2016 Draft and what it says about the Pirates

There are many sites that are going to be able to give you better person by person breakdown of the picks.  For example, I still have no idea why the Pirates picked Blake Cederlind.  But, I would like to take a bird's eye view of the draft and see if we can come up with what this draft is saying about the Pirates as a whole.

#1 - The Pirates think they need left handed pitching.    It seems to me that the Pirates went after lefties a little more than normal.  3 of the first 10 picks were left handed pitchers.  And some seem a little like over drafts indicating that perhaps the Pirates think they have a need in the system of left handed pitching prospects.  And that may be fair.  You can quickly name lots of right handed pitchers in the system like Taillon, Glasnow, Keller, and Hinz not to mention some lower tier names.  But who is the big lefty prospect?  Kingham was doing well before surgery, we will see where he is now.  So maybe this is not a bad idea.

#2 - The Pirates believe they can get hitters through International signings.    The Pirates drafted a ton of pitchers.  Hitters are almost non-existent.  Will Craig is a hitting prospect.  Alemais is not a pitcher, but not a big hitting prospect.  Same with Gibbs.  Only 18 of the 41 picks are hitters, and not all of those will sign.  A lot of those 18 are late round guys who are not leaving school  Nor is 24th rounder Brodrato.  So, one has to conclude they have a comfort level with getting guys elsewhere.  Perhaps the success of a Tito Polo helps one think that the draft is more important for pitching prospects than hitting ones.  Consider that 8 of the 18 are either catchers or short stops, the two positions that defense might trump hitting. 

#3 - The Pirates value youth.   This is not just high school.  The Pirates seemed to avoid college seniors as if they had the bubbonic plague this year.  MLB has them only taking 9, but I have heard some debate about whether Vieaux is really a SR making it only 8. 

#4 - The Pirates scouted the Southern Conference a lot this year.    Really the SoCon, not the SEC.  The Southern Conference had 4 guys picked by the Pirates.  Three of those four were from East Tennessee State University and the other was from Western Carolina, the actual winner of the SoCon.  I am not even sure what to make of this, but it is a little weird, right?  I am not the only one who thinks three guys from ETSU, which didn't even finish in the top 2 in a conference that is hardly known for baseball is a little strange?  Not that I don't like some of those picks.  Brown was nasty at Western this year with some pop in the bat. 


So those are some of my thoughts about the state of the Pirate system by looking at this draft.  Other than #4, which I threw in because I grew up on the SoCon, I think the Pirates are drafting for what they can work with knowing that their International system seems to struggle to produce pitching (see Heredia), and is producing hitting. 

It is not a great draft, but it is not a bad one either.  Sometimes you wish things would have gone a little differently.  For example Tom Hatch being drafted by the Cubs right before the Pirates.  He was very good this year for OSU, and would have been a great addition to the Pirates.  I think he has a MLB future, but he was off the board. 

This will be an interesting one to take a look at in a couple of years. 

Draft 2016

Day 1 of the draft saw three draft picks, and all were overdrafts by all accounts.  But, after seeing how Cole Tucker has performed, I think the Pirates have earned a bit of a break here.

Yes, it could be also that all of these will sign for under slot and give the Pirates some money to throw at harder signs today or even a Gage Hinz type offer in Rounds 11-13 which we will see tomorrow, so the book is hardly closed on the draft.

Will Craig is a big hitting 3B from Wake Forest.  College Hitters are usually a safe thing, and Craig will probably anchor the Black Bears offense.  We have not really seen a lot of these college hitters work out lately for the Pirates, so this one will have a lot of pressure.

Nick Lodolo is a high school lefty with a lot of height.  He is projectable and that fits with what the Pirates had been doing, but seemed to leave behind.  The Pirate farm system is littered with failed tall projectable types, so Lodolo will probably face increase criticism.  Although I do think the farm system is short on lefty pitching, which makes Lodolo valuable.

Travis Macgregor is a sort of tall high school right handed pitcher who was apparently moving up draft charts, which is an encouraging note.  He already sits in the 90's which should ease comparisons to previous high school failures who shall remain unnamed.  His secondary stuff may also be above what one would expect as well. 

It is unclear whether either of those two guys will pitch much in short season ball. 

Day 1 produces the hype, but I think day 2 makes or breaks the draft, so this is the day I am interested in.

Looking at the 2009 Draft

With the dropping of Tony Sanchez from the 40 Man roster the 2009 draft is essentially a closed book for the Pirates.  A lot is being written and said about this draft, and it is mostly negative.  And no one can really argue it was a good draft, but I don’t think it as serious as many state.

I think my understanding of the 2009 draft has two major differences from most.  I think I put more weight on players being parts of trades.  Colton Cain may very well be a bust, but for the Pirates he helped bring in talent for a pennant run.  Mission accomplished in my opinion.  Victor Black did the same thing.  Black, by the way, seems to be doing fine in the Mets bullpen. 

Secondly, I simply think 2009 was a horrible draft overall.  The Pirates did not find the deals and steals for sure, but 2009 was an awful year all around excluding the obvious number 1 in Stephen Strassborg.  Let’s take a look.

Sanchez was drafted 4^th overall and considered an overdraft, but Donovan Tate (drafted 3^rd overall) also never made the majors and is in the Dodgers organization after being let go by the Padres.  That is right, he failed to make the Padres.  He has had substance abuse problems as well.  The 5^th overall pick was Matthew Hobgood, and he is currently a minor league free agent.  So, the picks right next to Sanchez were actually bigger failures with less major league time than Sanchez.  And remember the Pirates overdrafted Sanchez.  Not so with the other two guys.  Nor was it the case for the second overall pick Dustin Ackley.  Ackley was chased off of second base in Seattle to the outfield, and eventually traded to the Yankees.  He has not hit very well and is defensively so-so.  That is the second overall pick in the draft.  The first round produced 5 All Stars so far, one of which is Strassborg.  Yes, one is also Mike Trout, but everyone passed on Trout so that is hardly a Pirate only mistake.  If you add in the comp round, you get one more All Star.  That All Star is Boxberger, who was traded twice and made the All Star game for the Rays as a closer rather than the starter he was drafted to be.  Another one of those All Stars was Aaron Crow for the Royals.  He had one good season where he was the Royals rep on the All Star team.  He lost the closer position that year after failing to record a save and was traded to the Marlins.  While he made the All Star game, Crow is probably a bust as a draft pick.  And does anyone remember Tyler Scheppers, the Pirate 08 draftee who refused to sign.  He was drafted in the comp round and he is currently a total failure too.  He was the ninth rated prospect going into the 09 draft and compared to Verlander. 

