Pittsburgh Pirates: Potential Second Round Pick

Part of the strategy of taking under slot with the first pick is to sign a high upside, but hard to sign high schooler in later rounds. Who could the Pittsburgh Pirates be interested in?

While much attention has been placed on what the Pittsburgh Pirates will do with the first pick, the later picks are of more intrigue. By saving money with the first pick, the club can allocate that bonus pool elsewhere and sign more upside players. Clubs like the Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles have done this in the past.

For the Pirates, picks number 37 and 64 are areas where the team can spend some of their savings. While these picks are harder to project, there is some information on who the club potentially likes. Keith Law has recently mentioned that Joe DelliCarri was in New Jersey to watch left handed prep pitcher Anthony Solometo. DelliCarri is of course the director of amateur scouting.

Solometo is a 6’5” and 220 pound lefty that is committed to North Carolina. He is more protectable as his fastball currently sits in the low 90s. He has a slider, which is his best secondary as well. One interesting thing about Solometo is his arm action, which looks really similar to Madison Bumgarner. Like most high school arms he needs to develop a changeup. He ranks 32nd on FanGraphs and 20th on MLB Pipeline. This puts him in the area of the Pittsburgh Pirates being able to go overslot at 37 to sign him.

With DelliCarri being at a Solometo start indicates that the Pittsburgh Pirates have some interest in the arm. He’s protectable and a top high school pitching prospect. By going underslot with the first pick, the Pirates have a chance to land him at pick 37. Ben Cherington has about two weeks before the draft and the team will collect as much information as possible.