Pittsburgh Pirates: Looking at Previous #1 Overall Picks

ST LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 04: Starting pitcher Gerrit Cole #45 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals during Game Two of the National League Division Series at Busch Stadium on October 4, 2013 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 04: Starting pitcher Gerrit Cole #45 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals during Game Two of the National League Division Series at Busch Stadium on October 4, 2013 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
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PITTSBURGH, PA – 1993: Third baseman Jeff King #7 of the Pittsburgh Pirates fields a ball during a Major League Baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1993 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA – 1993: Third baseman Jeff King #7 of the Pittsburgh Pirates fields a ball during a Major League Baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1993 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images) /

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had the number one overall pick four different times. With them having the number one overall pick in this summer’s draft let’s take a look at their former number one overall picks.

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished the 2020 MLB season with just 19 wins. This made them the worst team in baseball in the shortened 60-game season. With this performance, if you wish to call it that, they clinched the number one overall pick in this summer’s MLB Draft.

This is far from the first time they’ve gotten the #1 overall pick. It will be the 5th time in the franchise’s history since the start of the MLB amateur draft back in 1965. The number one overall pick can mean you can have an outstanding draft class ahead of you that can significantly boost your team’s future, or waste a potentially franchise-changing opportunity. So let’s go back through the team’s history and look at all the drafts in where they got the #1 pick, starting with their very first time in 1986.

1986

After finishing the 1985 season 57-104 the Pittsburgh Pirates received the top overall pick in the 1986 draft. They used this pick to draft infielder Jeff King. King would end up playing 8 seasons with the Bucs, but never fully reached his lofty number one overall selection status.

Overall, he was roughly a league-average batter hitting .258/.320/.417 with 99 home runs, a .325 wOBA, 97 wRC+ and 98 OPS+. King played a little bit of everywhere in the infield, mainly seeing time at the infield corners, but also time at second base and a few games at shortstop sprinkled in between.

Following the 1995 season the Pittsburgh Pirates traded the infielder to the Kansas City Royals along with Al-Star shortstop Jay Bell for three different Jeffs (Wallace, Martin, Granger) and Joe Randa.

Randa ended up being the most productive and was pretty decent for the Bucs. He had a .817 OPS, .359 wOBA, 113 wRC+ and 3.7 fWAR in 1997. But 1997 would end up being the only year he was in Pittsburgh for one year before being selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the expansion draft.

King played out his last few seasons with the Royals in 1997-1999 and put together a nice 11-yea career. But he wasn’t the most valuable player selected in that draft. That would belong to pitcher Rick Reed.

Reed was the Bucs’ 26th round selection. Reed didn’t play much in the early stage of his career, pitching just 266.1 innings through his first 8 seasons in the bigs. 124.2 of these innings came in a Bucs’ uniform. But he had a late-career breakout. From 1997 to 2002, Reed pitched to the tune of a very solid 3.77 ERA, 4.18 FIP and 1.18 WHIP in 1144.1 innings. Reed was best at limiting walks with a walk rate of just 4.2%. He made two all-star game appearances in these 6 seasons, that being in1998 and 2001, and compiled a career 19.3 fWAR.

Overall, eight players from their 1986 draft made it to the majors. However, nobody else of real note came from this draft. Outfielder Tom Goodwin played 14 years in the bigs and infielder Mike Mordecai didn’t sign with the Bucs but was drafted again in 1989 by the Atlanta Braves. He ended up playing 12 years in the bigs but had a negative fWAR.

Pirate Kris Benson throws against Milwaukee at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania July 3, 2004 (Photo by Sean Brady/Getty Images)
Pirate Kris Benson throws against Milwaukee at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania July 3, 2004 (Photo by Sean Brady/Getty Images) /

1996

With the top overall pick in the 1996 MLB Draft the Pittsburgh Pirates selected pitcher Kris Benson out of Clemson University. While Benson ended up having some solid numbers for the Bucs, he, like many other picks throughout baseball history, never lived up to the status of being the number one overall pick in the draft.

Benson pitched 782 innings across 5 seasons with the Pirates putting up a 4.26 ERA, 4.22 FIP and 1.41 WHIP. Benson ended up being about 5% better than the league average during his time in Pittsburgh with a 105 ERA+, 96 ERA- and 95 FIP-. This, after all, was in the steroid era so it’s not surprising that his league and era adjusted stats reflect this.

Another notable pitcher the team drafted was Chris Capuano in the 45th round. The lefty didn’t sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates but got re-drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 1999 draft, this time in the 8th round. Capuano ended up spending 12 seasons in the Majors and had a few solid seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers. He even made the All-Star game in 2006.

One lefty reliever that’s a bit forgotten in Pirate history is Mike Gonzalez, who was also selected in the 1996 draft. Gonzalez had some solid seasons with the Bucs. From 2004 to 2006, the southpaw had a 2.08 ERA, 2.58 FIP and 1.20 WHIP through 147.1 innings. He even took over as the team’s closer in 2006, racking up 24 saves. He only allowed 5 home runs and struck out batters at a healthy 28.8% rate. Although, this did come at the cost of his control. He walked 11.1% of all the batters he faced. However, he ended up pitching 11 years in the big leagues and finished his career with a K/9 rate over 10 and strikeout rate over 25%.

A total of 8 players from this draft made it to the Majors. Rob Mackowiak and Willie Harris were the only players to more than 500 games at the big league level, but Harris didn’t sign with the Bucs that season.

FORT MYERS, FL – MARCH 04: Pitcher Bryan Bullington #49 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches against the Boston Red Sox on March 4, 2008 at City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)
FORT MYERS, FL – MARCH 04: Pitcher Bryan Bullington #49 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches against the Boston Red Sox on March 4, 2008 at City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images) /

2002

The 2002 draft was not a very pretty one for the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team took Bryan Bullington with top pick in the draft passing up players who would eventually become MVP and Cy Young contenders/winners such as Prince Fielder, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Joey Votto, and Brian McCann, just to name a few.

