Pittsburgh Pirates Draft: Best Position Player Tools Available

Speed And Fielding - Enrique Bradfield Jr.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. looks to be the 14th first-round pick out of Vanderbilt University. Despite having arguably the worst season of his college career, Bradfield is considered a top-20 talent in this year’s draft. However, his ability to man center field, as well as run the bases and track down balls in the gaps, is unparalleled by anyone else in the draft.

Despite a down year for his standards, Bradfield still batted .279/.410/.429 through 299 plate appearances. Bradfield walked more often than he struck out, with a 15.1% walk rate and a 13.4% strikeout rate in 299 plate appearances. His speed helped him swipe 37 bags, which made his ability to get on base all the more deadly. The only thing is he didn’t hit for any power with a .150 isolated slugging percentage.

Regardless of how his bat plays, Bradfield Jr. is a future Gold Glove winner. He easily has the best fielding ability, with an ability to track down anything hit within his zip code. However, his arm is below average. His speed has helped him swipe a whopping 130 bases in just 191 games. That’s a pace of 102 stolen bases in 150 games. Bradfield truly has two 80-grade tools here.

You could make plenty of lazy comparisons here, like Lorenzo Cain or Kenny Lofton (like MLB Pipeline). However, Bradfield certainly has similar profiles to the two former all-star center fielders mentioned. Bradfield is a guy who could hit .270 but will have a .350+ OBP and help his team rack up a ton of runs batted in because of his ability to will himself into a scoring position. But a dozen home runs would be a miracle for him.