Pittsburgh Pirates: 10 Years Since Having Two Top 15 Selections
The 2012 Draft was the first Major League Baseball Draft to fall under the Bonus-Slot System. This was new for everyone in the game and the fans. So in 2012 when the Pittsburgh Pirates failed to sign Mark Appel, whom they selected 8th overall, many were concerned about the new system.
Well, because the Pittsburgh Pirates were unable to agree to terms with Mark Appel, they were awarded the 9th overall pick in the 2013 Draft. If a team fails to sign their first-round pick they receive a compensatory selection the following year. So in 2013, the Pittsburgh Pirates had 2 first-round picks inside the top 15.
The team's other first-round selection, their actual pick, was at #14 overall. This gave the team a real chance at acquiring some impact talent. With the 9th overall pick, the team would take prep outfielder Austin Meadows. This was considered a steal as many felt that Meadows would have been off the board by pick #9.
The team then used the 14th overall pick on prep catcher Reese McGuire. McGuire was considered to be the top prep catcher in the Draft class. Many thought that the Pittsburgh Pirates would take McGuire with pick #9, so again it was viewed as a bit of a steal to be able to still get him at #9.
It has been 10 years since the Pittsburgh Pirates selected two prep prospects, and neither is with the team today.
This was probably the last good first round that Neal Huntington had as General Manager. The team which bombed the 2012 Draft, would go on to have some pretty poor Drafts in 2013. Unfortunately, the production of those two first-round picks has come for other teams.
Meadows would be traded as part of a package to the Rays for Chris Archer. Austin Meadows had an all-star year in 2019 for the Tampa Bay Rays. Reese McGuire has never reached the potential many believed that he had. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays are part of the Francisco Liriano salary dump deal. Still, he has turned into a Big League catcher with a career .258 batting average.
The team not only moved on from both, they do not have anything to show for them either. The two players acquired in the deals pertaining to those specific players were Chris Archer from the Rays and Drew Hutchinson from the Blue Jays. Neither is with the Organization anymore and neither contributed much when here.