And before we pile on the failure of the high school pitchers taken later in that draft.  Let us look at high schoolers taken in 09.  We have already looked at the failure of Hobgood and Tate, both of whom are high schoolers.  Zack Wheeler (6^th overall) is 18-16 overall in the majors and with his second team.  Jacob Turner (9^th overall) is 11-25 after being in 4 different organizations and is currently a minor league free agent.  Maztek is a success story making the pros with the team that drafted him and after two pro seasons he sits at 8-14 with an ERA over 4, but it is Colorado.  Comp round picks don’t look much better from High School.  Some of the high school hitters look better especially with Mike Trout and Shelby Miller and Grichuck hitting okay too, but those are not all roses either.  Nick Franklin (27^th overall) is hitting .204 as a backup catcher.  Sanchez could have done that.  And Reymond Fuentes (28^th overall) is a bust somewhere in the Royals organization after getting 5 hits in 33 at bats with the Padres. 

Comparatively the 2008 draft also had 6 All Stars in the first round and comp round including Pedro Alvarez, Buster Posey, and Eric Hosmer.  It also includes some good players like Bret Lawrie.  Players with some potential left like Jake Odorrizi, and some high profile failures like Justin Smoak and number one overall pick Timothy Beckman.  The 2010 draft class has already produced 5 All Stars including Matt Harvey, Bryce Harper, and Manny Machado.  And let’s be honest this class is at a disadvantage with 2 of the top 10 overall picks not signing. 

The point is the Pirates did not do well.  But, it was probably a really bad draft class.  Yes, it would have been great to find some of the hidden gems.  But, they are not as bad as we think because it was just a down year producing down results. 

Early Returns on 2014 draft strategy

The West Virginia Power are always the most exciting team to watch as it is the first good glimpse of last year’s draft picks.  This year it is even more so because of the strategy shift thanks to being actually decent and not picking at the top of the draft.  It included a lot more college hitters and pitchers than normal.  This happened again this year in 2015, so West Virginia is the first glimpse to see if it is a good plan.

It has to be admitted that so far it is not working out all that well.  Let us start with the bad news.
Connor Joe the Comp round pick has only played 24 games, and he is hitting .244 with a .655 OPS letting you know he has not shown power or anything of that sort yet. 
Taylor Gushue, who hit so well in short season last year, has been a big disappointment offensively.  The 4th round pick is hitting a paltry .211 in 44 games with only one homer.  Kevin Krause, who was the other catcher taken in the ninth round is injured and out all season. 
Jordan Luplow, the 3rd round selection, is hitting .232 with 3 HR’s, but a hopeful 16 doubles to lead the team, and 33/23 K/BB rate. 
Tyler Fillben, a twelfth round pick, is hitting .233. 
This is not a great look for the big name hitters.
The exceptions are top pick Cole Tucker, Michael Suchy (5th), Chase Simpson (14), and Jerrick Suiter (26).  Suiter is hitting .308 in a smaller game sample, although large enough to be decent.  Chase Simpson is slumping after a very hot start, but is still .257 with a team lead 6 HRs and leads the team in total bases and second in OPS (for those with a minimum PA).  He does lead the team in strike outs, but also in walks.  Suchy is a close second in walks.  He is hitting .253 with 12 doubles and 3 round trippers.  Cole Tucker is hitting a nice .271 with only 25 Ks.  He also has 16 stolen bases.  He has not looked awful at short either.  And he really does not count in this discussion because he is straight out of high school. 

The pitchers look a bit better.  Austin Coley, 8th round pick, is actually looking very good as a starter.  He is 8-4, but more importantly has 61 strikeouts to lead the team and has only 9 walks. 
Alex McRae (10th) is also starting.  He is giving up a few more hits and runs, but has 40 Ks to 12 BBs.  Not bad. 
John Sever, a 20th round pick who did well at Bristol last year, is also looking good with 55 Ks and 19 BBs.  He was starting, but has been moved to the bullpen or maybe a sort of piggy back role.  He could miss a few more bats, but potential is there.
Sam Street (16) has a similar issue with allowing hits out of the pen, but is striking out 8 per 9 innings, so that is good.  Remember they work heavily on the fastball at West Virginia making higher hit totals not so troubling. 
Montana DuRapau has struck out 9 and only walked 1 in 19 innings.  He has a WHIP of .414.  Admittedly it is a small sample, but something to be encouraged about. 
It is not all good for the pitchers Nick Neumann (28) is only 17 Ks and 7 BBs.  And Eric Dorsch (15), who has only 7 innings, is also not good.  He has walked 6 to striking out 5, but he has also plunked 2 guys. 

This year’s draft feels a lot like last years.  Hopefully they will have slightly more success at the West Virginia level.  It is still far too early to tell how well drafting in the middle of the draft is going for the Pirates.  But there is room to hope it gets better, at least for the college guys.

2015 Draft Recap

With the Pirates playing okay and squarely in the Wild Card hunt, the draft came at a great time. This year the Pirates are drafting with a lot less money. 

I think the Pirates are clearly drafting athletes now rather than positions.  They took Kevin Newman a decent hitting short stop who some say can stay at short stop with their first pick.  Short stop is a position that requires a good amount of athleticism.  And if you can play there, you can be moved just about anywhere else.  This also explains Kevin Kramer is also a good hitting short stop.  Sandwiched inbetween is Ke'Bryan Hayes, who plays third in high school.  This is another position where one can still play many other positions if third does not work out.  Hayes may have some pop, and with some growing yet to do there is hope.  Jacob Taylor also fits this mold as he has been a pitcher for a year, and obviously can play elsewhere if he fails at pitcher much like Stetson Allie. Brandon Waddell from Virginia should sign and have quicker success than Taylor.  Waddell will begin at Low A, but Taylor may start in Rookie League ball.  These are the two pitchers to watch. 

The biggest surprise to me is that they went 10 out of 11 college players for the first 10 rounds.  A lot of people who project to be solid hitters without power.  They should be able to sign them all even though some have eligibility left.  I think they can probably get it done without too much trouble. 

The third day you usually see an early high schooler drafted that they try to save money to go and sign like Gage Hinz.  However, this year that did not happen probably because of the low money in the pool.  Although I do like Ty Moore from UCLA.  They had a great year and a surprising exit in the regionals.  Moore was a big hitter on that team.  Nick Hibbing was an interesting pick in the 16th round.  Iowa had a surprisingly good year.  He was dominate out of the pen.  His stuff was clearly hard to hit as opponents hit under .200 against him in 25 appearances.  He averaged multiple innings per outing, and in the big games he would sometimes go 3 innings.  Yet, he is not a great strikeout pitcher.  He was about at 1 per inning, but that number is inflated a bit.  Against the good teams he was not at that mark.  Hibbing also seemed to get more flyball outs than ground ball outs and that is not what the Pirates have favored in the past.  Yet his control is impeccable.  Still, I was surprised to see Hibbing be taken at 16. 

Ike Schlabach was the first high schooler taken and he is a big lefty.  Although as a 19th rounder I don't think the Pirates are going to sign him. 

