49.6 F
Pittsburgh

Morning Report: Thoughts on the 2017 Draft

Published:

While we were doing the players pages on Wednesday for the last 30 picks, updating the running article, sending out tweets for every pick and updating the draft tracker, I wasn’t able to get a great look at many of the 15 picks that Tim Williams posted about. I was busy writing up my 15 players, as well as posting the Matt Frawley trade news and writing up Francisco Cervelli coming off the disabled list. After that, I started the Prospect Watch and the Morning Report, so you could say it was a hectic day.

On Thursday I was able to look over the players Tim covered and get a better sense of the draft, so I figured I’d give some thoughts on it this morning.

The Pirates did what I would have done in this draft, which I mentioned in yesterday’s Morning Report. They got a big college bat and four high upside prep picks in the top 88 overall picks. I’m going to assume that they all sign, and both Shane Baz and Steven Jennings said they will already. So assuming the top five picks all sign, that’s a pretty good haul for the draft under the current restrictions.

The second and third days weren’t that exciting, but I’ll point out that sixth rounder Cody Bolton and 19th rounder Jake Webb have both said they are signing. You add those two players in with the other four high upside prep players and the GCL Pirates are going to be a loaded team this summer. With Conner Uselton and Cal Mitchell in the outfield along with Kevin Sanchez, who was the top international signing in 2015-16, that’s a high upside outfield. The GCL Pirates will also have Jeremias Portorreal out there, giving them a fourth outfield prospect of note.

After those six prep players I just mentioned, and third round pick Dylan Busby, then the draft gets a little foggy. That’s not really a bad thing, because we are talking about seven players with potential, including very high potential in some cases. There are players of note like fifth round pick Deon Stafford, who got some nice reviews after the draft. Seventh round pick Jared Oliva and ninth rounder Bligh Madris also have potential as two under-the-radar outfielders.

We won’t know about the picks after the tenth round until they start to sign, but there seems to be some lottery picks mixed in with a lot of college seniors. We found out that 18th rounder Shea Murray, who seemed like a very questionable pick, has hit 99 MPH. Some of those other relievers have velocities in the low-to-mid 90s and maybe the team gets lucky with one (or more) of those players.

The draft certainly had a lot of excitement early and then not much after the third round. That’s part of going big with high upside prep players. They take up a huge chunk of your draft pool, so it’s not going to look like much if you have to make cap room with other picks to sign them. You can throw Cody Bolton in here too, because it’s unlikely that he signed for his slot amount ($255,900). If they did get him for that much, then you have to give it up for them for getting it done.

This is definitely going to be a draft where it takes longer to judge. Even some of the college players are considered raw, but we are also assuming they are signing all six prep players. Maybe they still have room in their draft pool after all those players are signed and they can get 17th round pick Mason Martin to forego Gonzaga. He got some favorable reviews pre-draft, so that would be another nice player to add to a group that already looks strong.

Here’s the draft tracker if you want to read more on these players.

* The Morgantown schedule begins in just three days. I got a look at their roster, minus the draft picks of course, and it’s not a team with a lot of top 50 prospects. In fact, there aren’t any there, but they do have a few players of note, including two DSL players from last year skipping over two levels. Their Opening Day lineup will look a little different than what you will see after all of the draft picks sign, including third round pick Dylan Busby, who will surely be in our mid-season top 50 list. His season is still going on in the College World Series. We will have a season preview in the next few days

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton trails in their division by 2.5 games with three 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

The Pirates were off yesterday

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates were off yesterday. They now start a three-game series at home against the Chicago Cubs. Pittsburgh will send Trevor Williams to the mound for his eighth start. He allowed five runs over four innings in his last game. Prior to that, he had given up two runs over 13 innings in his previous two starts combined. The Cubs will counter with 26-year-old right-hander Eddie Butler, who has a 4.03 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP in 29 innings.

In the minors,  Clay Holmes starts for Indianapolis tonight, six days after being unable to make it out of the first inning due to his pitch count. He has an impressive 2.60 GO/AO ratio this season, with 55 strikeouts in 50.2 innings. Bradenton now has the next three days off for the Florida State League All-Star game. Nine of their players were selected for the All-Star game, but Cole Tucker and Mitch Keller are unable to play. It’s possible that they could take Bradenton players to replace their two injured teammates.

MLB: Pittsburgh (30-36) vs Cubs (32-33) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Trevor Williams (5.13 ERA, 13:31 BB/SO, 47.1 IP)

AAA: Indianapolis (36-29) @ Charlotte (28-36) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Clay Holmes (3.73 ERA, 25:55 BB/SO, 50.2 IP)

AA: Altoona (35-29) @ Hartford (29-35) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.39 ERA, 16:42 BB/SO, 58.1 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (36-28) @ Clearwater (36-31) 7:00 PM 6/19 (season preview)
Probable starter: TBD

Low-A: West Virginia (29-34) @ Kannapolis (37-28) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: James Marvel (3.67 ERA, 12:43 BB/SO, 49.0 IP)

DSL: Pirates (5-6) vs Astros/Orange (5-6) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

Here is JT Brubaker’s tenth strikeout from Tuesday. The video is just 56 seconds long, but it includes the entire at-bat with room to spare.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

6/15: Ronny Agustin assigned to West Virginia.

6/14: Matt Frawley sent to New York Yankees as part of earlier trade.

6/14: Francisco Cervelli activated from disabled list. A.J.Schugel optioned to Indianapolis.

6/13: Adrian Valerio and Victor Fernandez activated from disabled list. Sandy Santos and Andrew Walker assigned to Morgantown

6/13: Barrett Barnes placed on disabled list. Justin Maffei and Eury Perez assigned to Indianapolis.

6/13: Anderson Feliz assigned to Altoona.

6/12: Jameson Taillon activated from disabled list. Phil Gosselin optioned to Indianapolis.

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.

 

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Seven former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including one who is among the best at his position in franchise history. Starting with the oldest players first, they are 1885 shortstop Marr Phillips and 1912 pinch-runner Ralph Capron, who has an interesting story. He was a college football and baseball star, who was known for his tremendous speed. His career with the Pirates lasted one game and just barely at that. After replacing Alex McCarthy as a pinch-runner at first base with two outs in the ninth, Capron remained glued to first base while the last out was made. He went to the minors right after that and returned with the Phillies the next year, pinch-running once and getting one at-bat in his only other Major League game. In 1920, he played pro football.

Other players born on this date include 1917-19 first baseman Fritz Mollwitz and 1942-46 infielder Pete Coscarart, who was part of the return from the Dodgers in the unpopular Arky Vaughan trade. Also, 1954-56 pitcher Max Surkont, 2008 infielder Chris Gomez and first baseman Kevin Young, who played for the Pirates from 1992-95 and then again from 1997 until 2003. Young ranks 11th in team history in homers, 17th in doubles and 18th in RBIs. He is currently a coach for the Pirates. You can read more on Young and all of the other players in the link above.

On this date in 1969, the Pirates and Cubs squared off in a back-and-forth affair that ended with a 9-8 victory for the Bucs and Steve Blass picking up his first career save. This game included seven Hall of Fame players, and an eighth HOF’er if you include Cubs’ manager Leo Durocher. Chicago had Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo in the middle of their lineup, while the Pirates had Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski and starting pitcher Jim Bunning.

The Cubs took an early 2-0 lead, only to see the Pirates score six runs to take the lead. The Cubs chipped away to take a 7-6 lead late. That led to a three-run eighth from the Pirates and the eventual 9-8 win. Al Oliver hit a two-run homer in the eighth. You can view the boxscore 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.

Related Articles

Article Drop

Latest Articles