The first two days of the draft are in the books and now is day three, when the Pittsburgh Pirates make another 30 draft picks. Compared to the first two days of the draft, the interest really falls off at this point, although it’s still much busier than an average day this time of year. Draft day three is still important though, especially if teams have a good sense of how much money they are working with going into the day.
With the draft bonus pools in place, day three has become a little different than years before the pool. The 11th round pick has turned into a spot where the Pirates either go for high upside in a player who fell due to bonus demands, or a player with a solid track record. Those solid track record players are usually followed later by some high upside players.
If you look at the six drafts under the pool system, it’s split evenly for the Pirates. The solid track record guys include Chris Diaz, Erich Weiss and Christian Kelley. All three made it at least to Double-A, with Kelley looking like he could be the best of the group overall. Then you have Gage Hinsz, Max Kranick and Alex Manasa. All three of those players have showed more potential, with Hinsz looking the best until his season-long shoulder issue last year, followed by his heart issue this year. Now Kranick would be the top of that group and he’s developed a lot since the start of this spring.
Not only is it an even split of current skills vs upside, the split is also college hitters vs young pitchers.
Besides the 11th round, there can still be solid upside players taken in the later rounds, but that depends on how the Pirates worked their bonus pool. Right now, the Pirates likely know how much money they have left to spend on day three of the draft. We won’t find that out until the bonus amounts start rolling in, but judging by the recent past, that won’t be too long from now.
The 2012 draft was similar to the 2016 class because a top ten pick didn’t sign, so the Pirates ended up losing some of that pool money. In 2012, they signed Max Moroff, Hayden Hurst and John Kuchno to over-slot deals after Mark Appel wouldn’t sign. Moroff proved to be great value in the 16th round, while also the Pirates have left besides him is Tyler Gaffney, who was just promoted to Altoona. They used Kyle Haynes to get Chris Stewart in a trade, so that’s value that doesn’t show up in the stats for the draft class.
The Pirates went slightly over-slot in 2013 on prep pitcher Billy Roth and prep outfielder Nick Buckner. Neither player worked out, but those are the types you like to see teams go after. Buckner had power, Roth had a fastball that hit 96 MPH. Most of their over-slot money went to Weiss in the 11th round. All of the picks after Weiss are no longer in the system.
In 2014, Gage Hinsz took up $480,000 of their over-slot money in the 11th round, which ended up being the only late round pick they went over $100,000 for that draft. They still have three players left, Montana DuRapau, Jerrick Suiter and Jess Amedee, plus they dealt away Frank Duncan at his peak for Phil Gosselin in a deal that didn’t work for either team. If Hinsz didn’t have these two major issues in 2017-18, then this would look a lot better because he really developed well in 2016.
In 2015, the Pirates spent most of their pool in the top ten rounds. It didn’t leave much for over-slot deals late. They got Ike Schlabach, James Marvel and Ryan Nagle for a total of $160,000 over the $100,000 slot for each player. They still have 13 players taken after the 12th round, with many of them in Altoona. They also used the 40th round pick, Daniel Zamora, to get Josh Smoker this off-season.
In 2016, Austin Shields was the only over-slot deal after the 11th round, though that was only due to Nick Lodolo turning down a lot of money at the draft deadline. Shields has a big arm and looked great last spring until a very minor arm injury. Once he returned, he hasn’t been able to regain that progress he made. Eight of the 17 players signed after the 11th round are no longer around, though you do have a very interesting arm in Altoona’s Geoff Hartlieb, who has hit triple digits. You have Arden Pabst, who has looked very strong this year for Bradenton. Matt Frawley was also used as a trade piece last year, bringing back Johnny Barbato.
Last year definitely makes things more interesting for watching the late round picks. The Pirates went over-slot slightly for Alex Manasa in the 11th, but also went over for Chris Sharpe and Mason Martin. They also signed Tristan Gray for the slot amount, which went up last year to $125,000 and traded him for Corey Dickerson. Then they also got some interesting starting pitching options in Hunter Stratton, Gavin Wallace and Jacob Webb. It’s a large group too, so it will take awhile to see how it plays out. After the 11th round, they signed another 24 players. I wouldn’t expect that to happen again this year.
If you went through the top ten picks, it looks like the Pirates should have plenty of money leftover for an over-slot deal or deals. The question now becomes, will they go big in the 11th round, or spread it around more like they did last year.
** Samuel Reyes, the younger brother of Pablo Reyes, was called up to West Virginia last night and will join the team today. He began last year in the DSL and made the rare mid-season jump to the GCL. Now he’s going from the GCL to full-season ball. Reyes is a hard-throwing reliever, who can get his fastball up to 96 MPH and he has a lot of pitches for a reliever, at one point throwing six different pitches. He was pitching well in Extended Spring Training and earned the aggressive promotion.