Other guys that interest me are Scooter Hightower, John Bormann, Logan Ratledge, and Stephan Meyer.  Hightower is a 6'6 righty who will probably sign.  Ratledge was ranked 157th best in the draft and is one of those shortstops that you can move else where if you need.  Bormann is a highly thought of defensive catcher.  The Pirates have had some success with those, and teaching to hit is easier than teaching defense at least as a catcher.  Meyer is a 6'4 righty from Bellevue University, NE, so he should sign despite being a junior.  I live near there and he never even got radio coverage.  He is not going to be able to improve his draft position by going back for another year.  I bet he starts in Bristol or maybe even GCL, but he signs. 

If you thought last year was bland, you probably hated this year.  I said last year was the average and you should expect more like it.  I think this year is much the same, proving my point from last year.  There is not a ton to get excited about here.  But the Pirates are drafting people who they believe can hit and play where needed. 

Gage Hinsz and the 2014 draft

The Pirates did it.  They signed 11th round pick Gage Hinsz.  I was a little worried as they did not seem to have a lot left and an Oregon State commitment is not easily broken, but I am glad that they got him. 

That wraps up this years draft, and I like it.  I liked it earlier, but I think now Pirates fans need to readjust their thinking to see drafts like this as good.  This is an average draft, and we should like average.  It is called average for a reason, it happens regularly.  It is going to be harder and harder to get great drafts if the Pirates are going to insist on finishing above .500.  It is evident now that the Pirates were not trying to save money on Tucker, but that other teams also had him ranked in the middle of the first round.  And while you might could quibble about Connor Joe, or Jorge from Puerto Rico, every draft is going to have a few of those picks. 

The Pirates are consistently showing an ability to get a decent pick just outside the 10th round the way they draft.  They have shown a willingness to pay a tax, but not lose a draft pick.  They have clearly strengthened an already stocked farm system.  There may not be an Andrew McCutchen in this group, but there are a whole lot of Josh Harrisons. 

It is not a blow your mind great draft, but those should be rare.  It is not an awful draft either.  This is the average.  And it is an average the Pirates can live with.

Draft over all

I think this is an okay draft.  It is not great by any means and can only be good if some of the day 3 guys sign (like Gage Hinsz and/or Colin Welmon).  Then you should not expect the same sort of excitement that we had last year with two top 15 picks.  Yes, the Pirates probably should have not reached for Cole Tucker at 24.  So his career is off to a really bad start as he will now be measured against a lot of other guys the Pirates could have signed.

I do think there are a few things to be excited about watching.  Nelson Jorge is a pretty big unknown coming from Puerto Rico.  How he does at SS and swinging the bat is one of the potential upside things out of this draft.  I am excited about Taylor Gushue as well.  I know he is behind McGuire at catcher, but he has potential.  I will be keeping an eye on his box score.  I do like Chase Simpson from round 14.  Power hitting 3Bs are always fun to watch.  And I will be watching to see whether Jordan Luplow can put up better numbers than Connor Joe.

But in the end, that is all that I am excited about.  And I am probably stretching it to add the Luplow v Joe battle.  Three guys that I am ready to see signed and on the field is not very many.  Of course if they were to manage to add Gage Hinsz or Colin Welmon they would immediately be added to the list of excitement.  I do expect they will make a real effort at Hinsz.

As I said earlier, I don't a mind a draft like this every now and then as long as they save money and put it into other areas.  Sometimes you do have to shift priorities to another part of the overall budget.  If this means a decent off season signing next year then I can live with this.  If this mean landing a big Latin American talent, then I am okay with this.  There are big league prospects in this bunch, so it is not as if we threw a whole draft away.  Mitch Keller, Trey Supak, Jordan Luplow, and even Connor Joe and Cole Tucker are big league prospects.  But they are not exactly All Star prospects.  It fills out the organization with more prospects, but these guys are not going to top the organizational charts at their position.  And coming away from a draft where we did not really add a new top prospect at any position is disappointing.  And even though I am no where near as high on Alen Hanson as most, I do think he will still be rated above Cole Tucker at SS leaving this draft class in some desperate need of big time production in short season ball to generate some excitement.

I will be interested to see a couple of front office interviews in the next couple of days.

Draft Day 3 round up

The third day of the draft can start with some excitement, but quickly turns into people who are just depth or will never ever sign.  Pirates Prospects draft tracker is up and going.

Gage Hinsz was the 11th round guy who everyone hopes the Pirates will sign.  A high school pitcher with real upside and a fastball tin the 90s already.  The Pirates ought to be able to save money to pay him over the slot money.  He is committed to Oregon State, which shows you something of how highly regarded he is as Oregon State is a power program.  He was rated in the top 200, and the Pirates could use a little more upside guys in this draft.

14th round pick Chase Simpson is someone I like a lot.  He is a switch hitter with the power to stick at 3B.  He played for Wichta State, and hopefully will sign.  The Pirates did take a lot of college hitters, but not a whole lot of power, and power from both sides is rare.

19th Round pick Carl Anderson is a speedy outfielder with a good eye.  He is a junior, but maybe the Pirates could go over the slot to sign him if Hinsz goes to college.

Round 23 seems to be where the Pirates start racking up guys who will not sign.  Both Zack Warren (LHP) and Denis Karas (3B) look very interesting, but neither will probably sign.

The Pirates also drafted a few juniors who will probably return to college as well.  This includes 33rd round Zach Lewis from Wabash Junior College who is a righty who can touch 90 and seems to have great control.  He could be interesting, but probably needs to add some velocity.  Also 34th round Colin Welmon who was ranked as a top 200 talent and projected for the 5th or 6th round.  He throws in the low 90s and probably will return to school.  Maybe if the Pirates really saved a lot of money they could throw it at him, but it is doubtful.

This draft does look like it might be meant to help fill out a new minor league affiliate in Bristol, and there are no real picks that make you excited.  Still I do think there are some potential big leaguers in this bunch.  Signing Gage Hinsz would be a nice bump to a rather dull class.  There a lot of RHPs in this class.

Pirates Draft Day 1

The Pirates had a different first day draft.  I am not sure if it is different because the Pirates did some strange stuff or just because I barely remember the Pirates ever drafting so far down that it was not fairly certain that Pirates were going to draft a high impact player.  Currently the Pirates are getting a bit savaged for their picks, so let us take a look.

The first pick (#24) was Cole Tucker, a high school shortstop.  MLB had him ranked 67 and Baseball America 84.  This is the pick that is making most people scratch their heads.  High School Short Stop with no real power, but good defensive skills is not exactly a first round recipe.  I would be more disappointed in this pick if some of the other names the Pirates had been linked to were still around.  Kyle Schwarber went 4^th to the Cubs after spending a lot of weeks being linked to the Pirates.  I saw Kyle play, and he could flat out play.  Also the Wichita State First basemen went a couple of picks before the Bucs.  The high school pitcher who was also connected to the Bucs was off the board as well.  This pick has me worried, I will admit it.  But maybe the Pirates are hoping he will turn down their offer and they will get a comp pick at #25 next year.  Although this kid will probably never get to the first round after being in college.  It is an upside pick.  I bet he takes the offer, and the Pirates may save some cash for later signings.

