Pittsburgh Pirates: Another High End Prep Prospect Drafted

The Pittsburgh Pirates used yet another pick in this year’s draft to try and get a high-school kid to forego college and sign a deal, this time it came in the 14th round with Braylon Bishop.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have made it clear that after taking Henry Davis 1-1, that they were going to take the money saved with that pick to lure top high school names away from college, even if other teams were wary of their signability.

The Pirates already selected Lonnie White Jr, a Penn State baseball and football wide receiver commit, and Bubba Chandler, a Clemson quarterback and baseball commit, with their second two picks in the draft. Chandler has already made it known on his Instagram that he will forego college and sign but White is still a question mark as to if he will sign.

The Pirates did not let the uncertainty of White signing dictate how they went about the rest of the draft though, as they are taking a risk by drafting Braylon Bishop with their 14th round pick. Davis was previously ranked as the 94th best draft prospect by MLB Pipeline but has fallen to pick 403, due to his commitment to Arkansas to play baseball. Teams feel that especially with it being a home state college, as he is from Texarkana, AR, that it will be hard to pry him away from there.

Bishop has already sent mixed messages on Twitter, as to whether or not he will sign though. He tweeted out this morning, in a recently deleted tweet, before the Pirates selected him “See you soon @RazorbackBSB”. He however has taken a 180 on Twitter as he made a post saying that the Pirates made his dream come true, so it is a mystery as to whether or not he will sign.

If Ben Cherrington and the Pirates are able to convince Bishop to sign, it will make one of the best draft classes already, so much better. Bishop, like previously taken Bubba Chandler, is a player with potential two-way power as he can play center field or be a southpaw on the mound.

He only pitched in one appearance in the 2020 season after having ten appearances and a 3.37 ERA in 2019. Bishop has a fastball that was clocked at 85 during his Perfect Game showcase, which is 7 MPH faster than average for players in his class. While he does have some pitching potential, most of his value comes in the outfield.

MLB Pipeline praised Bishop heavily with the following in one of their videos on him, “the most athletic player of his class and shows incredible speed on both sides of the ball”. This shows just how good people are already thinking that Bishop can be, which would make him a major steal if the Pirates can convince him to sign.

Additionally to the quote by MLB Pipeline, they back it up by the grades that they have given him on the 20/80 scale. His highest grade comes from his speed, which is ranked a 60 and also demonstrated by his great 60 yard dash time of 6.58 clocked by the Perfect Game showcase.

With Bishop’s speed, also comes great power. MLB Pipeline ranked his power at a 50, and he showed how good it is at the showcase. He averaged a recorded exit velocity of 92 MPH off the bat, which put him in the 87th percentile for his class, and is already only 4 MPH slower than the average for MLB.

While it is still a huge question mark as to whether or not Braylon Bishop will sign a deal with the Pirates, or stay in his home state for college, this pick could end up becoming a monumental steal and cement the Pirates as having one of the best draft classes of all time.