P2Daily: The Pirates’ Previous Draft Strategy is Starting To Unfold

The Pittsburgh Pirates under Ben Cherington have had a very specific strategy in mind when it comes to the draft. In both drafts under Cherington, they have gone with a college bat with their first pick, and then have used the rest of the early rounds in stockpiling high upside pitching, and in the case of 2021, prep players.

Last year’s draft was specifically celebrated for how they executed it, saving on first round pick Henry Davis to load up on some of the highest upside players available.

We’ve seen both Nick Gonzales and Henry Davis — although injured — at Double-A this year, which is expected with them being college players.

Some of the higher upside pitchers are still working their way through the lower levels of the system for the Pirates, three of which pitched on Friday.

Between Jared Jones (2020), Anthony Solometo (2021), and Bubba Chandler (2021), the Pirates collectively spent almost $8 million — $3.438 million over the recommend bonus amount to get them to sign out of high school instead of going to college.

Player	Slot Value	Estimated Bonus
Jared Jones	$1,689,500	$2,200,000
Anthony Solometo	$1,999,300	$2,797,500
Bubba Chandler	$870,700	$3,000,000

All have electric stuff, and if based on talent alone, would have gone far higher in their respective drafts.

Chandler and Solometo piggy backed off each other on Friday, with the former pitching 2 2/3 innings before being pulled for Carlos Lomeli (another 2021 draft pick) before the latter took over the following full frame.

Solometo was brilliant in his outing, easily the best of his young career, and that’s considering he was part of combined no-hitter earlier in the year. The lefty retired all 12 batters he faced, striking out half of them and needing only 49 pitches to get through the four innings of work.

Chandler had already made his hitting debut for Bradenton, but on Friday pitched for the first time. While in the FCL, the righty struck out 45.6% of the batters he faced, and hadn’t allowed a run in 15 1/3 innings. Despite the stat line not being ideal (2 2/3 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K), you saw a lot of why FCL hitters could barely touch him.

That leaves Jones, who at 20-years-old is in Greensboro, not the easiest of places to pitch, although he’s fared a little better at home than on the road. Overall, he has been roughed up a bit this season.

The strikeout numbers are there (28.8%), and the walks have ever so slightly decreased (10.4%), but still have room for improvement.

Jones has some of the best raw stuff in the system, and even showed a new delivery in Friday’s game (of course due to the lack of Greensboro games being streamed, this is the first time we’ve seen it), and it paid off. In six innings, Jones allowed just two hits, one run, and two walks while striking out eight.

He was in control most of the night, showed great movement on his pitches, turning in one of his better starts in 2022.

This is an interesting night to have in the system now with the draft coming up, starting on Sunday. The Pirates hold the fourth overall pick, and will have to wait to see how a couple of teams decide to draft before settling on their first player.

If the Pirates want to go the same route as before, there are several college players available that could help them draft the same way they have done the last two years. There are also some names available at the top of the draft that present the same kind of upside, just at a higher level.

Regardless, the draft plan from the previous two years is starting to unfold into the next stage, and while there are bound to be bumps along the road, it’s clear their focus was on upside.