Pittsburgh Pirates News: Team Signs Owen Kellington

U-32 senior Owen Kellington fires a pitch vs. Lamoille in East Montpelier on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.Bur Owen Kellington U32 Baseball 6
U-32 senior Owen Kellington fires a pitch vs. Lamoille in East Montpelier on Tuesday, May 18, 2021.Bur Owen Kellington U32 Baseball 6

Saturday night the Pittsburgh Pirates announced that they have signed 5th round pick Owen Kellington giving them 19 of 21 draft picks signed

The 2021 MLB Draft was a roaring success for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Many pundits rated the Pirate draft haul as the best in all of baseball with a big part of this being them drafting, and signing, 5 top 100 draft prospects in catcher Henry Davis, outfielder Lonnie White Jr. and Bralon Bishop, and pitchers Anthony Solometo and Bubba Chandler.

When all of the dust settled the Pittsburgh Pirates signed 19 of their 21 draft picks. The final of these picks to sign was right-handed pitcher Owen Kellington. Saturday night, the prep righty signed with the Pirates for $600,000. With this the Pirates used every single penny they could spend in the draft without going over the draft threshold.

Kellington chose the Pittsburgh Pirates over his commitment to the University of Connecticut. Now that he is signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates fans can expect Kellington to report to the Florida State League Pirates where he will pitch.

Kellington pitched in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League this season. In the FCBL he made a pair of starts for the Vermont Lake Monsters. If his two stats Kellington allowed just 1 hit, he walked 3 and he struck out 7 in 5 scoreless innings of work.

During his senior high school season Kellington was otherworldly. In 49 innings pitched he posted a 0.22 ERA and struck out 133 batters. This helped vault Kellington to being the highest drafted Vermont prep player in the history of the MLB Draft.

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Kellington was also a successful hitter as a senior. He hit .667 with 7 home runs and 26 runs batted in. As a pro, however, Kellington will focus solely on pitching.

By signing Kellington the Pittsburgh Pirates signed 19 of their 21 draft picks. As previously mentioned, this includes 5 of the top 100 prospects in the draft. No matter how you slice it the 2021 MLB Draft, on paper, was a roaring success for Ben Cherington and the Pirates.