Pittsburgh Pirates: Projecting the Team’s First Four Picks

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball will partake in the annual MLB Amateur Draft tomorrow night.  Here is who they might take.

The Major League Baseball Draft is one of the most important events of the year for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  It is their chance to bring in some new, quality prospects that could be key contributors in the future.  With the Bucs being a small market team, it is even more important for them to find upside players via the draft.

The Draft is tomorrow night, Monday, June 3rd.  It will be shown on the MLB Network who will have Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis from MLB Pipeline, along with the team from Baseball America. Draft coverage has already started, but the actual Draft will kick off at 7:00 PM EST.  The Draft is held over three days (June 3-7) with 40 rounds.

The Baltimore Orioles are expected to take Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman with the first overall pick.  There have been plenty of mock drafts done over the last few weeks, and this is the consensus for the Orioles.  The catcher from Oregon State is considered to be one of the best draft prospects in years.

With the first overall pick being so clear, how clear is the Pittsburgh Pirates pick?  Well, that’s not as easy being they pick 18th overall.  Furthermore, they have four picks on the first day of the draft, so the team has a chance to add a lot of talent.  Who will the Bucs take with their four picks?  Here is who we think:

Pick Number 18: Quinn Priester, Right-Handed Starting Pitcher

All signs are pointing to the Pittsburgh Pirates taking Priester with their first overall pick.  Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline had Priester mocked to the Bucs last week.  For them, both to think that, it must mean that there is talk about the Bucs and Priester.  However, this prospect would make sense for the Bucs.

Priester fits the Pittsburgh Pirates prototypical profile for a right-handed pitcher.  He stands at 6’3” and weighs 200 pounds.  The Illinois high school righty has a four pitch mix that includes a four-seam fastball, and two-seam fastball, a curveball, and a changeup.  Priester’s best pitch is his two-seam fastball, which is most likely why the Bucs have so much interest in him.  He throws it around 92-94 miles per hour, but his four-seam reaches up to 97 already.  Priester has a commitment to TCU.

Pick Number 37: Brady McConnell, Shortstop

If there has been one other thing that has been made clear, it’s that the Pittsburgh Pirates want to get a shortstop prospect in this draft.  Before Priester started getting mocked to the Bucs at number 18, it was a number of different shortstops.

With the team taking a high school pitcher who likely will receive a large signing bonus, the team could look to go the college route to try to save some money on their draft pool.  Also, the team was given this pick as compensation for failing to sign Gunnar Hoglund last year.  So if the team fails to sign the number 37 pick this year then they will lose it for good.

Taking a college shortstop could make the most sense for the Bucs at number 37.  McConnell is a very interesting player.  First and foremost, he plays at the University of Florida, a school that is known for developing solid major league prospects.  Also, he has the frame that is starting to become more common in today’s MLB.  The Gator shortstop stands at 6’3” and weighs 195 pounds.  He has a projectable bat and a chance to stick at shortstop. The right-handed hitter is hitting .344 with 15 home runs across 55 games this season.

Pick Number 57: Mathew Thompson, Right-Handed Pitcher

The Pittsburgh Pirates will likely go back to the pitching ranks with their second-round pick at number 57 overall.  Thompson is a projectable righty who could make a lot of sense for the Bucs.  He is 6’2” and has plenty of room to fill out, currently weighing just 185 pounds.  His fastball already reaches as high at 96 and is considered to be one of the best pure arms in the draft class.  He also is throwing a changeup that could be a plus pitch for him down the road.

Thompson, who currently pitches at Cypress Ranch High School in Texas, is committed to Texas A&M.  He is ranked at number 69 on MLB Pipeline’s big board.  While this would be somewhat of an overdraft, the Bucs did the same thing in 2017 when they drafted a lesser ranked Calvin Mitchell in the second round.  Drafting Thompson here likely will not save the team money, but should at least keep them at the slot amount.

Pick Number 72: Kyle Stowers, Outfielder

At one time, the outfield was a position that the Pittsburgh Pirates were loaded all throughout the farm system.  However, that is not the case anymore.  The team has seen many of their prospects graduate to the majors.  The only notable outfield prospects below Triple-A are Travis Swaggerty and Calvin Mitchell.

The team adds another projectable outfield bat in the way of Kyle Stowers.  Stowers is a college junior playing for west coast power Stanford.  What stands out about Stowers is he is an athletic lefty who has projectable plus power.  He would project very well in PNC Park down the road.  Stowers has slugged .506 with 14 doubles and seven home runs in 45 games.

While that is not a ton of home runs, Stowers is still filling out into his 6’3” frame.  He currently only weighs 195 pounds, so he likely will add more muscle as he gets older.  On defense, Stowers will likely play in left field.  He has an average arm but runs pretty well (10 steals this year) and he could handle PNC spacious left field.  Stowers ranks at number 78 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 list.  He is a college junior which would allow the Bucs could save money to use elsewhere in the draft.