Pittsburgh Pirates 2020 Mock Draft 1.0: College Players at the Top

The Pittsburgh Pirates have less than three weeks away from the 2020 Major League Baseball Draft.  Here is our first attempt to mock who the Bucs could select.

No one is yet sure when the Pittsburgh Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball will start the 2020 season.  However, one thing that is certainly going to happen is the 2020 MLB Draft.  The draft is slated to take place in a couple of weeks starting on June 10th and finishing on the 11th.  Overall there will only be five rounds in this year’s draft, but the Pittsburgh Pirates will still have an opportunity to add significant talent.

This will be Ben Cherington and Steve Sanders first draft with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Both were brought in from the Toronto Blue Jays and credited with playing a big role in their draft process.  Sanders, one of the Pittsburgh Pirates new Assistant General Managers, is considered to be the head of the Pittsburgh Pirates draft team.  He got this position after impressing Cherington in Toronto.  Put that together with Cherington’s success overseeing drafts in Boston and the team should be heading in the right direction.

On top of having those two in place, the Pittsburgh Pirates are also loaded with top picks.  The team has the seventh and 31st (Comp. A) overall picks in the first round.  Then they quickly turn around and have their second-round pick at 44th overall.  The team really has an opportunity to bring in three high-end talents.

Who could the Pittsburgh Pirates draft with those picks?  Here is our site’s first mock draft.  We will take a look at the top selections the Pittsburgh Pirates own and who they could draft with those picks.

7th Overall: Heston Kjerstad, Outfielder, Arkansas

31st Overall: JT Ginn, Right-Handed Starting Pitcher, Mississippi State

44th Overall: Dillon Dingler, Catcher, Ohio State

The Bucs are focusing on college players, specifically hitters.  Unless infielder Nick Gonzales falls to the seventh pick, Kjerstad is the next best college bat.  Furthermore, he is one of the better power bats in the draft giving the Bucs some much-needed pop in their system.

JT Ginn would be a more risky pick for Ben Cherington and company to make.  At one time it was possible the Bucs could have taken Ginn with the seventh overall pick, however, he underwent Tommy-John surgery this spring.  Obviously this has hurt his stock, but with the Bucs having an extra pick at number 31, they could take a chance on a pitcher who has top 10 pedigree.

Dingler would instantly become the Pittsburgh Pirates top catching prospect.  He is a highly athletic catcher, who played in the outfield with Ohio State before moving behind the plate.  He has plus offensive tools and has shown enough promise as an actual catcher.  Being he played centerfield, Dingler will also provide position flexibility for his development.

Overall, this is the perfect scenario for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  The team wants to add college hitters and they get two in this scenario, including a catcher which fills another big need.  They also grab another high-end pitching prospect who will come back in 2021.  At that point he would not be far behind Quinn Priester, Brennan Malone, and Tahnaj Thomas in the minor league system.  Check back later this week for another mock and other draft profiles.