The next pick was #39 and they took Connor Joe from the University of San Diego.  This kid will start out in our A- affiliate, wherever that is now.  MLB has him at 110 and Baseball America at 102.  So this is a bit of a stretch.  Picking outside of the top 100 in round #1 is worrisome.  However, I like that this is a college kid who is drawing walks and hitting well.  The Pirates announced him as an outfielder even though he has been doing catching for a couple years now.  A good solid bat is always helpful, but this is a reach.  The Pirates must expect to save money here.  It is hard not to conclude they have a plan for the draft that includes trying to get a few tough to sign prospects to sign.  Although I will say I sort of like this pick.  If you are going to reach, I prefer reaching for an established bat at the college level rather than for a High School Pitcher.  Less chance of being a complete bomb.  And this is the pick for Bryan Morris, so it should be viewed as kind of a bonus. 

The second round saw the Pirates take Mitch Keller.  MLB ranked him 69 and Baseball America 76.  So he is not too far out of place, but a small reach.  According to Baseball America this is our top rated player and currently our third pick.  Keller is hitting the 90’s with his fastball and has a curve to get people out.  This pick probably worries a lot because of how many high school pitchers the Pirates have had go down the tubes.  Von Rosenberg is a name that evokes fear in Pirate fan’s minds.  Or even closer we could remind everyone that Stetson Allie did not make it as a pitcher.  But that does not make taking projectable high school arms a bad decision, just a riskier one.  Avoiding all high school pitchers because of the disastrous 09 draft would be a mistake.  And as I always point out.  Colton Cain was good enough to be part of a trade.  It is not as if he had imploded with everyone else. 

Pick #74 was our last pick, and our Competitive Balance pick.  The Pirates took Trey Supak.  This high school pitcher from Texas was ranked 99 by Baseball America and 62 by MLB, so clearly there is some real disagreement about his upside.  According to MLB this pick was a steal for the Pirates, and a reach by Baseball America’s standards.  He is 6’5” and throwing upper 80’s to low 90’s.  It is hard to real trash this pick, but also hard to get excited since Supak is just a high school arm and you never know where that will lead you. 

You have to give the Pirates credit, they love the tall high school arms, and they do not deviate from that drafting philosophy.  In fact, I have to say that is what gives me hope out of this draft.  The Pirates did what they thought was right.  Even taking the worst case scenario they Pirates took 3 top 100 talent guys in two rounds and got another who was right on the doorstep of the top 100.  Three high school kids is what worries me and probably many others.  If you are taking high school guys you feel better if they are Jameson Taillon types that seem to be can’t miss.  These guys aren’t that.  Oddly enough the biggest impact in the minors this year (assuming they all sign) will be Connor Joe who is the one ranked outside of the top 100.  His bat ought to translate well and he can make an impact in Low A this year.  The others guys should not really make much of a wave until short season ball next year when they have added a professional offseason to their bodies and minds. 

Day 2 should be exciting if nothing else.  The Pirates are off the reservation and doing their own thing. 

Comparing Royals and Pirates Draft Thinking

Comparing the Royals and Pirates

I live in Kansas City Royal territory, so I am always flooded with Royals news.  I also find it interesting to compare the Pirates and Royals because they are both in a similar small market boat.  

This year's draft by the Royals should draw immediate comparisons between the KC front office and the Pirate front office.  

Take a look at what the Royals did this year in the draft.  This is a very different approach than the Pirates who took the number 5 and 10 prospects on MLB's top 100 with the 9 and 14th pick.  This was in part thanks to the Royals taking Hunter Dozier 8th.  

The thinking of the Kansas City front office was Dozier would be a cheap sign, which he was as he has already signed under slot by about a million bucks.  This is to help them sign their 34th pick Sean Manaea.  Manaea is a big talent who underperformed this year, so their is some risk in this pick.  If they don't sign him, they don't get compensation.  If they had drafted Manaea first, they would have been compensated if they failed to sign, and whether or not Dozier would have been there at 34 is a debatable point.  Of course if his underperformance is the norm and his summer league the aberration, then this pick is a complete disaster no matter what.

But look at the rest of the Royal draft.  Not a lot of high schoolers and not a lot of people that even had draft reports on MLB.com.  I counted 10 with reports and two more that had videos.  The Pirates this year had 13 with reports and 1 more with a video.  Only one of the Pirates first 10 round picks did not have either a report or video.  They also picked 5 High Schoolers in the first 10 rounds and no college seniors.  The Royals took 4 college seniors in the first 10 rounds and only two high schoolers.  The majority of the High Schoolers taken by the Royals are past round 25 where they are not going to sign.  They seem to be betting on signing Manaea because they do not have high school talent out of the top 10 rounds.  If Manaea does not take the deal where are they going to throw the extra money?  

The more interesting comparison is with the Pirates last year.  The Pirates last year used a pick to draft a tough to sign guy in Mark Appel.  They also tried to save some money in the first 10 rounds with picks like Crumlich, Wood, and even Barrett Barnes who was still about the talent level of the pick.  

But the Pirates seemed to have a back up plan.  They drafted high upside high schoolers Walker Buehler, Maxwell Moroff, and Hayden Hurst in the 14th, 16th, and 17th rounds.  And when Appel refused to sign they were able to pick up Moroff and Hurst.  AND they got to have the 9th pick this year, which turned out to be Austin Meadows.  

The problem with the Royals is not that they went and tried to sign the 13th overall prospect who is considered a hard sign.  The problem is that they don't seem to have a back up plan for it.  If they fail, they do not get a comp pick, and they do not seem to have high upside high schoolers to throw the extra money to in order to get them to sign.  Instead they pick the 46th overall talent who will have to move to third, and may have to move to second eventually.  They continually passed on talents that might have signed if you had an extra million or so laying around from the attempt to sign Manaea.  For example Ryan Boldt is committed to Nebraska, and he went undrafted until round 22 despite being the 39th best prospect.  Boldt could have been drafted in round 14-17 (as the Pirates did last year), and then on top of the max $100,000 they Royals could have added at least a 1 million, and judging from some of the names in their top 10 rounds, probably at least 1 million more.  Boldt might have gone for that.  Isn't it at least worth a try?  

It seems to be a different thinking about drafting than the Pirates, and one that makes me glad we have the front office that we have.  

I think we can all say, "I am glad we are not the Royals."

2013 Draft Round 1

Okay, so following a successful Pirates team is proving more stressful than I imagined.  I am not sure I am able to cheer on a team that is close to the playoffs, but might well miss them.

But today is a day of looking forward, and it turned out to be a much better day than I had hoped.

