Pittsburgh Pirates: Should Continue the Momentum with the 2022 Draft

Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Pirates will once again be picking in the top 5 of this year’s MLB Draft.  Again, they have a chance to bring in a wave of quality prospects.

Last year’s Draft class is really impressive to look at.  The Pittsburgh Pirates had the first overall pick and essentially drafted 4 top 50 players all the while going well over their Bonus Pool allotment.  The team spent as much as they possibly could and received high grades for their final results.  The 2021 Draft class really has a chance to be special and make a big difference for this Franchise as a whole.

The Pittsburgh Pirates approach to the 2022 Draft should be very similar. The team needs to be aggressive once again and they should have the ability to be so.  This year the Pittsburgh Pirates will have the fourth overall pick along with a Competitive Balance A selection.

Because of this, the Bucs will have the fourth largest bonus amount to spend. The team has an overall budget of $13,733,900. The only teams with more money to spend are the Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, and the New York Mets.  The Mets will have multiple first-round selections due to their failure to sign Kumar Rocker last year.

Compared to last year, the Pittsburgh Pirates have less money to spend.  This obviously was to be expected with the team falling a few spots in the Draft order.  However, they are not that far off from last year’s total bonus pool amount which was $14,394,000.  So the team will still have plenty of flexibility to get creative with their selections.

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The Pittsburgh Pirates should have a very similar approach to the Draft this year.  The team once again has a top pick and an additional pick right after the first round.  These two picks alone should allow the team to bring in a couple of premium prospects.  If they can once again figure out how to creatively spread their bonus pool across all the rounds then they could be looking at another really impressive overall Draft class.  Putting a strong 2022 Draft class with an already highly rated 2021 class could mean big things for the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates.