Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Power Hitting Draft Pick

Power hitting first baseman Niko Kavadas may fall down in the draft, which could give the Pittsburgh Pirates an opportunity to select him

The Pittsburgh Pirates have the number one overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. We’ve covered plenty of potential first-round picks, plenty of potential second-round picks, and I recently went over some third-round picks. The draft is an exciting time to watch players draft players who could be major pieces of their team’s futures.

The Pittsburgh Pirates will likely be seeking talent above all else. They have an extremely deep farm system, but one of their weak spots is power. Overall, they’re not completely lacking power. Oneil Cruz and Mason Martin have huge slugging potential. Eventually, Travis Swaggerty, Nick Gonzales, Canaan Smith-Njigba, Rodolfo Nolasco, and Endy Rodriguez will grow into above-average power hitters as they mature. After all, the oldest of that bunch is Swaggerty at 23 and the youngest is Maikol Escotto who just turned 19 at the beginning of June, so there’s still a decent amount of development left.

But, it would be fun to see the Bucs get at least another bat with massive power potential. This draft could see them get one of those kinds of players. While guys like Marcelo Mayer or Jordan Lawlar definitely have that 25-30 home runs per season in their future, this player would enter the organization already well matured and having a ton of raw power. This is Niko Kavadas.

Kavadas is Notre Dame’s first baseman. He is a hulking 6’1″, 235-pound slugger. Throughout his entire time at Notre Dame, the lefty slugger hit .286/.415/.587 with 46 long balls, a .301 isolated slugging percentage, and .428 wOBA. This past season, Kavadas put up some Barry Bonds-like numbers. He hit .302/.473/.767 with 22 home runs, and a .505 wOBA. He was on pace for 60 home runs in 600 plate appearances.

Kavadas may fall a decent bit in the draft. He doesn’t have what teams really like. He’s a bit older to start with. He’ll be 23 in October. Plus he’s only limited to first base and DH. He played third base in his first two seasons but has only played first base and designated hitter the last two seasons. He also has some swing and miss in his game. He struck out 25% of the time this season and a 20.8% rate throughout his entire time with Notre Dame. Though he did have a much better 18.9% rate from 2018 through 2020. Overall, there’s not much projectability.

Though the raw power is hard to pass up. MLB Pipeline states he had some of the best exit velocity marks of his draft class. He’s also seen his walk rate consistently trend upward since reaching college. During his freshman year, he had a 10.9% walk rate but ended 2021 with a 22.7% rate.

There’s a large separation between the ceiling and floor for Kavadas. While he could just be another Daniel Vogelbach or Rowdy Tellez, his pure raw power, and strength could lead him to being a Pete Alonso, Vlad Guerrero Jr., or Max Muncy.

Kavadas has things that will turn away many teams which means the Pittsburgh Pirates might be able to steal him later than where he should go. The Pirates may be able to sneak him past the 5th or even 6th round, which if they can possibly get him there, is something they should consider. While there is a ton of risk with Kavadas, he’d be an extremely interesting pick.