Baseball America posted their fourth mock draft on Friday morning and they have a familiar name going to the Pittsburgh Pirates with the fourth overall pick.
On Wednesday, we posted the mock draft from Kiley McDaniel at ESPN and he picked Cal Poly shortstops Brooks Lee. I mentioned in that article that Lee has been connected to the Pirates numerous times recently and too many times to count since mock draft season started three months ago. In fact, our Draft Prospect Watch article for Lee was titled “Brooks Lee has been Connected to the Pirates all Season”, and that was put out two weeks ago. Then yesterday we got a new mock draft from Jonathan Mayo on MLB Pipeline, and he had Lee for the Pirates. As you may have guessed already, BA has Lee to the Pirates today.
In their write-up, BA notes that the Pirates are looking at a group that includes the top six players. Their (BA) 1-3 picks in this mock draft are Jackson Holliday, Druw Jones and Elijah Green, who were the same top three players (different orders) for Mayo and McDaniel. The interesting name included with those players is Georgia catcher Kevin Parada. I didn’t think he was a possibility with the Pirates adding Henry Davis last year and multiple catching prospects recently, but this is baseball, and you never draft for need in baseball, so I’ll have to add Parada, who is a strong bat, to my upcoming Draft Prospect Watch articles.
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.
I’d like to see a mock where Lee goes 3rd overall and how it plays out.
First time actually watching Parada, and his pre-pitch stance is… Odd lol basically holds the bat inverted, with the knob facing vertically upwards. I’m imagining just before the pitcher throws the ball he’s thinking to himself, “I’m a samurai!”
lol at samurai. Odd is a good way to put it. I’d probably say the same with Hank Davis’ too. It’s interesting that they both have so much movement but stay on time really well. Usually too much noise in a swing is a bad thing, but both seem to be helped power wise, while not selling out their contact ability
You have to wonder whether that will have to change after they go pro.
Bucco fans are forever scarred from some of the catchers they ran out in the ‘teens. If there’s a good one, pick him. Pick two or three!
We should be hearing today if Tucker cleared, right? Anticipation……
FYI today is the start of the NCAA regional playoffs. Here’s the link to the scores:
https://www.ncaa.com/scoreboard/baseball/d1
2 upsets already brewing with Campbell up 6-2 over Georgia Tech (Parada 0-1 w a Walk) & nvmd on the 2nd as Oklahoma hit a HR to retake the lead over Liberty 4-3
Also, Campbell SS Neto is slated for mid first round, but if he somehow slips to Pirates 2nd pick, they should consider him.
Campbell fielders look like they’re wearing wrestling championship belts
Regardless of GT’s outcome today, I don’t see that there’s any way they get beyond the regional. I’m not a UT fan but live near Knoxville and follow the coverage and their team is absolutely loaded–McDaniel has 3 Vols going in the top 28 of the draft. Hoping Parada does get at least one game against them, though.
Tennessee has looked amazing all year, i can’t see them not in the final 4. All their pitchers throw upper 90’s & there’s no weak spots in the lineup. Plus they have the best double celebration (it’s kinda like they break an egg & then smear it on their face…you just have to see it)
I like Texas’ bats, but i don’t think they have the pitching.
Stanford is a pretty solid team.
I like Ok State too, some nice talent there.
Middle infielders are very, very valuable. If Lee is 2nd or 3rd on the SS depth chart an athlete with a great can be moved. 2nd or 3rd; CF or RF too. If his bat is as advertised he is a keeper. You know the system is loaded with catchers (AA down)
Fwiw, I’ll throw out my take.
I just go with the best bat. If it’s Parada so be it. No way having two first tier C prospects is anything other than great. Especially in Universal DH World and on a team with no established 1B. (The beat writers were talking in March about Tucker seeing time at 1B. Let that marinate a bit.)
I also doubt the draft writers have a clue what this FO will do. I can’t see them saying, We can’t take two catchers. As BA suggested, going off the grid is certainly a possibility. I think this FO sees “best player available” in more macro terms, like, “Most upside available for our $13.7M.” We’re definitely gonna need to hold off judging this draft until day two, or even three.
“We’re definitely gonna need to hold off judging this draft until day two, or even three.”
That made me laugh……the fandom here at P2 wants results really fast!
Haha, could be worse. There were a lot of folks elsewhere who were declaring last year’s a failure before it took place because they weren’t projected to take Rocker.
Whaaaaaaat?! Who would EVER do that? Not local pirates media. No way.
“I think this FO sees “best player available” in more macro terms, like, “Most upside available for our $13.7M.””
yes well said. that’s why i think the pirates just may go with collier. a high upside pick, but probably wouldn’t come full slot…so they could spread those savings to other picks.
Given the variability of success of even the top guys, I don’t mind when they take a pic that saves some money and then spend it on some high upside guys like they did this past draft.
