Major League Baseball announced the Competitive Balance picks on Monday and the Pittsburgh Pirates will have five of the top 100 pick in the 2019 amateur draft.
The Pirates already knew that they had the 18th and 37th overall picks in the draft. The new draft rules locked the first pick of every team in place, so the Pirates can’t move up in the first round. The 37th overall pick is compensation for not signing Gunnar Hoglund, who was the 36th overall pick this year. That spot can’t change either.
The remaining three picks in the top 100 could change, but it won’t be anything drastic if it happens with only six free agents requiring compensation. Two of those compensation picks will be after the fourth round and at least two (possibly all four) will be after the competitive balance picks in Round B. Signing teams also lose picks (the compensation system is very complicated now so check it out at your own risk), so the remaining three top 100 picks might not change.
The Pirates received a Round B pick for 2019 today, which is currently the 73rd overall pick. It could possibly drop two spots to #75, but that’s as far as it would go. They received a Round B pick in 2019 because they had the Round A pick last year, getting the top Competitive Balance pick available, which was used on Hoglund.
As of right now, the Pirates second round pick is 57th overall and the third round pick is 95th, tentatively giving them picks 18, 37, 57, 75 and 95.
The complete draft order will be set when Bryce Harper, Craig Kimbrel, Patrick Corbin, Dallas Keuchel, AJ Pollock and Yasmani Grandal all sign, but the Pirates are guaranteed to have five of the top 99 picks. The compensation for both Harper and Kimbrel will be after the fourth round.
