Pittsburgh Pirates: Five College Outfield Prospects to Watch

The Pittsburgh Pirates need outfielders in their system, and while they'll likely add the most hyped outfield prospect in over a decade, they should still put these five college outfielders on their radar.

The Pittsburgh Pirates would likely benefit from focusing on college outfielders in this year's draft. The Pirates should take one of the best prospects the draft has ever seen first overall in Dylan Crews, who is an outfielder for Louisiana State University. The Pirates might not only break their franchise signing bonus record by drafting Crews, which they set in 2011 when they gave Gerrit Cole $8 million (which at the time was a record-setting amount) but the Detroit Tigers and Spencer Torkelson currently hold the all-time record amount for $8,146,300.

Either way, when you take a look at the system, you can see why the outfield is a potential need. Any high-ceiling outfield prospect is at Low-A Bradenton, the Florida Complex League, or the Dominican Summer League. The former two are essentially in rookie ball. Guys like Lonnie White Jr., Tony Blanco Jr., Shalin Polanco, and Braylon Bishop have talent through the roof but are still years away from even being close to the big leagues.

Because of that, the Pirates should put a focus on college outfielders, even if they're taking one of the most talented college outfielders ever. So who are some players for the Bucs to put on their radar?