Almost all of the mock drafts had the Pirates taking high schooler Reese McGuire with the 9th pick and then getting usually Hunter Renfroe for the 14th or D.J. Peterson or Dominic Smith.  But, when the draft picks started falling into place the Pirates were given the opportunity to pick Austin Meadows, a high school 5 tool outfielder.  Almost all predictions had him going before the 9th pick.  So, the Pirates snatched him up as they had been rumored to want another good outfielder.

Meadows is young and will be a bit of a work in progress, so don't expect massive numbers in short season ball.  But he is highly athletic and has been highly successful so far.  We got a guy that everyone thought would be gone, and was almost universally rated higher than McGuire, so it is reason to be excited.

The best news is that then McGuire was still around at 14, so the Pirates took him then.  It seemed obvious the Pirates thought McGuire a top 10 talent, as all mock drafts had the Pirates taking the high school catcher.  His defense is apparently great and his bat will need the work, but not in the same way that Sanchez needed work.  Expect more from this kid.

With the Pirates clearly wanting McGuire and still getting him 5 picks later than they had planed and thus getting an even greater talent at 9, this was a highly successful Day 1 to the draft.  And there is one more bit of great news.  Mark Appel went #1 to the Astros.  He will not get the amount of money he could have if he had been willing to let the Astros draft him last year, but that is not the great news.  The great news is that many had thought the Astros would pass on Mark again and that would have meant he fell to the Cubs, who would have taken him.  Now Appel will pitch in the American League and never have to cross the Pirates, and especially not have to cross in division every year.  That too is good news.

More tomorrow on the next section of the draft.

Neal's Draft Class - Should we fire Neal

Now let me be clear up front.  I think it would be a mistake not to retain Neal Hunington.  I think the clear improvement in the on field product at basically every level is reason enough.  I think the vast improvement in the Latin American presence is reason enough.  But recently a lot of criticism has arisen over his drafts.  The good people at Bucs Dugout for example make a case for why the draft classes of NH are not good.  I want to take my own look at the class of 08-12 to see if Neal's drafts are as bad as some think.

We should begin by looking at 1st round picks because that is where every team has a shot at an impact player.  Neal changed the thinking of the Front Office and has gone for the big name, usually.  In 08 it was Pedro Alvarez.  He may have been rushed, but he appears to be the impact player now.  In 09 it was Tony Sanchez, which we will come back to as Tony is still in the minors.  In 10 it was Taillon, who still appears to be on track as an ace.  In 11 it was Gerrit Cole, who is another ace.  In 12 it was Mark Appell, who did not sign.  So, we see three of the five NH did what he should and has helped the franchise.  Appell's case is interesting since he did not sign, but it is under the new system.  The Pirates did everything they could without being punished by MLB, and Appel just would not sign.  And they get a comp pick at #9 overall next year, so it makes trying to sign Appel a good gamble.  Appel was the best talent on the board.  In 09 the draft class was weak, and NH had a strategy to sign lots of HS arms later in the draft and so he saved some money.  In the end, Sanchez will still be a starting catcher for the Pirates, perhaps as soon as next year.  I would stop short of saying he is an impact player, but he will be a starter, so it is hard to classify it as a failure pick.  And for the record only three All Stars have come out of that draft, one of which is Strassborg, who was already gone by the Pirates 4th pick.  The other two are Aaron Crow, as a bullpen arm, and Mike Trout, who was a high school bat at the time.  Just to show the Pirates were not alone in that mess, the second overall pick was Dustin Ackley who hit .232 this year for the Mariners.  Third overall pick Donavan Tate played in High A ball this year.  Mike Minor and Mike Leake are good pitchers the Pirates might could have gotten, but not a big whiff.

Let us now look at this strategy of signing younger players with big bonuses to see if has worked out.
In 08 we signed 8 guys to bonuses over 100,000.  Jordy Mercer, Chase d'Arnaud, and Justin Wilson appear poised to make contributions the Pirates and have already played for them.  Robbie Grossman was traded in the Wandy deal, so he was clearly good enough to aid the team as a trade piece.  Can't hold that against him.  Benji Gonzales, Wes Freeman, Quinton Miller, and Jeremy Farell appear to be organizational guys only.  So NH hit 50%.

In 09 there were there were 12 late round big bonus guys.  Brock Holt is already on the team and looks very good at the plate.  Others who appear ready or on track to help the Pirates include only Victor Black.  Black may even break camp with the Pirates and looks like a future closer.  However before throwing out the rest of this class, we need to note that Colton Cain was part of the Wandy trade, and Brooks Pounders was traded for Navarro this past off season.  Both those guys then need to count as good picks.  In addition, it is still to early to give up on Dodson and Von Rosenberg.  ZVR showed improvement and Dodson had a good year in the past before an injury.  Next year is make or break for both.  That makes the success rate at a possible 50% again, but will probably be a little lower if ZVR and Dodson do not pan out.

2010 was a major year where the Pirates signed Stetson Allie to a big multimillion dollar deal.  He has since been removed as a pitcher and put in the field.  No matter what happens in my opinion that is a big whiff.  At least let him try to be a closer.  That is the biggest mistake made by NH, but I hardly think it is worth burying him over.  Let us also remember that Brandon Crumpton still looks like a back of the rotation possibility, Tyler Waldron looks like a bullpen contributor.  Nick Kingham also looks like a middle to back of the rotation guy.  So three decent picks who are all on pace.  Mel Rojas Jr. and Drew Maggi are not tearing it up with the bats, but neither looks overmatched at this point either.  Both could show a little more plate discipline, but they are still on track as potential MLB guys . Ryan Hafner followed up his good last season with an absolute disaster this year.  Still, he was always a project and it is too early to give up on him.  Jared Lakind is probably too early to give up on either, but he and Sadler look like misses.  So here you have 3 good picks, 3 misses (including a big one), and 3 maybes.

In 2011 the Pirates took 11 more big bonus guys.  And it is too early to rule any of these guys out and it  should be noted that the Pirates likely knew this was the last year they could do the bonus game, so why not throw a lot of money around.  They did, so maybe we ought to be a little easy on them for going for broke the last year one could.  Josh Bell is the highlight of this group, and he was doing great before a knee injury ended the season for him.  While Dickerson (3rd round pick) was disappointing, but not awful, the Pirates look pretty good in this group.  Candon Myles hit .279 and has speed.  Colten Brewer had an up and down year but is striking out 6.5 per 9 innings.  Tyler Glasnow was at 10 K/9.  Jake Burnette struggled, but was pitching at Low A, which ought to be remembered.  The same is true of Jason Creasy.  They are still interesting prospects.  Clay Holmes also pitched at Low A, and frankly was pretty good winning 5.  Walks are a bit high, but that is to be expected.  I think Holmes may make the jump to West Virginia this next year.  Taylor Lewis was okay, and Dan Gamache was good and shows utility infield kind of defense.  The only one that looks to be shaping up as a miss is Jordan Cooper who is throwing out the bullpen and giving up lots of long balls (almost 3 per 9 innings).  

