2005 Draft Review

The 2005 Draft Class is up all over the majors and is making contributions to the not only the Pirates but the majors in general. It is generally considered a very deep draft class.

Andrew McCutchen made his debut and it did not disappoint. He will be the starting centerfielder for years to come. What else can we expect from this draft class?

3rd Round pick, James Boone, was a bench player in the outfield for Double A Altoona. He hit below .200. The 4th round pick, Brent Lillibridge, is now in the White Sox organization at the Triple A level. 5th Rounder Jeffrey Sues is on the Pirates 40 man roster and pitched at Triple A this year, but did not get called up in September. Expect him back at Triple A. 8th Round selection, Steven Pearce has spent time in the majors, but his time there is not exactly sterling. However, he has a good chance to make the team in 2010 out of Spring Training. And that is it for the first 10 rounds. 12th rounder Jason Delaney hit .271 in Double A Altoona and will probably be in Triple A Indianapolis this next year. 16th Round pitcher Eric Krebs is in the Dodger organization. Jarred Bogany did not sign with the Pirates (15th Round) and was not drafted after college in 2008. He now plays in the Cardinal organization. A few others that refused to sign now play for other teams.

Again the Pirates went for college juniors and seniors giving a higher age to the minor league system. This draft class cannot be considered a bust with 3 of the first 10 rounders being on the 40 man roster and two of them on the Major League Team. But it is not exactly a stellar class either. Outside of McCutchen this class may never be more than bench players and bullpen guys. But they did get their impact player out of this draft, and at least one maybe two guys who can fill bench roles. It might be short one or two guys, but overall this was a good draft. It was easily the best draft of the Littlefield era. Although it should be tempered by the fact that this draft was considered very deep overall. The inability to sign high school prospects and younger talent hurt the Pirates depth in the minors.