Collier is juco but skipped a year of high school, right? So hes kind of a tweener
I really really like how you phrased that. We want to nail our first pick but more importantly we want to nail the whole draft and baseball is unique in how GMs can really manipulate the draft however they want to
Also what scares the shit out of me.
This is a copycat league, and any given draft simply doesn’t have THAT many prospects worthy of bothering to sacrifice quality of top pick.
When you have three or four teams trying to pull it off, and we will, the odds of success drop even more.
The most famous (only famous?) team to pull this off was the Astros and I doubt many folks end up giving a shit about Lance McCullers and Rio Ruiz if Carlos Correa didn’t end up being the best player in the draft by a mile anyways.
The other side to that coin is that the biggest savings are at the top slots. I think there’s a very real chance that at least one of Holliday, Jones and Green will be available at #4 because one of the top three teams goes with another guy under slot. Possibly even taking Lee off the board. Here’s to hoping BC has the balls to go for the guy who isn’t expected to be available and maybe try to get some savings on the comp or round 2 pick if it plays out that way.
If one of these guys is available i think you just have to go full send for the more normal draft strategy, the other one makes sense if there are several guys roughly equal
Bingo.
VERY limited, albeit real, scenarios in which handicapping your spending power up top makes sense.
100%! I remember a lot of people pissed about Davis pick. But after the whole thing was done fell in love with the strategy
Ha, all the folks enraged they didn’t take Rocker.
Iirc, the focus at about this time was the prep SSs. Davis didn’t seem to become a likely candidate until, what, the last week or two? And there was never any certainty.
The only thing I have gathered from all the mock drafts is there is no way the Pirates will pick Brooks Lee.
I just don’t see the Pirates picking Lee. They already have Hayes and Cruz and Gonzalez and Peguero blocking him. And others like Bae and Castro and Castillo and Marcano and Park in the mix. A top HS talent makes much for sense for them.
Also didn’t know that all Cape Cod (home) teams provide (free) streaming on YouTube. The fact they can do this, and Greensboro can only provide random clips every now and then from their local TV station is sad.
anyone but lee, please
It’s interesting Termarr Johnson seems to be slipping. He was in the conversation for top overall pick not to long ago. I imagine the combine will be real important to his future.
Nobody really seems to be providing reasons, either. The modern scouting world loves shiny new objects…
Parada absolutely should be considered, his bat is special. Alot of power, & oppo power to boot. Happy to hear this.
Good enough to rotate him & Davis thru the DH spot when the other is catching.
That’s one of the biggest benefits of having a DH, really.
guys! thanks for the up votes! I’m now in Double A & not demoted to never has been athlete as some who have down voted me in the past have said i am.
I know the jump to Double A is the hardest, I’ll try to keep making the necessary adjustments to hopefully move up to AAA, but truth is i’m probably just an org player, not really someone who’s going to get highlighted in the prospect watch
Plus, as you suggest, it can’t hurt to have a rotation at catcher, especially given the higher risk of injury there. Along these same lines, we don’t necessarily have our 1B of the future in the system and Davis and/or Parada might help there.
Looking forward to John’s article about Parada…the more I think about this, the more I’m rooting for Parada to be the pick. Maybe John’s article will tone down my enthusiasm.
Parada is batting .356/.451/.728 with 28 BB’s and 27 K’s playing most of his games in one of the top leagues.
Lee is batting .357/.462/.664 with 46 BB’s and 28 K’s but against lesser competition.
Lee did outhit Parada by a lot last summer in the Cape Cod League (1.099 vs. .665 OPS) but Parada is a year younger (and has had one less year in college) and only had 32 PA’s.
Obviously a case can be made for either but I’m going with the greater power in a tougher league despite being a year younger. It’s not fair to mention Posey with Parada, but we shouldn’t have passed on Posey and I’m thinking we shouldn’t pass on a sophomore at a premium position in one of the toughest conferences doing what Parada’s been doing.
You are selling me on parada, between DH, 1B and C we should have plenty of bats to go around and if he is as advanced as he seems he should be not so far behind. Our bats of the future could really look like something special
I’m pro Parada. And now that I found that Cape Cod games are watchable, I’m intrigued to watch Collier to see how he handles it. That is if I have the time and remember lol
We’ll cut you some slack on your minor league duties once action ramps up on the Cape. 😉
I’m going to have to make sure the iPad is charged at all times. Otherwise I lose the battle with my son every time on who gets the main tv.
I was going to say that reading the Dbacks analysis, with BA picking Druw Jones for them, that it made me sad seeing their recent success with Alek Thomas (who we’ll see in Pittsburgh this week), Corbin Carroll (absolutely demolishing AA and moving into Top 5-10 of prospect lists), and Jordan Lawlar (destroying Lo A, but also hurt again).
