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Morning Report: Pre-Draft Thoughts and What to Expect Today

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Here’s a quick rundown of what you can expect up on the site over the next few days. The Pirates have the 12th overall pick tonight, which will happen about an hour after Jameson Taillon makes his return to the mound. They will make three other picks later in the night. That will just be the start of our draft coverage.

Our popular tier article will be up today. It may possibly be up already, depending on what time you’re reading this article. If you haven’t read it in the past, it’s an article where we use all of the top draft prospect rankings to put players in order, then make some minor adjustments based on our coverage throughout the year. Sometimes the adjustment is just eliminating one source that is either much higher or much lower on a player compared to all of the other sources. Sometimes it’s just gut instinct based on what we know about the Pirates from years of covering the draft. Once the players are in order, then we break them up into tiers that are based upon the draft picks for the Pirates and which players fit each pick the best.

Leading up to the draft today, we will be watching the big sites for new mock drafts. There will be one article for the mock drafts today, with any updates and new mocks being posted in the same article. I’ll try to change the title each time it is updated so you don’t have to keep hitting refresh. We don’t have advertisers here, so no need to collect page views.

As for the draft itself, that begins at 7:00 PM tonight and the Pirates will make four selections today. The first round and the comp round will be televised on MLB Network, so just the 12th overall pick will be covered on that show. They will switch to MLB.com for a webcast of the second round and second comp round. That’s when the Pirates will select 42nd, 50th and 72nd overall. We will have articles up for each individual player selected on this day and the second day.

That second day begins at 1:00 PM on Tuesday and covers the third round through the tenth round. The Pirates will have the 88th overall selection, which will be the 13th pick on Tuesday. They will then select every 30 spots (118, 148, 178, etc) until the end of the tenth round. The Pirates have the 12th overall selection because the Colorado Rockies forfeited the 11th overall pick to sign Ian Desmond. After the first round, then Rockies are back in the mix, pushing the Pirates back to the 13th pick in each round.

On Wednesday, it’s when the team fills out the rest of the draft, selecting in rounds 11-40. That begins at noon, and just like on Tuesday, the Pirates will make the 13th selection on Wednesday, then go every 30 picks. On this day, we won’t  have an article for individual picks. Instead we will likely have one article in which we include all 30 picks and update it as we go along, with links to each new player page as they are completed.

After the draft ends each day, there will be other articles up regarding the draft. The next three Morning Reports will center around the draft and we will have comments from the front office on the players they picked.

Then the fun starts, as we track each of the players who sign and don’t sign. The signing period ends on July 7th this year, so it’s even shorter than in the recent past, which was much shorter than years ago. The only players who can take longer to sign are college seniors, who could hold out until the next draft, but most of them want to get into the system and start playing immediately.

So over today and the next two days, we will do all of the draft work for you. You just have to sit back and read, occasionally refreshing the page for updates.

As for some last thoughts on the draft. The Pirates have been linked to a lot of players and they don’t fit a pattern. We have heard a college hitter for the first pick and I could see them doing something like last year. Take a top college hitter with the first pick, then try to stock up on prep arms. This draft doesn’t have a lot of top end talent, but it does have a lot of projectable high school players. With a $10,135,900 bonus pool, the Pirates could convince a lot of upside to go the pro route. So that’s my feeling for this draft. One safe college bat that has been ranked highly all year  (aka not a reach) like Jake Burger or Keston Hiura, then projectable upside, and lots of it. We will soon find out.

My darkhorse candidate for the first pick is still Logan Warmoth. More on him in the tiered rankings.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton trails in their division by 1.5 games with seven games remaining in the first half. They do not play first place Palm Beach again during the first half.

West Virginia has been eliminated from the first half playoffs.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH


Source: FanGraphs

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Miami Marlins by a 3-1 score on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates now take on the Colorado Rockies, as Jameson Taillon makes his return to the mound five weeks after going on the disabled list due to testicular cancer. He made three rehab starts, two for Indianapolis and one for Altoona. Taillon allowed five runs over six innings in his last game, though he did manage to pick up nine strikeouts. The Rockies will counter with 24-year-old lefty Kyle Freeland, who has 3.34 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP in 70 innings over 12 starts.

