Pittsburgh Pirates: Players You May Not Have Known They Draft Pt. 2

Paul DeJong

Paul DeJong is the St. Louis Cardinals current shortstop, but was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2014 in the 38th round. As a catcher of all positions. The Pirates weren’t able to sign DeJong, but imagine if the Pirates did sign him, and developed him as a catcher. Think of how different the current catching situation might be.

Regardless, DeJong went on to be drafted by the Cards a year later in the 5th round as a third baseman. He stuck to the hot corner for most of his minor league career, and only transitioned to shortstop full-time in 2017.

After a hot start to the year at Triple-A, DeJong was called to the Majors and was outstanding. In 443 plate appearances, DeJong batted for a .285/.326/.531 line and 25 home runs with 26 doubles. Among rookies with at least 300 plate appearances that season, DeJong’s 123 wRC+ ranked 5th across the board. His fWAR of 3.1 ranked 3rd behind the two Rookie of the Year winners, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge.

Defensively, he graded out as a solid, but unspectacular defender at short with 0 DRS, 2.1 UZR, 1.1 range runs, but -6 outs above average. He also received some playing time at second base, but it was only a 158 inning sample size. Overall, he finished just behind Bellinger in Rookie Of The Year voting. His great rookie season earned him a 6-year contract for a guaranteed $26 million.

Obviously, expectations were high for the middle infielder following 2017. DeJong would become an outstanding fielder the following season at short, posting +12 DRS, a 7.1 UZR, 6.6 range runs above average, and 9.3 UZR/150. While OAA still posted him as below average at -5, he was still an above average defender, but his bat took a hit in the process. DeJong turned in a .241/.313/.433 line and 19 home runs across 490 plate appearances. His wRC+ dropped by 20 points down to 103.

So far, 2019 was his best defensive season. At shortstop, DeJong was tied with division rival Javier Baez for the lead in DRS at +26. However, DeJong led all shortstops in UZR (11.4), and posted above average range (2.2 range runs above average), the third highest UZR/150 (9.6), and outs above average finally agreed he was a good defender with +13. But like in 2018, his bat fell another peg. Despite having a career high home run total at 30, he still posted underwhelming numbers including a .244 BA, .313 OBP and .444 slugging percentage. DeJong had an wRC+ of 100, placing him at league average.

Walker Buehler

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted the now Los Angeles Dodger ace way back during the 2012 MLB Draft in the 14th round. However, like DeJong, Walker Buehler didn’t sign with the Pirates. Three years later, the Dodgers drafted him, this time in the 1st round and 24th overall, and signed with the club.

Buehler quickly established himself in the minors and by the beginning of 2017, the flame throwing right hander was among the game’s top prospects. He only built up his prospect stock more and after a strong full professional season, many prospect lists ranked him as a top 20 prospect.

Although Buehler made his debut in 2017, he didn’t get full playing time until 2018. But when he was inserted into the rotation, Buehler became an ace. In 137.1 innings, Buehler posted an ERA of 2.62, and 0.96 WHIP. He also had a strong FIP of 3.06, SIERA of 3.31, and 3.21 DRA. He also induced weak contact at a 23.1% rate. He walked just 37 of the 541 batters he faced, but struck out 151, accumulating a strong 4.08 K/BB ratio. With a 3.1 fWAR, he led all rookies, and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting.

Last year, Buehler put up similarly great numbers. Through his 182.1 innings of work, Walker had a 3.26 ERA, 3.01 FIP and 1.04 WHIP. Although he gave up more home runs on average with a 1.0 HR/9, everyone’s home run rates were up, and that was still above average. However, he was much better at controlling the ball, giving up the same amount of walks in ‘19 than his rookie season, but he faced nearly 200 more batters. He also improved his strikeout rate, as it rose to 29.2%. Although he did see a rise in SIERA to 3.51, his DRA dropped to 2.89. Overall, his season even earned him a couple of Cy Young votes, finishing 9th, and tying him with relief ace Kirby Yates.

Mark Appel

Mark Appel is one of the most famous draft busts in recent seasons, and he was also the 8th overall pick by Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2012 MLB Draft. Like the names we talked about before, because the Pirates weren’t willing to meet his demands for a $6 million signing bonus, offering a still hefty amount of $3.8 million, Appel did not sign with the Bucs. This wasn’t anything new for the pitcher, as he also didn’t sign with the Detroit Tigers who drafted him in the 15th round in 2009.

Finally, in 2013, after being drafted 1st overall by the Astros, he signed with the team on a $6.35 million signing bonus. However, as we all know, this never panned out. Appel did well in his first pro season, posting a 3.79 ERA in his first 38 innings of ball, along with a strong 2.89 FIP. But in 2014, his ERA rose to a worrisome 6.91 and he gave up 109 hits in just 83.1 innings of work. 11 of which were home runs.

In 2015, Appel did better, albeit still not good. Across 131.2 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A, the right handed prospect posted a 4.27 ERA, 4.07 FIP, and 1.41 WHIP. It was his best season so far with at 50 innings pitched, and the luster of being a first overall pick was starting to wear off.

During the 2015-2016 off season, Mark was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, along with Vince Velasquez, Brett Oberholtzer, Tom Eshelman, and Harold Arauz for closer Ken Giles, who was coming off a 1.80 ERA/2.13 FIP season, and Jonathan Arauz. Appel played only eight games and 38.1 innings after having to undergo season ending elbow surgery in June.

Now 25-years-old, Appel returned in 2017, but struggled once again. Through 84 innings (82 coming from Triple-A, 2 coming from Rookie Ball), the former two-time 1st round draft pick, and top 8 overall pick gave up 48 earned runs, surrendered 54 free passes, and struck out just 60 batters. He also threw 12 wild pitches.

At the end of the year, the Phillies designated Appel for assignment, and although he cleared waivers and could have continued his playing career, Appel has since “Stepped away from baseball”. He never officially retired and is still only 28 years old, but it seems likely we won’t see Appel, at least on the field as a player again. Appel, a Stanford graduate, is now attending business school, so maybe we’ll see him once again in the future in a front office role of some sort.

While nearly all the names we’ve talked about in these articles are players the Pittsburgh Pirates missed out on, or could have changed the course of history for the ball club, not being able to sign Appel was probably one of the few where the Pirates dodged a bullet.