The Pittsburgh Pirates have drafted right-handed pitcher Jacob Taylor from Pearl River Community College in the fourth round. Taylor is a former outfielder, but moved to the mound full-time with Pearl River, where he seems to have more upside. He’s 6′ 3″, 215 pounds, and sits 93-94 MPH, touching 97. Baseball America had him ranked 97th, MLB.com had him 77th, and Keith Law had him 56th.
The downside with Taylor is that he lacks control and good secondary stuff. He has clean arm action and a quick delivery. His slider shows some promise, but gets slurvey at times and doesn’t have the bite it needs. He also needs to develop a changeup, and doesn’t really have much with that pitch at the moment.
Taylor looks like a project with a great arm. He’s got a commitment to LSU, but was probably drafted high enough to break that and go pro. The upside with the arm makes him a good pick here. The Pirates will have a lot of work to do to improve his command, and teach him some secondary stuff. They’ve done well teaching control, and teaching a changeup. The slider shows some promise, so they don’t have to start from scratch there. This looks like a good project with a lot of upside, and not much risk in the fourth round.
