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

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.