That also meant that someone from West Virginia was going up to Bradenton and Evan Piechota received the good news last night. He was a non-drafted free agent signing in 2016 and has worked his way slowly from a college senior in the GCL, up to High-A ball. He doesn’t throw hard at all, but he’s one of the best pure pitchers in the system. We will see how far that can get him. Likely no pitcher gets called up to Altoona because Bradenton just lost two starting pitchers, so they are short-handed right now.
PLAYOFF PUSH
Bradenton is in third place in their division, 2.5 games behind the leader with 12 games remaining in the first half.
West Virginia is in fourth place in their division, six games behind the leader with 13 games remaining in the first half.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 5-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. The Pirates will send Trevor Williams to the mound for his 13th start. He allowed five runs over five innings against the St Louis Cardinals in his last start. The Dodgers will counter with left-hander Caleb Ferguson, who is making his Major League debut.
The minor league schedule includes Mitch Keller, who allowed two runs over 6.1 innings in his last start. He is holding batters to a .237 average this year. Indianapolis starter Alex McRae is averaging more strikeouts per inning this year (49 in 51 IP) than any previous season in his career. Adam Oller is getting his first start of the season for Bradenton. He has pitched 12 times in relief. Domingo Robles starts for West Virginia for the first time in eight days due to two rain outs and an off-day. He had seven days between the game and his previous outing.
MLB: Pittsburgh (30-30) vs Dodgers (30-30) 7:05 PM
Probable starter: Trevor Williams (3.84 ERA, 47:22 SO/BB, 68.0 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (28-27) @ Rochester (28-25) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Alex McRae (4.94 ERA, 49:26 SO/BB, 51.0 IP)
AA: Altoona (26-27) vs Reading (24-31) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Mitch Keller (3.60 ERA, 55:22 SO/BB, 60.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (30-23) vs Florida (22-31) 6:30 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Adam Oller (2.45 ERA, 13:3 SO/BB, 11.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (27-26) vs Lexington (31-24) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Domingo Robles (3.61 ERA, 43:10 SO/BB, 52.1 IP)
DSL: Pirates1 (1-2) vs Indians 10:30 AM
DSL: Pirates2 (0-3) vs Tigers2 10:30 AM
HIGHLIGHTS
From Monday night in Bradenton, Jung Ho Kang homers for the second time during his return.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
6/5: Yoel Gonzalez released.
6/5: John Bormann added to West Virginia roster.
6/4: Pirates released Andrew Walker and Linse Carvajal.
6/3: Cam Vieaux promoted to Altoona. Garrett Brown added to Bradenton roster.
6/3: Austin Coley placed on disabled list.
6/2: Tyler Gaffney promoted to Altoona. Mitchell Tolman assigned to Bradenton.
6/2: Reymundo Pena released.
6/1: Jung Ho Kang assigned to Bradenton
6/1: Montana DuRapau assigned to Altoona. Elvis Escobar placed on disabled list.
5/30: Brandon Waddell promoted to Indianapolis. Jerrick Suiter assigned to Morgantown.
5/30: Eduardo Vera promoted to Altoona.
5/29: Dario Agrazal placed on DL. Bryan Reynolds added to Altoona roster.
5/29: Joel Cesar activated from West Virginia DL. Blake Weiman promoted to Bradenton.
5/29: Brett McKinney released.
5/28: Ivan Nova placed on disabled list. Pirates recall Nick Kingham.
5/28: Pirates released George Kontos.
5/27: Raul Hernandez placed on disabled list. Yoel Gonzalez added to West Virginia roster.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Three former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus a trade of note and a huge game from the Pirates’ offense. The players born on this date are outfielder Doug Frobel (1982-85), lefty pitcher Jake Hewitt (1895) and second baseman Fresco Thompson, who was a September addition to the 1925 Pirates team that went on to win the franchise’s second World Series title. He hit .243 in 14 games and drove in eight runs.
On this date in 1949, the Pirates traded pitcher Kirby Higbe to the Giants for infielder Bobby Rhawn and pitcher Ray Poat. Rhawn lasted all of nine days with the Pirates before he was put on waivers and claimed by the White Sox. Poat lasted until the end of the year, but after two starts, he was a seldom used bullpen arm and had no success in Pittsburgh. The Pirates must have known Higbe was nearly done, because the pitcher, who was once a star for the Brooklyn Dodgers, was through in the majors by the end of the season.
On this date in 1894, the Pirates defeated the Boston Beaneaters (current day Braves) by a 27-11 score in the highest offensive output in team history. The Pirates put up 12 runs in the third inning and another nine in the fourth inning. They were actually outscored 8-3 in the last five innings, but Boston never came close to getting back in the game. Jake Stenzel became the first Pirates’ player to hit two home runs in the same inning.
