Pittsburgh Pirates 2021 Mock Draft 1.0: Night 1 is 3 Weeks Out

So what do the Pittsburgh Pirates do with their final pick at number 64?  A lot of this will depend on the board obviously, but the team should have a chance to be aggressive with the pick.  Last year, the Bucs had pick number 31 in the Competive Balance A round. This year they are in round B so the circumstances are a little different.   With the Bucs looking at offense with the first pick it could make a lot of sense for the team to follow up with another arm.

There should be plenty of college arms available to them.  Often there is a gap with pitching, with more prep arms going toward the back end of the first round, leaving plenty of college arms for round pick.  With the team needing pitching help sooner rather than later, they likely will go with an upside college arm all the while trying to stay close to the draft slot.

So this leads them to UC Santa Barbara right-hander Michael McGreevy.  McGreevy checks a lot of the boxes that Front Office personnel Ben Cherington and Steve Sanders look for in pitchers.  First off he is big and projectable standing at 6’4” weighing 200 pounds. He also has a fastball that already touches the mid 90s with more projection.  With him having such limited innings on his arm and a lot of room for development the new Front Office could like the potential to develop him.

The other thing about hims is that he is a highly athletic pitcher.  McGreevy is relatively new to pitching, converting from infield early in his college career. Last year, the front office drafted Jack Hartman in the fourth round, who was also a converted infielder to pitcher.  In general, the Front Office likes athletic pitchers who can adapt easier when needed.  McGreevy could fit this mold.