WASHINGTON -- What are the Pirates looking for in the first overall pick? A pitcher? Catcher? Outfielder?
Well, the simple answer is they are looking for the best player available.
“Our approach is going into this draft and trying to add the most impactful, talented player that we can,” assistant general manager Steve Sanders said on 93.7 The Fan Sunday. “Especially this year, going into an immensely important draft with the first pick.”
Sanders joined the Pirates front office in December 2019. He had worked with general manager Ben Cherington with the Red Sox and Blue Jays, and ran the Blue Jays’ drafts from 2017-2019. He was working with amateur scouting director Joe Delli Carri and the Pirates’ draft team ahead of the amateur draft, which will be held in Denver July 11-13.
As we reported in the last Friday Insider, the Pirates are leaning towards a position player over a pitcher for that first overall pick, a departure from what many expected coming into the season. Three of those potential choices are high school shortstops -- Jordan Lawlar, Marcelo Mayer and Kahlil Watson -- and Louisville catcher Henry Davis has also drawn interest.
Sanders did not talk about any specific players, including Vanderbilt pitchers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.
Catcher is obviously a weak spot in the Pirates’ system. The organization’s only true catching prospect is Endy Rodriguez, who came over from the Mets in the three-team Joe Musgrove trade. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the Pirates' 26th best prospect.
Rodriguez is in Class Low-A Bradenton, meaning that even in a best-case scenario, he is years away from the majors.
Shortstop, on the other hand, is as strong as any position in the system, including Oneil Cruz (fourth overall), Liover Peguero (fifth) and Ji-hwan Bae (12th). Baseball America ranks Cruz and Peguero as top 100 prospects.
As a college player, Davis would most likely be major-league ready before any of the high school shortstops, and probably even before Rodriguez. That isn’t a major factor in the Pirates’ decision-making process, though.
“Determining a player’s timeline is one of the toughest things to do,” Sanders said. “We’ve also found that [timelines] can be really hard to predict. At certain points in guys’ careers, especially as amateur players, they may seem particularly close or particularly far away. But a number of things, both in their development and staying healthy, can impact that.
“It’s not really something that we’ll focus on as much as just trying to pick the right player for the Pirates.”
Talking to Cherington last week, the Pirates are still in “learn about the player mode,” not just for 1-1, but throughout the draft. That doesn’t sound like he was just evading the question. The Pirates are still working through who their pick will be.
“We don’t know, and we continue to work through that to try and take all the time we can to make that important decision.”
