The Pittsburgh Pirates signed left-handed pitcher Ike Schlabach today, a prep pitcher from Texas, who was drafted in the 19th round this year. It was announced by Schlabach himself on Twitter shortly after he officially signed. He is 18 years old and 6’5″, 205 pounds. Schlabach throws low-90’s already, with plenty of projectability. He has been praised for his work ethic, makeup on the mound and competitiveness. Schlabach has been assigned to the GCL. You can view his player page here. The Pirates have now signed 29 of their 41 draft picks.
https://twitter.com/IsaacSchlabach/status/619628674699108353
Update 7:15 PM: The Pittsburgh Pirates also signed right-handed pitcher Tate Scioneaux, who was selected in the 39th round. He was a junior at Southeastern Louisiana this year. The 22-year-old made 15 starts this season, posting a 2.53 ERA and 18:96 BB/SO ratio in 110.1 innings. He has only been pitching since his senior year in high school, but he was a starting pitcher for three seasons at SE Louisiana. The Pirates are now up to 30 draft picks signed, with one week to go until the deadline. You can find the player page for Scioneaux here. He was assigned to Morgantown.
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.
Thanks john.
Good news. Hopefully another signing or two will get done in the next week. Off topic here sort of but Trae Arbet went 4-4 tonight and is now hitting .444 early on. John, have you or anyone seen him this summer and know about any adjustments he has made to lead to all this success so far this year?
I haven’t but it honestly could just be due to the fact he’s 21 years old in the Appalachian League, plus it’s still very early. He was old for a HS player when he was drafted
Odds on Wehner butchering both names?
Well, he got my name wrong the one time I heard him say it, so I’d say good…although they need to make the majors and the chances of both of them making it are very slim. Nothing against them, just not a good chance that two late round drafts make the majors, even if Schlabach should have gone earlier.
Is Schlabach the kid who signed, and then didn’t sign? and is signing again?
Nope, that was Austin Sodders and he hasn’t re-signed yet
Any thoughts on whether he’ll get re-signed?
I’d say no, doesn’t sound right now like he regrets his decision. Not even sure how that works, because once you sign a pro contract, that eliminates you from playing college ball. There might be a 48-hour window or some stipulation that’s part of the technical mumbo jumbo
I didn’t expect this to happen. Think this is an indication that they will sign Waddel to an underslot contract?
No, it could mean they know what Waddell is signing for already, but they were already under their pool and still had the 5% they could go over, so that’s just over $450,000 they could spend without a severe penalty and without signing Waddell. I know that Schalabach was asking for less than $550,000, so it doesn’t tell you anything else for sure.
Really surprised we haven’t seen Waddell sign yet.
Three players from his team haven’t signed yet and two from Vanderbilt. They aren’t allowed to discuss contracts during the College World Series, so with a few days celebrating the title, he probably didn’t even get in contact with the Pirates until 10-12 days ago. Once they agree to a deal, then it usually takes 2-3 days, travel arrangements, physical, the actual signing, etc
I didn’t think he would have went that cheap. Which is part of the reason I was sort of expecting an underslot Wadell signing.
Good to have a big projectable leftie in the organization.