In the minors, both Indianapolis and Altoona have off today. Bradenton doesn’t have a starter listed, while West Virginia is going with Oddy Nunez, who threw five shutout innings in his last start while allowing just one hit and one walk. Twice this year he has thrown four innings without giving up a hit. The best news on the minor league side is that Taillon is pitching today in the majors.

MLB: Pittsburgh (28-35) vs Rockies (41-24) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Jameson Taillon (3.31 ERA, 13:30 BB/SO, 35.1 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (33-29) @ Norfolk (27-36) 7:05 PM 6/13 (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

AA: Altoona (33-28) vs Portland (28-30) 7:00 PM 6/13 (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (3.99 ERA, 14:38 BB/SO, 49.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (36-24) vs Tampa (32-31) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

Low-A: West Virginia (28-31) vs Greensboro (34-27) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Oddy Nunez (3.53 ERA, 8:36 BB/SO, 43.1 IP)

DSL: Pirates (4-3) vs Rangers1 (5-2) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is triple from Will Craig from last week. Had to go back a few days because Altoona and Indianapolis haven’t put up anything new in the last couple days.

Also included a home run from Mitchell Tolman from the same game.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

6/11: Kevin Kramer placed on disabled list.

6/10: Chris Diaz traded to Miami Marlins.

6/10: Dovydas Neverauskas and Tyler Glasnow optioned to Indianapolis. A.J. Schugel and Edgar Santana promoted to Pittsburgh.

6/10: Pat Light designated for assignment.

6/10: Jason Stoffel assigned to Indianapolis. Placed on disabled list.

6/8: Brandon Waddell placed on disabled list.

6/8: Brandon Cumpton assigned to Bradenton.

6/8: Pirates recall Dovydas Neverauskas. Johnny Barbato optioned to Indianapolis.

6/7: Francisco Cervelli placed on disabled list. Jacob Stallings added to Pirates.

6/7: Tomas Morales assigned to Indianapolis. Zane Chavez activated from Altoona disabled list.

6/5: Casey Sadler promoted to Indianapolis. Dan Runzler placed on disabled list.

6/4: Cole  Tucker placed on disabled list. Daniel Arribas added to Bradenton roster.

6/2: Pirates designate Alen Hanson for assignment. Recall Max Moroff and Phil Gosselin.

6/2: Adrian Valerio placed on disabled list. Andrew Walker added to West Virginia.

6/2: Jameson Taillon assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

One former Pittsburgh Pirates player born on this date, plus one small trade of note and a special pitching performance from 45 years ago today. We start with the player, and that was second baseman Otto Knabe, who played for the Pirates in 1905 and then again in 1916. He was just a rookie when the Pirates brought him up late in the 1905 season for a brief tryout. By the time he came back, he was on the downside of his career. Knabe was without a job at the start of the 1916 season and the Pirates brought him in for a tryout. He was out of shape, so it was basically his Spring Training, but injuries forced him into the lineup ahead of schedule and he did not perform well. His total time with the Pirates was less than two months, but he was actually a really good player in between his brief stops. One interesting note about the start of his 1916 season and it seems like a misprint now, but it was a sign of the times. He wasn’t signed to a contract when he first got into games that season.

On this date in 1946, the Pirates and Braves exchanged struggling outfielders, with Chuck Workman headed towards Pittsburgh and Johnny Barrett going to Boston. Workman was batting .167 at the time of the deal, while Barrett’s average was just two points higher. The trade ended up being a draw, as Workman struggled in a platoon role and Barrett got injured. By the start of the next season, both players were in the minors and never returned to the big leagues.

On this date in 1970, Dock Ellis threw the sixth no-hitter in team history (two were shortened games). This is the famous game in which he supposedly pitched that day while on LSD. It’s a claim that is disputed by some, but makes a good story now. A recap can be found in a link above, while the boxscore for the game can be viewed here.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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