2012 is way to early to read, but the number of big bonuses is now really kind of set at 10 thanks to the new CBA.  The Pirates look like they got a real winner in Wyatt Mathewson who tore up Rookie league along with Max Moroff.  Interestingly Moroff walked more than he struck out.  Eric Wood did well there too.  Barrett Barnes looked good in Low A.  Sandfort struggled a bit in 8 appearances, but that is to be expected.  Adrian Sampson was striking out 9 per 9 innings with a nice 2.82 ERA.  And John Kuchno only threw 5 innings.  

And remember this does not say anything about late round finds that are turning out well and signed for under $100,000 like Matt Curry and Phil Irwin, both of whom look like the have at least limited MLB roles in their future.  

It is possible that the draft strategy of Neal Hunington is only going to be right 50% of the time.  Still, is that a bad failure rate?  The big miss of Allie has many questioning the decisions.  Even if you think that this is an unacceptable draft philosophy it is all moot now.  MLB got rid of that possibility in the CBA with the hard slotting system.  Now Neal cannot do it anymore.  So, I think the draft should not be a reason to fire NH.  And I think it is a possibility that the Pirates are going to end up with a lot of good players from the last two drafts under the old system (10 and 11).  I think you can see that Neal grew in his drafts.  In 09 he threw money at young projectable pitchers.  He still did a lot of that in 10 and 11, but also moved on to get good position players.  Players like Josh Bell, Candon Myles, and Max Moroff are exciting additions and less likely to flop big as some high school pitching arms.  The growth of the Pirates in the draft has me excited for drafts, which was never true under the old regime.  Let us not forget how bad it was when we drafted Daniel Moskos and Bryan Bullington.  Those days are gone.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.  

Cole and Bell in a big day

The PIrates won by the way. Doumit's towering blast lifted the Pirates past the Cards. But nobody cares today because the Pirates have the best farm system in the majors . . . or at least are now in the argument. Mostly because of the draft signings, but let us not over look the great AAA debut of Jeff Locke. He was good through 5. Good to see.

Gerrit Cole signed a MINOR league deal, which is unbelievable. It is at least 8 and apparently has incentives of another 9 mil if he makes the pros by 2013. Cole is probably going to be the 2 overall prospect in the Pirate system, and is clearly a future number 1. You have to love a rotation of Cole and Taillon.

Josh Bell adds some much needed hitting to the Pirates organization. They were very weak in position prospects with power, and Bell has that. Power, average, athleticism. The short stop of the future is Josh Bell.

The PIrates also inked Clay Holmes yesterday. Holmes is a great pitching prospect who throws 91-93. He has work to be done, but is young and I expect he will start in State College next year. It is probably that Holmes might could make the Top 50 prospects.

Overall the Pirates did great. They added pitching over on top of pitching, and a couple of good bats with Bell and Dickerson. Cadnon Myles is a guy who looks like he could be a major leaguer as well. Great speed, no real power, but athleticism to spare. Also 37th round pick Rodderick Jones is hitting well in GCL. He looks like he might turn out to be a real prospect. Taylor Lewis is apparently Andrew McCutchen like in his speed and has shown so with his love of the triple. So, there are some guys who can really play in this draft. I like it.

Great day for the Pirates. Great one.

What is left for a good draft?

First, let me note the International Signings. The Pirates did sign a big name for over a million bucks in Harold Rameriz, a 16 year old outfielder. They also handed out some big bonuses to Caesar Lopez and Elvis Escobar, a Right handed pitcher and outfielder respectively. Other than that it is pretty quite. Juan Mendoza is a hard thrower but 25. I don't think I have seen him on any team yet. Danny Arribas is playing in the Dominican, but he is having a bad year so far. He plays both catcher and third. The other one that interests me is Carlos Mesa, a 20 year old from Cuba. I hope to see him in GCL next year.

The Pirates have now signed 17 guys. They just inked Alex Dickerson the third round pick, who can hopefully add some hitting to State College. They also have fourth round pick Corey Brewer lined up to go to GCL Pirates. Jason Creasy was signed the other day as well, 8th round high school pitcher. Dan Gamache is hurt, but signed and 10th round pick Taylor Lewis is already playing at State College and is struggling, but has a surprising triple total. The other signees are all expected signs who are long shots at the majors with the exception of Josh Poytress, a hard throwing 18th round pick from Fresno State. He could have bullpen potential. And I can always hold out hope for Derek Trent at catcher.

So what would it take to make this draft a real success? We can expect the Pirates will get a deal done with Cole, so let us go ahead and call it 18 people signed. Let us paint two scenarios. One with Josh Bell, and one without.

With Bell I think the Pirates have a good draft, but probably ought to sign one or two more people. 21 is a good number if Bell is one of them. I heard that 5th round pick Tyler Glasnow would be an easy sign. He needs to sign. That way the PIrates have signed all of the first 6 rounds, and then they could add one more prep guy, and it really would not matter who. In my opinion if they can do that, then the Pirates are in great shape with this draft.

Without Bell is a bit more interesting. It does not immediately mean they had a bad draft. They still need to sign Glasnow, but two other names pop up as important. Clay Holmes and Kody Watts. The Pirates would have to sign one of these two guys to make up for the loss of Bell. Both are top 150 prospects. Signing them both would make a good draft for sure. I would like to see the number signed go up as well. 24 would be one to shoot for. Candon Myles is someone I would like to see the Pirates sign if they lose Bell. He has a ton of speed and potential. Frankly, I hope the Pirates get him no matter what, but losing the bat of Bell would make Myles more important. One of the Aaron Brown and Jordan Dunatov group would be important as well. And of course the Pirates could make a run at one of their top 10 pick Jake Burnette. That leaves one more that could be anyone.

So, in my opinion the Pirates are close to having a really good draft. I think they will get both Cole and Bell. MLB has announced high school signings. This means now we can expect to see some of the signings to start flowing in. Keep an eye on those important names, action on the draft front will now start to get fast and furious.

They will be okay

The Pirates just stopped a tail spin and are no longer above .500. I have not been able to keep up because of vacation, visits, and the College World Series. Yes, I got to go to a couple of games. Good stuff, but no Pirate Prospects there to watch.

Since my absence Luis Heredia and Stetson Allie both made their pro debuts. Both went only 2.1 innings and both got beat around a bit. However, there is no need to panic. Both actually had some encouraging signs.

Allie was first, and he did strike a few guys out. His first two innings were really okay. He even had a 1-2-3 inning in the second. It was the third that was the problem. He was unable to work around the trouble he was in, got a little wild and got the hook. Still not too bad for a guy who should be a freshman in college against college seniors. Even Taillon was shaky in first game.

