Grading the last 10 Pirates’ first-round draft picks

2018: Travis Swaggerty, F

Travis Swaggerty was probably one of the worst first-round picks the Pirates have ever taken. He got released last season, and still has not been signed by anyone. He spent six seasons with the team before ultimately being released.

He spent five games in the majors and picked up just one hit in nine at-bats. He batted .200 in Triple-A during the 2023 season, which led to his release. Since then, he spent time in the White Sox and Dodgers organizations briefly, but did not get any playing time.

This grade is an F.

2017: Shane Baz, C

Shane Baz is a tough player to grade for the Pirates, because he did not spend much time with the team. He only played for the Pirates' FCL team before being a part of the Chris Archer package that is extremely famous for being one of the worst deals in Pirates history.

Baz currently has not played much in the majors, but he has been productive in the small amount of innings he has pitched. Baz has an earned run average of 4.26 in 50.2 innings pitched and has struck out 59 batters. Opponents are batting just .235 against him and his WHIP is 1.18.

He is graded in the middle with a C because the Pirates did not really get an opportunity with him.

2016: Will Craig, F

Everyone in baseball knows the prospect Will Craig, but not exactly for his bat. He is notoriously known for a play that occurred with two outs, when Javier Baez hit a ground ball, but decided to run backwards and trick Craig, resulting in a run for the Cubs. Even aside from that play, he did not have a very good career in MLB, which sent him overseas.

He had a solid minor-league career, but when he got called up, those numbers did not translate. Craig batted .217 with one home run and three runs batted in. He also had an OPS of .577, which includes an on-base percentage of .277 and a slugging percentage of .300. His wRC+ was 53 and his strikeout percentage was at 33.8%.

His poor career earned him an F grade.