Baseball America released an initial list of 15 top available players for the upcoming Rule 5 draft, which will take place next week. They included two Pittsburgh Pirates prospects on that list, Matt Gorski and Malcom Nunez. BA added to that list today with ten more names and another Pirates player showed up.
If you read that article yesterday, you saw Blake Sabol was mentioned. BA added him to their list today. I added him to the group yesterday because I believe that he’s the most likely Pirates player to be picked. He has more Triple-A experience/success than any other top prospect available in the Pirates system. He also has multiple positions, including his ability to serve as a third-string catcher. Being a lefty bat with some power also adds to his intrigue.
BA mentioned many of those same things in their brief writeup today. Sabol is close enough to the majors that he should be able to hold his own. His versatility and left-handed bat makes him someone who can be used in multiple ways, so he doesn’t need to be hidden like most Rule 5 picks. What teams will decide before picking him is whether he has enough upside with the bat to warrant such a pick.
Sabol still has some contact issues and he can be pitched to, which MLB pitchers will expose more than minor league pitchers. He has a tendency to chase breaking balls down an in. While it’s a small sample size, his .686 OPS in the hitter-friendly Arizona Fall League didn’t get him much attention. Considering that the league is heavily scouted and he ranked 62nd in OPS in a six-team league, that last impression scouts got might be why the Pirates felt they could leave him unprotected.