Luis Heredia who is still 16 was next. He did not strike anyone out, which was disappointing. But, he too did not give up any runs until the third inning. However, in his 7 outs, 6 were ground ball outs. That is a good sign. He is going to get a lot of chances against these much older guys. Expect good things from Luis.

The one to worry about is Nick Kingham. He was not encouraging at all in his big State College opener. Again, one game is nothing, but I was hoping for more. A low 90's lefty with the possibility of gaining some velocity is always exciting. It just did not materialize in his first outing.

On a more positive note, the PIrates are signing a lot of people. They even inked a High School pitcher already. 4th round pick Colton Brewer has signed, and hopefully will start appearing in some GCL games this year. 3 of the top 10 picks are already on board. All 4 of the seniors are on board and a couple of others. I am impressed at the speed the Pirates are attacking this draft. Of course the big fish will not land until the 15th of August, but still it is a good sign to see them get some high picks in already.

Pirates dominate, but have to edge out a 12th inning win

The Pirates beat around the D-Backs, but ended up in extra innings clawing for their life. They did get the win thanks to the big guns stepping up as they should. But, they get to .500.

The great news is that the big three bats all played big. McCutchen had multiple hits including the walk-off homer, plus a sac fly for the first RBI of the game. He scored the second run and the third as well. Tabata had a four hit night, scored the first run of the game. Walker had the worst night of the three, but got the clutch base hit in the bottom of the 10th when the Pirates were down 2-1, and things looked bad. So he pulled out an important RBI.

Maholm was also solid. I say solid and not great because he walked 3 guys, but only gave up one hit. Pitch count seemed a little high after 6 when he left with a 1-0 lead. Resop did a good inning. Veras gave up the tying run, but Tony Watson bailed Veras out of the 8th inning. Watson looked good inherited 2 runners and they did not move as he struck out both batters. Moskos was not so good tonight. His slider seemed off. He gave up the run in the 10th after Hanrahan worked a clean 9th. Moskos did get of the inning with only one run, which looked real bad for a minute. Daniel McCutchen pitched the 11th and the 12th and looked bad doing it. He was in trouble both innings. He had to get out of a 1st and 3rd one out jam, and did it. He had people on base the next inning as well. I think Clint was going to stick with him because the bullpen was getting thin.

Bad things did happen. The Pirates racked up 15 hits in 12 innings and only walked away with 3 runs. That is not good. Lots of guys left on base. Chris Snyder got hurt, or at least left the game. That means Dusty Brown is the starter and Matt Diaz the back up catcher. If it is serious then Eric Fryer is probably going to make the majors.

On a side note, the Pirates promoted Kyle McPhearson to AA. Matt Curry was promoted a few weeks ago. This is the beginning of moving up some guys that need to move up. Starling Marte maybe first on that list. Also Sanchez might need to be promoted to AAA soon. Will Taillon get moved up to High A to take McPhearson's starting spot? Someone from West Virginia ought to go up, it is too crowded down there. Crumpton? Waldron? Both would be good candidates. And don't look now, but Robbie Grossman is not fading in June. He is up to .276 and most impressively he went 1 for 2 today with 3 walks. 3 WALKS. If you are familiar with Grossman it is unheard of for him to walk 3 times in one game. No strikeouts is an accomplishment for him, but 3 walks? Wow.

As for day 3 of the draft, it is mostly people who will not sign or are organizational depth. Just so you know who you will see in State College soon, here are the seniors drafted.
31. Derek Trent - C - lefty that can play outfield as well. Only real person to watch taken today.
33. Christ Lashmet - 3B - from Northwestern

Those are the guys that are shoe-ins because they are seniors. There are several prep players, I can't imagine many of them signing. There are one or two other guys that were from a junior college or long shot signs from college. You will see a few of them like maybe Jonathan Schwind the 41st round pick. He is a junior from Marist, and he might go to the Pirates. We will see.

Draft 2nd Day

A lot of great picks today. Tomorrow's draft will be a lot less exciting, but I am going to break down today's group into three categories. Signings to watch, players to watch, and the organizational depth. I will put what round they were drafted in before their name.

The Signings to Watch are guys that could have high expectations and might be hard to sign. The more of this group we sign the better the over all draft.
1. Garrit Cole. - I put him here simply because he is important must sign. He will, but it won't be until the last minute.
2. Josh Bell - He is going to be amazingly hard to sign. If he does this is a great draft.
7. Jake Burrnette - hard throwing right handed high school arm
8. Jason Creasey - hard throwing right handed high school arm
9. Clay Holmes - hard throwing right handed high school arm. Top 200 prospect.
12. Candon Miles - center fielder with real speed. I hope this one signs.
13. Brandon Platte - hard throwing right handed high school arm. Probably getting to the range where the Pirates don't try if they have to spend a lot on the higher picks.
13. Jordan Dunatov - high school center fielder. Probably goes to college because he will go higher the next time he is in the draft.
15. Kody Watts - hard throwing right handed high school arm. Top 200 Prospect. Throws a splitter. Pirates will probably try to throw cash at Kody. Signing him would be a great sign.
16. Eric Skoglund - hard throwing LEFT handed high school arm
17. Aaron Brown - can throw 90 MPH, but also plays outfield. Probably won't sign. Going to Pepperdine.
19. Taylor Nunez - projectable high school arm. Not as hard throwing but could be.
26. Nicolas Flair - short stop from high school. Probably won't sign, but if he does it could be interesting to see him in the middle infield.
28 - Brandon Zajac - hard throwing LEFT handed high school arm. There is just not enough money to go around.

Players to Watch are guys who are probably going to sign and will be fun to watch in the short season ball. These guys might have a future in the pros.
3. Alex Dickerson - this guy has really bad defense and will never be ranked better than he is now. He will be above slot, but will sign. Good bat, so he should put up some numbers at State College.
4. Colten Brewer - hard throwing right handed high school arm. Get used to that phrase. Should sign.
5. Taylor Glasnow - hard throwing right handed high school arm. The kid is enormous and not filled out. Has no real secondary stuff, but wow. I like this pick. Some are saying he will sign for slot.
10. Taylor Lewis - good hitting outfielder from University of Maine. All time triples leader.
11. Jo-El Bennett-Lowe - outfielder who can hit from high school. I put him in this category because a commitment to Troy State is what he has. I think he wants to play pro-ball. Pirates will probably try to sign him.
6. Daniel Gamache - an out of no where pick from Auburn. 3B. He hit .299 and has a decent .414 OBP. The Pirates saw something, so he is worth watching.

Orgainzational Depth are the guys that probably sign on, but are not really worth following as they have little to get excited over.
18. Josh Poytress - drafted out of high school two rounds higher than now. Left handed pitching depth.
21. Alex Fuselier - outfielder. Senior, so he is signing.
22. Michael Jefferson - left handed pitcher.
24. Brian Sharp - 23 years old. SS. Can go back, but I doubt it. He will be in State College.
25. Josh Martin - hard throwing right hander from college. Could go back. Bullpen guy.
29. Kirk Singer - SS. Good defense.
30. Matthew Benedict - college senior. Right handed pitcher. Although as a SoCon Player, I will be watching Benedict.

