Keith Law posted his updated top 100 draft prospects list on the Athletic this morning. While the attention here will be on the first five players on his list, this is one of the sources we will reference when the Pittsburgh Pirates start getting into their later picks on day one of the draft.
There’s no secret in this draft class that the top five players are well ahead of everyone else. Scouts have called all of them potential first overall picks in an average year. So the question with this list is just the order of the top five according to Law.
Law has LSU outfielder Dylan Crews ranked first overall. No real surprise there, other than his teammate Paul Skenes has been gaining traction among some sources.
Our Draft Roundtable series is going on right now, where we make the case for selecting Crews first overall in part one, followed by the case of Skenes in the first spot for part two.
The series continued today with a look at the top five as a group.
Law has Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford in the second spot on his list. It may seem like a surprise that it’s not Skenes here, but there are scouts out there who like Langford better than Crews due to the power potential from Langford. So it’s really not a surprise to see him second here.
The big LSU right-hander Skenes comes in at the third spot. This probably as low as you will see him from anyone, though…
Max Clark is ranked fourth overall by Law. There are a small number of scouts who like Clark best overall according to draft experts. The fact that he’s a high school outfielder who will be on a slower path than the top three mentioned here tends to cloud the judgement of people who want the best overall player, but also want someone who will help the Pirates sooner. You can find people who think Clark is that best overall player.
The fifth spot is Walker Jenkins, another high school outfielder, who tends to take the fifth spot in this group. Make no mistake though, he’s significantly closer to first overall than he is to the sixth spot.
The first day of the draft takes place on Sunday night, so we are about 80 hours out right now from finding out who the Pirates will take.
There will be plenty of draft coverage here leading up to the draft, during the draft, and then following the draft, as we start covering the careers of these players on a daily basis.
