Pittsburgh Pirates: Best Late-Round Draft Picks in Franchise History

The Pittsburgh Pirates have had many productive late round draft picks, but who have been the most successful at the MLB level?

Many of MLB’s legends post-1960s were early-round draft picks. The MLB draft has been an integral part of team and organizational building since it was introduced in 1965. Although many MLB legends have been born from the first handful of rounds, many all-stars and even Hall Of Famers were drafted in later rounds.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are no exception, and I want to look at the best Pirates draft picks who were selected after the 10th round who signed with the Pirates (technically, they drafted both Walker Buehler and Trea Turner in 2011 after the 10th round, but decided to go to college instead). First, let’s take a look at the best position players, and there are really just two players who are among the upper echelon of late-round Pirates picks.

The first is Dave Parker. Every Pirate fan knows who Parker is. The right fielder appeared in 19 MLB seasons and spent 11 of those with the Pittsburgh Pirates. From his rookie season in 1973 through his last year in the bigs in 1991, Parker hit .290/.339/.471 with a .354 wOBA and league and era adjusted 120 wRC+. Parker had speed, power and was a great fielder with a cannon of an arm. Interestingly, he was drafted as a catcher in the 14th round of the 1970 draft. However, he never played a game behind the dish once he reached the professional level.

Parker hit 339 home runs throughout his entire career and made seven all-star games. Parker is the only Pirates’ late-round pick to win an MVP, earning the prestigious award after his phenomenal 1978 season after leading the league in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS+, wRC+, cranking 30 home runs, and stealing 20 bags. Parker has many other awards in his trophy case. He won the 1985 home run derby as a Cincinnati Red, has taken home three Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers, won the 1979 All-Star MVP and has two World Series rings. One in 1979 and the other coming ten years later in 1989.

However, Jose Bautista isn’t far behind him. Had Bautista not been a late bloomer, we may be talking about a potential Hall of Fame career. The right fielder was a 20th round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2000. By 2004, his first look in the MLB, Bautista would bounce around with four MLB teams. He was selected in the Rule 5 Draft by the Baltimore Orioles prior to the ‘04 season. After 16 games with the O’s. Bautista was selected off waivers by the Tampa Bay Rays. A few weeks later, his contract was purchased by the Kansas City Royals. About a month after the Royals acquired him, he was traded to the New York Mets but would not suit up for them. On the same day, he was sent back to Pittsburgh.

Even after landing back in Pittsburgh and receiving regular playing time, it would take Bautista until his age-29 season to finally break out. By now, the Pirates had traded the outfielder to the Toronto Blue Jays, and this is where he cemented himself as one of the greatest players in the Jays’ franchise history. From 2010 up through the end of his prime in 2016, Bautista hit .264/.387/.542 with a .397 wOBA and 152 wRC+. Bautista led the league in home runs twice while appearing in six All-Star Games and winning three silver sluggers. He also finished top 10 in MVP voting four different times. Overall, he was one of the best hitters of the 2010s.

Bautista and Parker put together some very nice careers. Although they took very different paths to stardom, they hit over 300 home runs, bWAR marks above 35, and played over a dozen years in the big leagues. But what about on the pitching side of things? Like with the position players, two names stand out.

The first is John Smiley. The southpaw was a 12th round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1983. By 1988, Smiley had established himself as a reliable arm for the Pirates. From ‘88 through ‘91, Smiley had a 3.35 ERA, 3.48 FIP, and 1.16 WHIP. Smiley’s league/era-adjusted ERA+ came out at 104, making him 4% better than the league average in terms of run prevention. Smiley made the all-star game in 1991 while finishing third in Cy Young voting and 14th in MVP voting.

Smiley continued to put up solid results post-Pirates, pitching 1053.2 innings with the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds, and Cleveland. Between these four teams, Smiley had a 3.99 ERA, 3.77 FIP, and 1.26 WHIP. He still stayed about as productive as he did in Pittsburgh, given his 104 ERA+ hadn’t changed. Smiley made his second and final all-star game in 1995 as a Red.

The next player is Rick Honeycutt. The Pirates drafted Honeycutt in the 17th round of the 1976 draft, and he was a two-way player before two-way players became a thing again. In his first season of pro-ball, Honeycutt pitched 97 innings and had a 2.60 ERA and 4.9 K:BB ratio, but he also took 240 trips to the plate and hit .301/.458/.414 with five home runs. But after 1977, Honeycutt would drop hitting altogether and focus just on pitching.

Honeycutt would never appear in the Majors for the Pirates, instead being traded to the Seattle Mariners in August of 1977. For the first 11 years of Honeycutt’s career, the southpaw worked as a starting pitcher, pitching to the tune of a 3.84 ERA, 3.97 FIP, and 1.34 WHIP in 1702.2 innings. He was about league average, indicated by his 100 ERA+. Honeycutt pitched with the M’s, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Oakland A’s. Honeycutt would go to two all-star games and take home the 1983 American League ERA title.

But after 1987, Honeycutt would never make another appearance as a starter. Honeycutt would pitch into his early-40’s, racking up 458 innings between ten seasons. He was very effective, though, having a 3.28 ERA, 3.66 FIP, and 1.22 WHIP. Honeycutt would improve his ERA+ to 121. He mostly pitched with Oakland but spent a few innings with the New York Yankees and the last two seasons of his career in St. Louis.