They’re starting to see the fruits of their labor, beginning with Varsho (2017 2nd rounder), but they’ve also generally been REALLLLLLY bad at developing their picks. They almost immediately traded away Dansby Swanson, so there went that pick. But does look like they’re changing their fortune.
Pirates are kind of in that maybe things are shifting, beginning with 2017 draft (Mitchell up, and potentially Bolton and Mason soon. MAYBE Madris).
Does anyone believe Brooks Lee is a potential MVP type player? How about someone who is going to be better than Nicky Sticks, Bae, or Peguero? I see him as another Kevin Newman type pick. Safe, but limited value.
A great selection if the goal is to be average to slightly above average team.
Hopefully this will be the last time they pick this high, and I want them to choose a high risk/high reward player much more than a limited safe player like Lee.
Dare to be GREAT, Ben.
#DraftLesko
You’re like a dog with a bone on Lesko. The truth is what anyone BELIEVES at this point doesn’t really matter because at least a third, and probably more, of the listed prospects will never make it in the majors. No one can know which if any of these players will become stars. So called experts get attention with their guesses but they get it wrong as often as they get it right.
Lesko might one day become a Cy Young pitcher, but right now he probably has the highest risk of anyone. You don’t want another Kevin Newman? I don’t want another Jameson Taillon where all the Pirates get for a long drawn out development is a high reward for some other team.
Apparently Lee’s not exciting enough for some because he’s a good solid hitter instead of a pie in the sky prep player who’s probably six years away from even knowing if he can play at the major league level. High risk/high reward might sound fun and exciting right now but that’s because the other half of high risk isn’t being considered.
You’re a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
If you accept mediocrity in the draft, you sure as hell ain’t getting star players by any means other than trading one who’s already good for one of those “risky” kids you seem to hate.
Scott’s just living the reality we face.
Aren’t you sick of taking high floor MI with gap to gap power? I know I am.
I want Pirates to compete for titles. To do that they need Star players. Lesko has the best chance to be a Star of the players available at #4 . That’s why I keep chewing that bone like a dog.
He has the best chance? Why? Better than Green or Termarr?
Wouldn’t you agree far more hitters have failed due to approaches like Green’s than pitcher’s have due to Tommy John?
Termarr’s a real wild card, I’ll give you that (and I love him), but in terms of probability I’d still absolutely take my chances on Lesko vs Green.
But it’s also not just TJ is the only hurdle Lesko faces: it’s the fact that lots of arms stagnate and fail just because it happens. Maybe his command falters. Maybe he loses his change. Even TJ surgery aside we see weird shit happen where the stuff backs up on pitchers for some reason. Happened to Gore and then it came back for him luckily.
As for Greene, that’s a fair complaint. He’s also facing tougher talent than almost any HS is facing (including TJ who many outlets said faced terrible competition in rural Georgia). For a recent comp, who is a good one for Greene? Buxton with less speed? He really seems fairly unique in terms of the rest of his skill set.
He’s a home run attempt at a pick. So I guess that’s why I’d be ok with Greene. I really wish they’d float something ridiculous at Jones to get him to drop but that ain’t likely to happen.
Now complete the analysis by applying the same general risk that comes with a HS hitting prospect.
TJS is the red flag for Lesko as hit tool is for Green, but – and you know this is my thing – both of them carry nearly the same general amount of profile-based risk.
There’s a hundred ways Green could fail to reach his lofty upside that don’t include the most obvious one.
I’ll also be a pain in the ass and say Green’s skill set is far from unique; his size and tools, for his age, are what’s unique.
Nobody out here saying he’s got other-worldly defensive skills or baserunning ability. He’s just big and fast and strong as fuck.
I’d say his closest comp would be a kid like Jasson Dominguez for that very reason.
f*ck yeah.
What if, they could somehow get Cole Young to “bid himself” out of anyone’s risk range, enough that they could draft Lesko for underslot, and give Cole Young a big bonus with 2nd pick?
I was thinking the opposite. I think they will draft Young for under slot with the 4th pick but, I like your idea better.
I would be on board with this. The mlb draft is so unpredictable that I support any strategy that involves getting the most top 50/100 picks to sign as possible. Projection is hard and the more tickets we buy the better the chance to win
Was starting to feel alright about the possibility of choosing Lee- good results and i do really love that he grew up with family in the game so he should have good intangibles and high baseball IQ. Don’t know who mentioned that he has mainly been feasting on a lower level of competition, do we have any numbers that show that? Unsure where to look or I would investigate and report back
I guess the only thing with every single mock draft tying Brooks Lee to the Pirates, is that at this point I can assume they won’t pick Brooks Lee.
one can only hope!
Honestly this is starting to be my feeling
Trey Domb…shoot, no, that wasn’t it.
The true sleeper pick. Maybe that is why John is risking the ire of his family and quit mentioning him 🙂