of work to get where he was last month. MacGregor’s work ethic on and off the field is off the charts.
Day two of the draft included a lot of picks that felt like they were reaches, which indicated to me that someone special could happen on day three, especially in the 11th round. It felt like the Pirates were going for solid college players, who lacked potential upside, while also saving for later picks. A lot of negotiating goes on after day two ends and day three begins.
It’s not the worst draft strategy to stock up on solid college players with a look towards going big later on, but it did make for a boring day two of the draft. It’s hard to get excited about potential money saved for later picks when better players are getting passed up almost every round.
Day three didn’t disappoint, although we will have to see just how many of these prep players the Pirates can sign. The Pirates took a total of eight prep players yesterday and it appears that every single one of them will require an over-slot bonus.
So now we wait to see just how well they did saving money in the top ten rounds. The last two picks (ninth and tenth rounds) were college seniors, so that will get them around $300,000 for over-slot deals, keeping in mind that every pick after the tenth round has a $125,000 slot. So hypothetically (just for math purposes), even if they didn’t save anymore money, you could sign each of those prep players for $162,500 and not go over your bonus pool. Then there’s also the 5% teams are allowed to go over before a severe penalty. That’s over $500,000 more that they have for over-slot deals, which would then push that even split number to $225,000 each for the over-slot picks.
That’s not going to happen, but it just shows you how a team can split up the money to get the most out of the draft. In reality, the Pirates probably took players as their Plan A and then took fallback options. It seems safe to assume that 11th round pick Michael Burrows will be signed because he would have been the player they focused on with bonus talks on Tuesday night. After that, it’s anyone’s guess, and the higher they were drafted doesn’t always mean the more likely they will sign. Some of those late picks could have been scouts working the phones late Wednesday afternoon to get their bonus demands down.
It will be interesting to keep track over the next month, though recent past suggests we will know a lot within a week. Signing deadline is July 6th.
PLAYOFF PUSH
Bradenton is in third place in their division, three games behind the leader with 11 games remaining in the first half.
West Virginia is in fourth place in their division, 6.5 games behind the leader with 12 games remaining in the first half.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 11-9 over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night. The Pirates will send Jameson Taillon to the mound for his 13th start. He threw eight shutout innings against the St Louis Cardinals in his last start. The Dodgers will counter with right-hander Dennis Santana, who made his Major League debut in relief last week and allowed five runs over 3.2 innings.
The minor league schedule includes an afternoon start in Indianapolis with JT Brubaker on the mound. He lasted just 4.1 innings in his last start, his shortest appearance since joining Indianapolis. Altoona starter Taylor Hearn allowed three runs in his last outing after giving up three runs total in his previous four starts combined. In his last two starts combined, Bradenton starter James Marvel has allowed 11 runs on 20 hits and five walks in 11.1 innings. West Virginia starter Gavin Wallace had his last start pushed back four days due to rain and an off-day. Then he went just three innings before the game went into a rain delay and ended his night.
MLB: Pittsburgh (31-30) vs Dodgers (30-31) 12:35 PM
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (3.97 ERA, 60:18 SO/BB, 65.2 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (29-27) @ Rochester (28-26) 12:35 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (3.81 ERA, 17:16 SO/BB, 26.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (27-27) vs Reading (24-32) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Taylor Hearn (4.14 ERA, 52:21 SO/BB, 50.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (30-24) vs Florida (23-31) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: James Marvel (4.43 ERA, 42:18 SO/BB, 63.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (28-26) vs Lexington (31-25) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gavin Wallace (3.59 ERA, 22:8 SO/BB, 42.2 IP)
DSL: Pirates1 (1-3) vs Rays2 10:30 AM
DSL: Pirates2 (0-4) vs Mariners 10:30 AM
HIGHLIGHTS
From the weekend, we catch up on some videos that weren’t posted here. First is Ke’Bryan Hayes lacing a double into the left field corner.
Second is Christopher Bostick with a home run the opposite way, which isn’t easy to do in Indianapolis to the gaps
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
6/6: Samuel Reyes added to West Virginia roster. Evan Piechota promoted to Bradenton.
6/6: Eric Wood placed on disabled list. Jerrick Suiter added to Indianapolis roster.
6/6: Cam Vieaux promoted to Altoona. Jake Brentz assigned to Bradenton.
6/6: Oddy Nunez placed on disabled list.
6/5: Yoel Gonzalez released.
6/5: John Bormann added to West Virginia roster.
6/4: Pirates released Andrew Walker and Linse Carvajal.
6/3: Cam Vieaux promoted to Altoona. Garrett Brown added to Bradenton roster.
6/3: Austin Coley placed on disabled list.
6/2: Tyler Gaffney promoted to Altoona. Mitchell Tolman assigned to Bradenton.
6/2: Reymundo Pena released.
6/1: Jung Ho Kang assigned to Bradenton
6/1: Montana DuRapau assigned to Altoona. Elvis Escobar placed on disabled list.
5/30: Brandon Waddell promoted to Indianapolis. Jerrick Suiter assigned to Morgantown.
5/30: Eduardo Vera promoted to Altoona.
5/29: Dario Agrazal placed on DL. Bryan Reynolds added to Altoona roster.
5/29: Joel Cesar activated from West Virginia DL. Blake Weiman promoted to Bradenton.
5/29: Brett McKinney released.
5/28: Ivan Nova placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Nick Kingham.
5/28: Pirates released George Kontos.
5/27: Raul Hernandez placed on disabled list. Yoel Gonzalez added to West Virginia roster.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus one very interesting day for transactions back in 1939. Starting with the players, we have 2009 pitcher Virgil Vasquez, catcher Roy Jarvis (1946-47) and shortstop Bones Ely, who played for the team from 1896 and 1901 and held the shortstop position for the first two seasons that Honus Wagner spent in a Pirates’ uniform. A few years back, we posted an article on Ely and his time with the Pirates. That can be found here.
On this date in 1939, the Pirates decided to release outfielder Heinie Manush and sign outfielder Chuck Klein, who was just released by the Phillies the day before. Manush wasn’t doing well in a pinch-hitting role, going 0-for-12 with a walk and an RBI. The release actually ended his big league career. Klein came in and did well for the Pirates, hitting .300 with 11 homers the rest of the way. By the end of next Spring Training however, he was released and re-signed with the Phillies. These two players were both elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Manush made it in 1964 and Klein 16 years later.
Here is the boxscore from the day Klein signed and Manush was released. The Pirates won 2-0 behind a complete game shutout from Bill Swift. Every player in the Pirates lineup that day had at least one hit, including two by Lloyd Waner. Klein scored the first run of the game, which ended up being the game-winner.
