Pittsburgh Pirates: Recapping Rule Five Draft

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a handful of moves pertaining to the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday, so let’s recap what happened.

Thursday was Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 Draft. 74 total players were selected in the draft, 18 in the Major League phase and 56 in the Triple-A phase. The Pittsburgh Pirates made a handful of moves regarding the draft so let’s recap what happened.

The Pittsburgh Pirates had the number one overall pick in this year’s Rule 5 Draft and selected right-handed pitcher Jose Soriano. Soriano was ranked as one of the Los Angeles Angels’ top pitching prospects. He’s a hard throwing righty whose fastball and curveball both are considered above average pitches. He’s great at keeping the ball in the park and has seen his strikeout rate rise the past two seasons. His big issue is control, however, he is still young as 2021 would be his age-22 season.

Soriano will miss a good chunk of the 2021 season due to undergoing Tommy John surgery last February. Many teams pick players who are injured in the Rule 5 Draft so they can be stashed on the injured list and not take up a roster spot immediately and that seems to be the idea general manager Ben Cherington had here.

The Pittsburgh Pirates also made a trade with the New York Mets. The Mets had selected Luis Oviedo from the Cleveland Indians with the 10th overall selection in the draft and was then sent to the Bucs for cash. Oviedo, who impressively ranked as the Indians’ 11th best prospect and even appeared on Baseball Prospectus’ top 100 prospect list to start 2019, seems like a very good move.

Oviedo has future 50-grades or better for all four of his pitches, including his command. With the two players Cherington got from the Major League phase of drafting, it’s clear he went with the high-ceiling approach, going with two arms with very good potential.

During the Triple-A rounds, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected three different players.

Their first pick was from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Shea Spitzbarth. Although Spitzbarth has struggled at Triple-A, he’s only pitched 27 innings at the level and he’s been outstanding in the 161.1 innings he’s tossed at Double-A, having a 3.17 ERA, 3.02 FIP and 1.15 WHIP.

Their next pick was infielder Claudio Finol from the Cincinnati Reds. Finol has seen playing time at every single infield position. While he hasn’t put up great numbers with a career OPS of just .677 through 656 plate appearances, he’s only 20-years-old and 2021 will be his age 21 season.

The third and last pick they made was from the Chicago Cubs, pitcher Jeffrey Passantino. Passantino pitched 89 total innings between four different levels, everything ranging from Low-A to Triple-A. He was used as a swing man seeing time in both the bullpen and rotation. In total, he played in 25 games and started 10 of them. Overall, he was quite an effective arm, posting an impressive 7.43 K/BB ratio and 2.82 FIP.

The Pittsburgh Pirates also lost one player in the draft. Just like the Pirates picked a relief swing man type pitcher from the Cubs, the Cubs picked a swingman type reliever from the Bucs. With the 7th pick in the Triple-A phase, the Cubs picked right-hander Samuel Reyes from the Pirates. Although an unranked prospect, Reyes was very good for with Low-A Greensboro and High-A Bradenton. He pitched to the tune of a 2.29 ERA, 2.89 FIP and 1.06 WHIP across 70.2 innings of work. This was in 35 games, two of which were starts. He only allowed just four home runs to go with a solid 3.17 K/BB ratio. Reyes was signed by the Pirates out of the Dominican Republic in July 2016, which made the 24-year-old eligible to be selected.

Overall, the Pirates and Cherington heavily focused on acquiring pitching. Of the five players the Bucs brought in, just one was a position player. Although they did lose Reyes, they didn’t lose any big notable names. They were able to pass Rule 5 Draft eligible top prospects like Travis MacGregor, Santiago Florez and Lolo Sanchez through the draft while bringing in five new players.