Guys I don't think will come at all:
20. Trea Turner - short stop. Someone has to play there. But I doubt that the Pirates try hard with him.
23: Jordan Cooper - He can go back, but the Pirates drafted him higher out of high school. I think he goes back.
27. Ryan Hornbeck - I think he will not be pursued, and I think he could increase his stock after some SEC ball. Catcher.

First Five Round and the dramatic 6th round

The Pirates have a very aggressive draft so far. In addition to Garrit Cole the Pirates have drafted the following.

1. Cole
2. Bell - High School switch hitter demeaning 6 mil with Boras as an advisor and Texas as a destination
3. Alex Dickerson - Junior from Indiana great bat horrible defense.
4. Colten Brewer - hard throwing High Schooler
5. Tyler Glasnow - hard throwing High Schooler with no other developed pitches.

and the 6th round guy where it had been Grossman and Von Rosenburg they take Daniel Gamache, who is a third baseman from Auburn. 7th round is Jake Burnett, a High Schooler pitcher from Georgia.

So, the Pirates have potential to have a real great draft with 3 top 50 talents (first three round guys) and two in the top 20. Amazing. But Bell is going to be a very difficult sign, and Dickerson will cost a little money, but probably signs if the Pirates have the money. Glasnow looks like a singable guy, but a project. So we are looking at a good group of guys, but not necessarily a very cheap draft.

If Bell goes to Texas as the guys on MLB.com think he will, then the Pirates have a problem. It is an aggressive move, but one that can be very rewarding.

One franchise changing draft

I think we can say that we know where the Pirates stand now having signed 27 of their 50 draft picks. Let me go ahead and go on record. This is a franchise changing draft. Now, I think the 08 draft was good enough to make us competitive, and 09 has great potential, but mostly it was potential. The 2010 draft is fabulous. Let us take a look for a moment at one of the greatest drafts possibly ever.

First, there is Jameson Taillon. This kid is great. He has high 90 fastball that is thrown for strikes. He has a great curve and slider. Apparently he throws a decent change, but that is one the Pirates are going to work on. The kid is 18 and thus in for some growth in power. He has ace potential. Something the Pirates have not legitimately had in some time.

Second, we have Stetson Allie. Allie was a first round draft pick that was picked in the second round because of signability fears. Allie has similar stuff to Taillon, although not as many polished pitches as Taillon, but throws as hard or harder. Control of his triple digit fastball is an issue, but again the kid is 18. He is a clear cut top of the rotation guy with ace potential. Add to the mix that he can hit. A good hitter with power in his bat. Wow.

Then the Pirates signed picks 3,4,and 5. Mel Rojas Jr., is an Andrew McCutchen type player, who is only 19. He will be a touch slower than Cutch, but has that starting center fielder bat and defense. Waldron is okay, could be a good reliever, but Nick Kingham is a steal in my book. He was in the Top 200 according to most ranking systems, and is a solid middle of the rotation pitcher. He has a low 90’s fastball and the Pirates can work on the rest. Another 18 year old kid that ought to bring good times to the Pirates. In the past pitchers like Kingham have been asked to be the ace, but Kingham is the third best pitcher in this draft for the Pirates. So even if all the other Pirate pitchers from last year fail, Kingham does not have to be anything other than a number 3 starter. That is a no pressure situation for the youngster.

Admittedly the Pirates missed out on some guys in the top 10 of their draft, but they were not the sure things that Allie and Taillon are. The only one really worth missing in Zack Weiss and in the end the Pirates were talking to him all the way up until the deadline. They did sign number 9 pick Brandon Crumpton. He is a college kid, so hopefully he can progress quickly and might be some bullpen help just out of not having a place for him in the starting rotation.

Other than Rojas the Pirates added only a few bats. First base seems to be the place that the Pirates improved the most. The race to see who turns out to be the best first baseman in the group will be interesting. The Pirates signs Matt Curry out of TCU, and he is already doing well in State College. Justin Howard hit .456 with a 1.217 OPS at New Mexico. That is pretty good. And maybe we should add Jared Lakind in here out of High School. He is a lefty pitcher who plays first base and he was drafted higher than Howard. These guys could make a real difference in a traditionally weak place of the Pirates.

Middle infield sees only Drew Maggi as a real prospect. He is a sophomore, and looks good defensively and as a hitter for average. He got a big bonus to fore go more school. He might be a difference maker in the weak middle infield. Adalberto Santos also should be mentioned. He signed quick and is doing great at State College. He is small, but so far so good.

The Pirates got lots of other High School arms that might could develop into something. The Pirates shocked everyone with a big payout to Ryan Hafner (17th round). Late round picks Logan Penvy and Brian Trepagnier signed as well. These guys are high 80 throwers now, could they develop into something that helps out the Pirate system?

Now that is a great draft. In four years fully 3 out of 5 starting pitchers could have come from this draft with some of the bullpen guys being there too. Rojas could be roaming the outfield and firstbase could be occupied by a 2010 draftee. And if these things come true, then the Pirates will look real good. Real good. Add that to the fact that in four years you will still control Andrew McCutchen, Pedro Alvarez, plus last year’s draft number 1 Sanchez behind the plate, and in all probability next year’s overall number 1 pick too. Let us not forget that Zack Von Rosenburg and Colton Cain are in the system and ought to be the other two pitchers in your starting rotation in four years. Really this ought to bring Pittsburgh a championship.

No one could ask for more than this. No one.

Hope in the signings (14-27)

The Pirates lost to the hated Reds again. I have to say that Karstens pitched okay. But the bullpen just blew up. At least Daniel McCutchen threw an inning of relief and it actually was a relief. I have to question JR again. Tabata did not play and he is arguably the second best player on the team. He just had a 12 game hit streak, why is he on the bench, but Garrett Jones who has not had a hit in a really long time not getting a break? Jeff Clement deserves a shot. He is 3 for 5 since being recalled, all pinch hits, and two of those hits are homers. Jones needs a break. Clement needs a shot because next year he may not be with the team. They need to be able to choose between Clement and Pearce. Clement has power the team desperately needs. Play him.

The Pirates were awful all the way down tonight. State College is getting one hit with Waldron giving up 2 Earned Runs (5 total), and Brooks Pounders gave up two himself. Jeremy Farrell hit a first inning homerun and that was it for the GCL Pirates. They lost Kleis and Trepainger pitched okay. Kleis had five strikeouts. The lone exception was Altoona who knocked around 13 hits. D'Arnaud had three, Lambo had two, Owens struck out 4 giving up only one hit, which was a homer.

But the best news is the signing of Nick Kingham our fourth round pick. Welcome to the Pirates, Nick!