Pittsburgh Pirates: 2017 Draft Season Recap Picks 8-10

So far, here at Rum Bunter, we have recapped each Pittsburgh Pirates draft pick’s first professional season.  Each recap looked at each individual prospect from the first round pick through the seventh round.

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted a ton of upside prep talented with their top draft picks.  So with their picks in the eighth, ninth, and tenth round they drafted all college players.  They took two pitchers and an outfielder with their final three picks inside the top 10 rounds.  Here is more on how each performed in their first professional season.

Blake Weiman

With their eight round pick, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected big University of Kansas pitcher Blake Weiman.  Weiman, a left hander, is listed at 6’4” and 210 pounds.  He pitched strictly as a reliever in his first season as part of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.  This was for the Advanced Short-Season affiliate in Morgantown, West Virginia.  He made 21 appearances out of the bullpen and compiled 33.1 innings.  He struck out over a batter per inning, sitting down 35 while only walking four.  Also, he gave up 36 hits on top of his four walks, giving him a strong WHIP of  1.20.  What helped him was his ability to limit walks, as batters hit .273 off of him.  All in all, his ERA for the season was 3.78.

Bligh Madris

The Pittsburgh Pirates went to the college outfield market with their ninth round pick.  They took an outfielder by the name of Bligh Madris out of Colorado Mesa University.  The toolsy outfielder had 17 home runs in his final season in college, and he showed off some of that extra-base hit ability in his first 56 professional games.  He had five home runs, four triples, and 13 doubles in 226 at-bats.  Meanwhile, he had a batting average of .270, an on-base percentage of .344, and he slugged .429.  He stole two bases, but he got thrown out on his five other attempts.  He only struck out 43 times and walked 22 times.

Beau Sulser

In the tenth round, the Bucs finished with an Ivy League pitcher by the name of Beau Sulser.  Sulser came to the Pittsburgh Pirates out of Dartmouth.  The 6’2” right-handed pitcher was used as both a starter and a reliever.  He made six starts and 12 relief appearances.  He had a record of 2-4 with an ERA of 5.31 in 40.2 total innings.  His WHIP was 1.50, and it was mainly this high because batters had an average of .309 off of him.  He had 33 strikeouts and allowed seven base on balls. Furthermore, he did produce a healthy groundball rate of 52.9%.  Also, his Xfip was 3.05, so he definitely should see better results in the future.

Next: Nick Kingham Granted Fourth Option

The Pittsburgh Pirates draft class will all get their first full season of development next season.  They drafted a lot of interesting prospects in the top 10 rounds, and most of them showed off their tools.  Of the three above, Madris has the most upside, but the other two could develop into interesting relief prospects down the road.

*Also, all stats courtesy of milb.com and FanGraphs