Jim Callis from MLB Pipeline recently posted his latest mock draft for every first round pick. The Pittsburgh Pirates select seventh overall in the June 10th draft. Callis says that there is word that the Pirates are hunting a college bat, so he has them taking Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad with their first round pick.
Callis also mentions that the Pirates could be interested in catcher Patrick Bailey from North Carolina State, as well as Garrett Mitchell, an outfielder from UCLA. To give a quick summary of the three players, Callis labeled Kjerstad as the best lefty power bat in the draft, Bailey as the draft’s best catcher, and Mitchell has the best all-around tools.
Pipeline also updated their top 200 draft prospects list on Wednesday. They have Kjerstad ranked ninth, Mitchell 12th and Bailey 17th. There are full scouting reports for each player in that link.
This is the third recent mock draft, with Baseball America starting things off on Wednesday. They had the Pirates taking Louisville lefty Reid Detmers. Keith Law followed up with his first mock draft on The Athletic, where he had the Pirates taking New Mexico State second baseman Nick Gonzales. He also mentioned Kjerstad and Bailey as possibilities here.
We have posted in depth articles here for Bailey, Kjerstad and Mitchell, with scouting report compilations from all of the big sources. Each has video for the players as well. You can find the links for them here:
