On Wednesday, MLB Pipeline expanded their draft prospects list to 250 spots and provided some updates to the rest of the list. The Pittsburgh Pirates have the fourth overall pick in the draft, which begins on July 17th.
Pipeline has the top four spots in their rankings all going to high school hitters, led by outfielder Druw Jones in the top spot, followed by shortstop Jackson Holliday and outfielder Elijah Green. All of those players have been near the top for the last two months since Holliday improved his draft stock. While this isn’t a mock draft, the fourth spot where the Pirates pick, matches up with second baseman Termarr Johnson. He’s an elite bat, with more polish than an average top high school hitter, as well as the potential to hit for decent power.
The next six spots go to college hitters, though one comes with an asterisk. Brooks Lee, who has been connected to the Pirates throughout the entire mock draft season, ranks fifth on this list. He’s followed by Georgia catcher Kevin Parada and Jacob Berry, a corner fielder/DH from LSU. The eighth spot in Cam Collier, who is in college, though he’s still 17 years old, and younger than all of the four high school picks at the top. Texas Tech second baseman Jace Jung and Virginia Tech outfielder Gavin Cross round out the top ten. The top pitcher in the class is high school RHP Cole Porter in the 11th spot.
You can read more on ten of these 11 players and see videos on them in these articles linked here.
