This was the 2025 draft pick Pirates should have made at No. 6 over Seth Hernandez

It would've been more helpful for solving the "now."
2025 MLB Draft
2025 MLB Draft | Jamie Squire/GettyImages

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ first pick of the 2025 draft was right-hander Seth Hernandez, who was considered the best player available when they were on the clock. Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America ranked him in the top three of this year’s draft class.

However, selecting Hernandez at No. 6 meant the Pirates passed up on who they arguably should have taken: Aiva Arquette.

Arquette had quite a strong season at Oregon State. Through 315 plate appearances, he turned in a .354/.461/.654 line. Arquette showed off his power potential, going yard 19 times with an isolated slugging percentage of .300. Despite facing better competition after transferring from the University of Washington, Arquette improved his walk rate from 7.4% to 12.6% and lowered his strikeout percentage from 17.5% to 16.5%.

Another extremely promising development is that Arquette had some solid numbers in the Cape Cod League during the 2024 season. He batted .291/.357/.437 overall. While he saw an uptick in strikeouts to 23.9% and only walked 6.8% of the time, he produced better than average overall numbers in those 117 plate appearances.

Arquette is also a potential shortstop in the long run. He has a plus arm that can make deep throws, and he flashed a solid glove while in the Cape Cod League. While Arquette isn’t particularly fast, he has enough range to play up the middle. The worst-case scenario is that he moves to the hot corner as he progresses through the minor leagues.

Arquette is precisely the sort of batter the Pirates’ farm system needed. He receives both a 60 grade for his power and a 50 grade for his hit tool by Baseball America. Only two Pirates prospects project to have 60 power and 50 or better hit tool: Konnor Griffin and Edward Florentino, the latter of whom is only 18 at A-Ball. Only Termarr Johnson projects as above-average in both departments.

By taking Hernandez over Arquette, the Pirates are adding yet again to their biggest strength. While it's not a bad thing, it's definitely redundant and doesn't solve their "now" issues with offense. There is no such thing as too much pitching depth, but the Pirates have so little high-end position player depth.

It’s debatable at best whether or not drafting for need is worth it, but right now the Pirates desperately need hitting, and taking Arquette over Hernandez could've gone a long way toward helping alleviate that.