Cherington may ask Steelers for draft help

The Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the NFL successfully held their draft virtually last week without a major hitch, despite general managers, scouts and coaches being physically separated from each other.

The MLB amateur draft is expected to still be held in June, but not in Omaha, Neb. like the league originally planned. They will also opt to do it virtually, creating a logistical challenge when juggling through a longer list of players, many of whom have limited recent video because of the shutdown and season cancellations.

One of general manager Ben Cherington's mantras is to learn and get better every day. Facing an unprecedented draft structure, Cherington just might ask his North Shore neighbors for some pointers.

“[We] haven’t been able to connect with the Steelers yet, although I hope to," Cherington said during a conference call Tuesday. "I hope we could do that sometime between now and our draft. It was interesting."



Of course, there is an apples to oranges element to that. The NFL and MLB drafts are very different. MLB teams do not sign all of their draft picks and will pick high schoolers in addition to college players. Their picks will also not make their Major League debut for years, potentially.

Still, the common ground of it being done virtually is enough for Cherington.

"I didn’t watch the whole thing, but enough of it to get a flavor," Cherington said of the NFL draft. "I think some parts of it could be quite similar."

Even though it has been decided the draft will be virtual, there are still other questions that need to be answered, the most pressing of which is how long will it be? As of now, it could be either five or 10 rounds, far fewer than the traditional 40.

That change will not only impact how many new players will go into each organization, but since each draft pick comes with an allotted slot value, it will impact how much teams will be allowed to spend on their picks.

"There’s even more discussion going on this week at the league level with owners and front offices about what the draft looks like for 2020," Cherington said. "We’re preparing as an organization, other than it being virtual, in a consistent manner compared with how we always would."

Preparation may be consistent now, but it wasn't for awhile. MLB shut down all scouting, including virtual and private showcases, in March as one of the first measures to try to slow the spread of COVID-19. They did reopen virtual scouting after the league and players association struck a deal laying out provisions for the 2020 season, one of which was ensuring their would be an amateur draft.

Earlier in April, teams were allowed to contact and interview players again, plus request video they had from before the shutdown. That has brought a sense of normalcy back to the Pirates as they prepare for the draft.

"In terms of the conversation that’s happening, the way we’re diving into information and identifying questions that we still need to get answers on, going through the process of ranking players, etc. — we’ve had virtual calls the last couple weeks to get down into the first 200 players or so –- it’s very familiar, very similar, just in a virtual setting instead of the same room," Cherington said. "As far as the prep, a lot of it is very similar.”