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MARK APPEL
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RIGHT HANDED PITCHER
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Born: July 15, 1991 Height: 6’5″ Weight: 215 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 1st Round, 8th Overall, 2012 How Acquired: Draft College: Stanford University Agent: Scott Boras |
WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES |
| In a major surprise, the Pirates selected Appel with the 8th pick in the 2012 draft. Appel was widely expected to be one of the top two picks, but when the Astros surprised everybody by selecting Carlos Correa, Appel started falling. He throws a mid-90s fastball that occasionally reaches higher, along with a potentially plus slider and an improving changeup. Of course, scouts also like his size. They’ve had some doubts about him, though, because he gets hit harder than they’d like to see for a pitcher with his stuff. His delivery is slow and lacks deception, and his fastball lacks movement. Nevertheless, he was generally rated somewhere among the top two or three college pitchers available in the draft. His selection gave the Pirates a much more highly regarded pick than they were expected to get.
The Pirates will face considerable difficulty in signing Appel, thanks to MLB’s idiotic new slotting system. Appel probably went into the draft expecting a bonus in the $6-7M range. The slot amounts for the top two picks were $7.2M and $6.2M. The slot for the Pirates’ pick is $2.9M and their entire draft pool is $6,563,500. In order to sign Appel, they could face losing much of their draft pool or losing their 2013 first round pick if they go more than 5% over their pool. An added difficulty is that a team loses the pool amount for a pick if it fails to sign that pick, so the Pirates can’t get extra money for Appel by simply not signing some of their other early picks. On top of everything else, Appel’s agent is Scott Boras. The Pirates no doubt will face threats that Appel will go to independent ball. |
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STATS
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CONTRACT INFORMATION
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| 2012: |
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PLAYER INFORMATION
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| Signing Bonus: MiLB Debut: MLB Debut: MiLB FA Eligible: MLB FA Eligible: Rule 5 Eligible: Added to 40-Man: Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
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TRANSACTIONS
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| June 10, 2009: Drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 15th round, 450th overall pick. June 4, 2012: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1st round, 8th overall pick. |