Bullington’s solid numbers in the minors never translated into big league success. The right-hander would only pitch 81.2 innings throughout his big league career, spending time with the Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals. But at the very least for Bullington, he found success overseas, pitching in 5 productive seasons in Japan.

The most productive player the Pittsburgh Pirates got out of the 2002 draft ended up being right-handed closer and now color commentator Matt Capps. Capps spent 8 years in the big leagues, racking up double-digit saves in 6 of those seasons.

As a Pirate, Capps had a pretty solid 3.61 ERA, 3.84 FIP and 1.17 WHIP through 217.2 innings of work. Capps had his best season in 2010 with the Washington Nationals and Minnesota Twins, going to the All-Star Game and racking up 42 saves. Though Capps never appeared in a major league game again after 2012, he bounced around with the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and Arizona Diamondbacks up until 2016. The former All-Star joined the Pirates’ booth this year as their newest color commentator.

One last name worth going into detail about was outfielder Nyjer Morgan. Morgan was definitely a character to say the least throughout his MLB career. He spent 7 seasons in the bigs batting .282/.343/.366 with only 12 home runs, but 120 stolen bases and a 93 wRC+/.317 wOBA. Morgan was also a really good defender with +30 DRS, 14.4 UZR/150 and 41.5 range runs above average throughout his major league career. The Bucs traded Morgan to the Washington Nationals in 2009, which ended up being the trade that got them two-time Al-Star closer, Joel Hanrahan.

Only 6 players from this draft ever made it to the big leagues. The three other draft picks, Dane Davidson (10th round), Chris Demaria (17th round) and Brad Eldred (6th round) all ended up putting up a negative bWAR. Only Morgan and Capps were the only ones to play at least 100 games in the Major Leagues.

PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 23: Gerrit Cole #45 of the Pittsburgh Pirates delivers a pitch in the first inning during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on September 23, 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 23: Gerrit Cole #45 of the Pittsburgh Pirates delivers a pitch in the first inning during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on September 23, 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /

2011

The 2011 draft is very notable for two reasons. One, it had the chance to be one of the most organizational-changing drafts in the history of Pittsburgh Pirates. Two, the Pirates’ super aggressive spending on draft selections is the main reason we have draft slot values today. The 2012 draft would be the first draft to have slot values.

With the top pick in the 2011 draft the Pittsburgh Pirates selected highly-skilled right-hander Gerrit Cole. Cole, who held the highest signing bonus for any draft prospect ever until Adely Rutschman broke his record in 2019, showed all the makings of an ace through the first few years of his career. The first 3 years of his career saw him pitch to the tune of a 3.07 ERA, 2.89 FIP, and 1.15 WHIP.

With Cole’s strikeout rate rising, walk rate dropping, and home run rate remaining at a very strong sub-0.8 rate, the Bucs seemed to want Cole to experiment more with pitch-to-contact strategy. This led to his downfall as a Pirate pitcher and was traded to the Houston Astros for what ended up being a lopsided trade, but one that’s looking better.

The Bucs were able to salvage it to some degree when they received back a strong prospect package for Joe Musgrove and Colin Moran has been trending upward the last two years. Both were the main pieces in the trade.

Cole has since turned into an ace, finishing 2nd behind teammate Justin Verlander in Cy Young voting in 2019, receiving the richest contract for a pitcher ever the following off-season by the New York Yankees, and looking like he could take home the hardware yet again.

The Bucs broke a second signing bonus record in the second round when they drafted switch-hitting slugger Josh Bell in the second round. Bell’s time with the Bucs was very inconsistent. All told, he hit .261/.349/.466 with a .343 wOBA and 113 wRC+ with the Pirates. However, his well below-average defense led to him having an fWAR of just 3.4 in 552 games/2191 plate appearances. That’s just below 1 fWAR across 150 games. Bell’s wildly inconsistent bat led to his end in Pittsburgh and was dealt this prior offseason to the Washington Nationals where he currently has a 43 wRC+, albeit in 64 plate appearances.

Sadly, there’s another 2021 American League Cy Young contender in this draft class. With their 5th round pick, the team selected flamethrower Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow had awful control with the Pirates, walking 13.9% of all the batters he faced. That, combined with a 1.3 HR/9 led to a 5.79 ERA and 4.90 FIP in 141.1 innings. Glasnow was dealt to the Tampa Bay Rays at the 2018 trade deadline as part of a three-player package for Chris Archer. Glasnow spent most of the 2019 season hurt and was inconsistent in 2020. However, he’s currently dominating batters in the AL East with a 2.05 ERA, 1.81 FIP, and 0.75 WHIP through 30.2 innings this year.

Glasnow’s downfall with the Pittsburgh Pirates was for a similar reason Cole had a downfall with the Pirates. He was forced into the “pitch-to-contact” mold the Pirates essentially forced on their young players in the previous regime.

I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t anything else notable about this draft class. The team broke a third signing bonus record, this time in the 9th round when they picked Clay Holmes. In the 20th round, they selected Nationals’ star shortstop Trea Turner. Alex Dickerson, their 3rd round pick, was one of the Giants’ best hitters in 2019-2020.

Next. More Praise for Quinn Priester. dark

Two other players from this draft have made the majors. Their 4th round pick, Colten Brewer has pitched 90 innings in the big leagues from 2018-2020. Eric Skoglund was a 16th round selection but did not sign. He would later be picked by the Kansas City Royals in the 3rd round of the 2014 draft and has pitched a total of 109 innings in the bigs from 2017-2019.

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