Pittsburgh Pirates: Ranking Neal Huntington’s First-Round Draft Picks Part One

Number 13 – Pitcher Mark Appel

It was an easy choice when deciding who to kick this list off with. 2012 first-round pick Mark Appel checks in as a the worst first-round pick of the Neal Huntington era. Why? Because he never played a single game as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

Appel was arguably the best pitcher available in the 2012 MLB Draft. So when he was still on the board when the Pirates were selecting at number seven drafting Appel would seem like a no brainer, right? Well, things were not that easy.

A big reason the Stanford product was still on the board at number seven was due to teams being worried about signing him after he reportedly rejected a $6 million signing bonus the Houston Astros, who had the first overall pick, offered him in pre-draft negotiations. Despite these concerns, Huntington and the Pirates made the call to draft Appel. Unfortunately, the team was unable to sign him after he turned down a $3.8 million signing bonus.

Instead, he went back to Stanford and re-entered the draft in 2013. This time, the Astros did select him with the first overall pick and they were able to sign him. Appel would float around in the Astros minor league system before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in December 2015. Appel never would appear in a MLB game before announcing he was stepping away from baseball on February 1, 2018.

Number 12 – Pitcher Shane Baz

Are you ready to pour more salt in the wound that is the Pittsburgh Pirates selling the farm to acquire Chris Archer?

The main reason Shane Baz is so low on this list is due to having spent so little time in the Pirate organization. The Pirates drafted Baz out of Concordia Lutheran High School in Tomball, Texas, with the 12th overall pick in the 2017 draft.

After being draft, Baz would make 10 starts for the Gulf Coast Pirates before the end of the 2017 season. He logged 23.2 innings of work in these 10 starts, striking out 19 batters and posting a 3.80 ERA. Once again pitching in the Gulf Coast League, Baz posted a 3.97 ERA and a 3.90 FIP in 45.1 innings across 10 starts in 2018.

However, these would be the only 59 innings the now top 100 prospect would pitch as a member of the Pirate organization.

On July 31, 2018, the Pirates acquired Archer from the Tampa Bay Rays. Part of this now disastrous trade was a player to be named later. That PTBNL was Baz.

With the Rays, Baz has become one of the more highly touted pitching prospects in all of baseball. Last season, he posted a 2.99 ERA, 3.66 FIP, and a 25.4% strikeout rate in 17 starts at Low-A. Yup, that Archer trade is going to hurt for quite awhile.

*Spoiler alert* Baz is not  the only player that will show up in this two piece article that was traded to Tampa Bay for Archer.

Number 11 – Catcher Reese McGuire

In the 2013 draft the Pittsburgh Pirates had two first-round picks. This was due to failing to sign Appel the year before. With the second of these two picks they drafted high school catcher Reese McGuire, who was viewed as the top prep catcher in the draft, with the 14th overall selection.

Like Baz, McGuire was traded before ever reaching the MLB level. The reason he slots a spot ahead of Baz is because the trade he was a part of, contrary to what a lot of people believe, was not a total and complete disaster.

On July 31, 2016, Huntington made one of his most controversial trades as Pirate GM. He was looking to get Francisco Liriano’s contract off the books as he had lost his way as a starting pitcher and the Pirates wanted to free up the money committed to him through the 2017 season. In order to do this, Huntington sent McGuire and outfield prospect Harold Ramirez to the Toronto Blue Jays along with Liriano. In return, the Pirates only received pitcher Drew Hutchinson.

While this trade was torn to shreds at the time, it was not all that bad of a trade. Liriano never did re-find his footing as a starting pitcher, and the Pirates used the money they got off the books to sign David Freese to a contract extension and to re-sign Ivan Nova that offseason. Furthermore, while McGuire has become a slightly above league average catcher for the Blue Jays, Ramirez never amounted to anything more than a fourth outfielder and McGuire never did reach his full first-round pedigree.

Number 10 – First Baseman/Third Baseman Will Craig

With the 22nd overall pick in the 2016 draft the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Wake Forest infielder Will Craig. When he was drafted, Craig was viewed as an advanced college bat that could climb through the Pirate farm system in a hurry. However, Craig is still struggling to find his footing offensively in the minor leagues.

Craig started his professional career at third base and has since moved to first base. His defense is not a question as he has taken home a minor league gold glove award at first. Offensively, however, there are still plenty of questions about Craig.

