2015 Draft Thread

[element1286]

Neal Huntington, Joe DelliCarri on the Pirates' draft so far: 'We believe in the hitter first' - Bucs Dugout

Not necessarily, said Huntington. "Our philosophy has been, and continues to be, [that] we believe in the hitter first. Then there are attributes that we look beyond the hitter," he said. "In particular, guys in the middle of the diamond, the defensive qualities. Guys in the corner of the diamond, what kind of power do we think they'll have down the road. But as a core covenant, we believe in the hitter first. ... We believe that, if there are the right contributing elements, the power will come if the player has the ability to hit."

I like this approach. Especially early in the draft. Later you can gamble on big power bats.

 

[element1286]

What jumps out at me from the top 3 picks is that they hit to all fields.

I think unshiftable players might become the new hidden talent, maybe we are trying to get on that wagon first.

Yeah, good point. I think the ability to put the ball in play in general has been a focus of the org. Have seen some guys with big k numbers bring them down recently, even Pedro has brought his down.

 

[Darkstone42]

6th, 7th, and 8th round picks:

6th: RHP Jonathan Brubaker: Hits 94 with his fastball, flashes a plus slider, some room to grow. Young college guy.

7th: 3B Mitchell Tolman: Another good hitter at a prime defensive position. Not a lot of power, but good discipline and contact skill. Strong arm. I like the pick, even though the experts say his upside is a utility guy. He can hit, and he hit in the PAC 12, which is a strong conference with some really good pitching.

8th: RHP Seth McGarry: Hard-thrower with fringy secondary stuff. Can touch 97 with the fastball and has great movement on the pitch. Could use better command. Doesn't have an out pitch, but got decent K numbers without one anyway, probably because the fastball is so good. Has some room to grow. Could move fast as a reliever, but I'd try him as a starter and see if they can fix the command and secondary stuff. If not, he should be at least a Jared Hughes type, but he's got more upside than that.

 

[Darkstone42]

9th Round: RHP Bret Helton

Big body, hard thrower, fastball, cutter, curveball. 93-94 with the fastball. Has some control issues, and is definitely a project, but the body and the arm are pluses.

 

[Darkstone42]

10th Round: RHP Logan Sendelbach

Tall, thin, athletic pitcher from a Division II college where he performed well. Loose arm action, low-90s fastball with room to grow. Has shown good command in the past, but struggled with it this year. Will probably be worked as a starter to see if he grows.

 

[Darkstone42]

Day 2 Summary:

The Bucs went for college players exclusively today, with six of their eight picks pitchers, and five of those right-handers. Their two position players were guys with good hit tools and athleticism, consistent with their Day 1 approach. The pitchers were largely somewhat projectable, most profiling as relievers in the Majors, but each also having room to grow. They all have decent to plus fastballs.

The Pirates seemed to be going after projectable arms who might also be more signable in the middle day, perhaps to save money for one or two big over-slot picks on Day 3, especially with guys like Hooper and Everett still available. Since the first ten rounds set the bonus pool, it's pretty important to get those guys signed, so it seems like a good strategy to maximize their overslot potential. They also got a lot of guys in the mold the team seems to like, athletic all around, with projectable pitchers and position players with good hit tools.

 

[Darkstone42]

Cole Irvin could be an interesting draft choice if he signs and stays healthy. He was a very good lefty before Tommy John, and appeared this year to be recovering from it nicely. Good risk to take in the late rounds.

 

[Darkstone42]

On the signing side of the draft, I've seen reports that Hayes, Hughston, Helton, Hightower, Hibbing, Economos, and George have agreed to terms and will be signing shortly (pending physicals), and there are rumors to the same effect on Kramer, Wallace, Kemp, and Moore have as well.

Costello and White are unlikely to sign, on the other hand.

For those of you keeping tally, we're at 7 essentially signed, 4 close, and 2 not signing out of 41 draft picks.

 

[Darkstone42]

On Newman:

This year he walked the Wildcats off against Rice with a steal of home.

Arizona upsets Rice with walkoff steal of home plate (Video) | Big League Stew - Yahoo Sports

Just so you all know.

 

[Darkstone42]

 

[thecrow124]

The 10th round pick by the Pirates is currently playing for my hometown Northwoods League team. The Kenosha Kingfish.

This makes 2 years in a row they have taken a player from this league. Last year they signed Trace Tam Sing not long after the draft.He was playing for the Madison Mallards at the time. The thing that stands out to me about that signing and this pick is that Tam Sing was signed the day after Madison left Kenosha.

 

[thecrow124]

This is the guy I was talking about I think.

 

[thecrow124]

NM, it was Logan Sendelbach

 

[Darkstone42]

Newman has agreed to terms, as well, apparently. His and Hayes's signings should be announced tomorrow.

The Bucs are being pretty quick about getting their slot value picks signed. I'm sure they feel the sooner they know how much overslot money they have to play with, the better, especially if they're going to be aggressive trying to sign Cole Irvin.

 

[Darkstone42]

 

[Darkstone42]

Pirates 5th round pick Brandon Waddell threw seven scoreless innings against Florida last night in the College World Series. Nice outing for him.

 

[Darkstone42]