30.2 F
Pittsburgh

First Pitch: The Top Seven in the Draft

Published:

There seems to be a consensus top seven in the upcoming draft. Most mock drafts have the following players going off the board with the first seven picks, in no specific order:

Byron Buxton

Mark Appel

Carlos Correa

Kevin Gausman

Kyle Zimmer

Mike Zunino

Albert Almora

The Pirates pick eighth, which means that if the mock drafts are right, they won’t have a shot at one of these guys. But a few mock drafts have suggested one of these players could fall.

The most common seems to be Almora. However, lately there has been talk that Zunino could fall to the Pirates. Either player would be a great addition, and a big boost to the offense in the system.

There are a few wild cards that could make this happen. The biggest wild card is Max Fried. A team in the top seven could take him, forcing someone down to the Pirates. Another wild card is the health of Lucas Giolito. If healthy, a team in the top seven could grab him. Then there’s other players who could unexpectedly sneak in to the top seven, such as Michael Wacha.

If the top seven go in order, the Pirates would be picking between guys like Fried, Marrero, Wacha, or taking their chances on Giolito’s health. But if I had to guess, I’d say the top seven won’t go in order. Every year something unpredictable happens in the draft. This year we can’t even predict the first pick, which would make it impossible to predict the next six picks.

I think Fried or Marrero would be good additions to the system, but I’d much rather see one of the top seven guys fall to the Pirates, as I think the upside is much bigger.

Links and Notes

**The Pirates lost 5-1 to the Brewers.

**Pirates Notebook: Jeff Karstens will make a rehab start Wednesday, and Brad Lincoln could make two spot starts.

**Prospect Watch: Jeff Clement hits for the cycle, and Alen Hanson hits his eighth homer. More on Clement here.

**The State College Spikes are considering changing organizations due to the lack of winning the last few years. I point out what led to that lack of winning.

**No international draft for 2013, but 2014 looks promising.

**Ross Ohlendorf opted out of his minor league contract.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

Related Articles

Latest Articles