With Low-A in 2016 he slashed .280/.412/.362 with a 15.0% walk rate, 13.5% strikeout rate, .083 isolated power, and a 142 wRC+. With High-A in 2017, his ISO rose to .100 and his slugging rose to .371. However, both of those numbers are still well below average. Additionally, his walk rate dropped to a still strong 11.4%, while his strikeout rate jumped to 19.6%. He still got on base at a strong .373 clip, and his wRC+ was still 23 points better than average at 123.

Through the first two years of his professional career Craig was doing a great job of getting on base, but had yet to flash power. In 2018, that power flashed when he slugged .448 with a .200 ISO, 20 home runs, and a 11.1% extra base hit rate at Double-A. It was not all good though, as his walk rate dropped to a career low 7.7% and his strikeout rate jumped to 23.3%.

Craig’s success at Double-A led to him reaching the Triple-A level in 2019. Spending the entire season at Triple-A, Craig’s walk rate continued to struggle at just 7.9% and his strikeout rate spiked to a career high, and concerning, 26.3%. Additionally, his power dipped again. His slugging percentage dropped to .435, ISO to .186, and extra base hit rate to 9.3%, despite hitting a career high 23 home runs.

If there is a 2020 season, Craig may find himself on the Pirates’ taxi squad to be eligible to be pulled up to the active roster if needed. Right now Craig does not look like he will pan out as a starter level player at the MLB level, and potentially losing the 2020 season will do Craig no favors.

Number 9 – Catcher Tony Sanchez

Tony Sanchez was drafted out of Boston College by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 4th overall pick in the 2009 draft. The only reason Sanchez was drafted was due to Huntington’s strategy to attempt to save money to sing prep pitchers at an over slot value in an effort to rebuild the farm system’s pitching. Unfortunately, as we discussed last week, this strategy completely backfired.

Sanchez was viewed as a defensive first catcher out of college who could grow into being an above average hitter. After a strong start to his career, injuries started to derail Sanchez. He was hit in the eye with a pitch, and there was a rumor he re-injured the eye in a bar fight.

Through it all, Sanchez made his MLB debut with the Pirates in 2013. At first he was a fan favorite due to his fun personality and laid back ways. However, as he started to struggle on the field fans would start to feel differently.

From 2013 – 2015, Sanchez accumulated 155 plate appearances for the Pirates in 51 games. He slashed .257/.301/.375 to go with a 92 wRC+. This is not bad for a catcher, especially a back up catcher which is what Sanchez had become due to the Pirates have Russell Martin, Chris Stewart and Francisco Cervelli. His defense, however, had become a total and complete liability.

Sanchez started to struggle with the yips, even on throws as simple as completing a strikeout. He was worth -3 defensive runs saved in those three seasons, he committed five throwing errors and his pitch framing only saved the team 1.7 runs. These defensive struggles are a big reason why he has not appeared in a MLB game since having one plate appearance with he Braves in 2017, and why he currently remains a free agent.

Number 8 – Outfielder Travis Swaggerty

The final player to appear on the first half of the countdown is outfielder Travis Swaggerty. Now, having Swaggerty this low may be a bit unfair. He still has the makings of a starting outfielder at the MLB level, but the seven players above him have all reached the MLB level which Swaggerty has done done yet.

Swaggerty was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft. Entering the draft, many had the University of South Alabama star pegged as the best college bat in the draft. Thus far in his minor league career, Swaggerty has lived up to the billing.

He burst onto the scene in 2018 with the West Virginia Black Bears of the New York-Penn League. In 36 games for the Black Bears he hit for a .288/.365/.453 slash line to go with a 140 wRC+, 9.5% walk rate and a 10.1% extra base hit rate. This led to him being named a NY-Penn League All-Star, and being promoted to the full-season Low-A West Virginia Power.

Despite struggling with the Power, Swaggerty still made the jump to High-A in 2019. With Bradenton, Swaggerty walked 10.9% of the time, his strikeout rate dropped over 3% to 22.1%, he collected 32 extra base hits, and his wRC+, while it dropped, remained 20% above average at 120.

If there were a 2020 minor league season, there was a good shot Swaggerty would have started at Double-A. If not, he would have undoubtedly been with Double-A Altoona before the end of the season and potentially set himself up to earn a promotion to the MLB level at some point in 2021. Swaggerty is one prospect who will be hurt immensely by the lack of a minor league season in 2020.

That will do it for the first half of the list. Do you agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments below! Also, make sure to check back here on Rum Bunter later in the week for part two of ranking the 13 first-round picks from the Neal Huntington era.