The Pittsburgh Pirates have the first overall pick in the MLB Draft on July 9th, which they picked up in the first draft lottery back in December.
Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline came out with mock drafts that had the Pirates taking LSU outfielder Dylan Crews.
Needless to say, Crews is going to be a big part of our draft coverage, especially if he remains at the top overall pick for multiple sources.
Going into Friday’s action, Crews was hitting .400/.657/.700 in four games. Those are big numbers, although the LSU lineup did well it of the gate, with three of his teammates putting up a better OPS.
Right-handed pitcher Chase Dollander is one of the biggest challenges to Crews for that top spot. Pipeline noted that he had a real shot at going first overall. The University of Tennessee pitcher has been ranked second quite a few times. His season debut came last week against Arizona, when he went 4.2 innings, with two runs on three hits, a walk and seven strikeouts.
Another real challenge for first overall is Wyatt Langford, an outfielder with the University of Florida. He has played five games already going into this weekend. Langford is hitting .333/.400/.667 through 24 plate appearances.
While his chances of moving up to the first spot look slim right now, shortstop Jacob Wilson from Grand Canyon certainly gets a lot of notice among Pirates fans. That’s because his father is Jack Wilson. The younger Wilson isn’t just living off of his father’s name — he’s a top ten player in this draft class right now, with some sources having him as a top five player. He hit .267/.313/.533 in his first four games, which were against some solid competition.
Max Clark is a high school outfielder out of Indiana. He won’t be part of our early coverage because his season hasn’t started, but there are people who say he has the best all-around tools in this draft class. A search of the internet seems to indicate his season starts April 1st, so there will be a lot of interest once he begins playing.
We are going to cover these players and more in our weekly recaps, taking extended looks at anyone who has a chance for the first overall pick. Right now it’s mostly Crews being mentioned at the top, but we are still over four months away from the start of the draft, so a lot can change in that time.
As a year goes along, we will take a look at the other areas of the draft on this Saturday feature, such as the strengths and top players by position. That will be important for the later picks in the draft. Pirates have the 42nd, 67th and 73rd overall picks. Every Monday, we will have a weekly stats update on the top performers from the previous week.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
This years Spencer Jones is Colton Ledbetter. Man is he on fire!! And if the Yankess draft Ledbetter and have Spencer Jones and Ledbetter I’ll be so pissed..lol.
I wouldn’t have minded if the Pirates went with Spencer Jones last year at 4 overall and went way under slot. I like Termarr and Jones is way more boom or bust but I think Spencer Jones is gonna be a All-Star. And most outlets had him way higher than Pipeline’s 51 ranking. Most had him in the top 25-30; which is a 1st round grade.
I really think Ledbetter will get this year if not already.
https://twitter.com/palmscouting/status/1627695517399490563?s=46&t=gj4kAYrHfzrq74522XZRVw
honestly, you cannot turn down Crews if he looks like a surefire CF for at least a handful more years.
once you slap a “RF” grade on the defense, there will at least have to be a *debate* over him vs other guys.
just another factor to consider… this team is probably never going to pay up for the pitching that it’ll need to make a playoff run, so it’s at least worth *considering* rooting for them to take pitching, at least as a tiebreaker.
if crews looks like a surefire CF, you take him. if he looks like a RF, then id start to get real tempted to pop a dollander/skenes.
ive said this already, but Snell – Mackenzie – Skenes is gonna be lit down the playoff stretch next yr.
We AlReAdY hAvE oUr Cf Of ThE fUtUrE iN sUwInSkI
Paul Skenes
Don’t draft for need but Crews really seems like the perfect pick. We need OF and he’s probably a top 20 prospect in all of baseball as soon as he’s drafted.
Skenes/Waldrep have caught Dollander. Skenes for sure. All three will be in the same tier by draft time: If not already.
Crews/Langford will be the choice. Or Max Clark/Walker Jenkins if you want to go prep. Charlee Soto looks/sounds like the best Prep pitcher but not likely #1 overall.
Braden Taylor is really off to a hot start but 3B usually don’t go #1 overall. He might get into that top 5 though.
Colton Ledbetter looks really good too. And I really hope John Peck falls to the Pirates for their 2nd round comp pick but he’s probably gonna be drafted by then and the Pirates most likely go Pitcher in Round 2 and Round 2 comp.
This years Spencer Jones is Colton Ledbetter. Man is he on fire!! And if the Yankess draft Ledbetter and have Spencer Jones and Ledbetter I’ll be so pissed..lol.
I wouldn’t have minded if the Pirates went with Spencer Jones last year at 4 overall and went way under slot. I like Termarr and Jones is way more boom or bust but I think Spencer Jones is gonna be a All-Star. And most outlets had him way higher than Pipeline’s 51 ranking. Most had him in the top 25-30; which is a 1st round grade.
I really think Ledbetter will get this year if not already.
https://twitter.com/palmscouting/status/1627695517399490563?s=46&t=gj4kAYrHfzrq74522XZRVw
I’ve been tracking Crews and Langford so far while getting to watch a handful of each games. The pitcher’s won’t pitch to these guy’s ( can’t say I blame them). Crews has seemed to be a bit more patient and unleashes hell when he actually does get a pitch to hit. Langford has the build to maybe hold up better in the long run but what the hell do I know. Also watched Dollanders first game against Arizona and came away unimpressed. The pitcher from Arizona ( Nichols I believe ) looked more impressive to be honest. My picks Crews but I’m sure I’ll flip flop a hundred times like I do every year
Let the season play out and let the players play. At that point one can determine who is best and who to take.
Paul Skenes is going to be the best player from this draft.
That dude is plain nasty, I’d personally take Crews but I’ll be following Skenes just as closely
Crews had a monster season last year for LSU. Concentrate on the SEC numbers – when you see possible first round pitching multiple times, those numbers mean a lot more.
Hit for average and power and as I recall, just about the same number of Walks/K’s. If he can be the answer to our future in CF, then he is probably the best athlete available also.
Once the SEC season starts, it will be fun tracking Crews and Langford. I don’t fall college baseball closely enough to have formed my own opinion yet, but Kiley’s write-up on the two of them convinced me that they should have more-or-less equal standing right now.
I don’t know about Crews cracking our corner outfield LOL.
Our best corner outfielder is playing shortstop. 😉
It might depend on whether BC can get Jake Marisnick back.
Crews it is, we need a banger
We need another OFer who can hit.