The Pirates have drafted relatively well in the past few years with the likes of Cole Tucker, Kevin Newman, Austin Meadows, and Shane Baz joining the organization as first round picks. It remains to be seen if these guys will be major league impact players but the organization has been able to pick out some promising prospects with upside with their top picks. However, they have also been able to find some gems in other rounds like Ke'Bryan Hayes with a bonus pick, Kevin Kramer in the 2nd round, and Jordan Luplow in the 3rd. I would like to continue this process of finding high upside players in the first round and bonus rounds while adding safer, more sure thing players in the subsequent rounds while also picking up some projectable, high-upside high school pitchers. If anyone else has a different strategy, please voice your opinions in the comments and I will surely take them into consideration.
The Pirates have a good sized bonus pool at their disposal this year with $10,390,400 to be used for signing bonuses. As a result, I think that we should take full advantage of this and draft the best players we can with reasonable bonuses and possibly go over-slot for some dynamic high school players if need be.
These are the picks that the Pirates hold in the first four rounds which we will be drafting with the accompanying bonus slot money:
Rd.1: 10-$4,560,200
Comp Rd. A: 36-$1,967,900
Rd.2: 51-$1,382,400
Rd.3: 86-$673,200
Rd.4: 114-$488,200
I'm still working on doing my personal scouting for the draft but these are the players that I have earmarked that have peaked my interest for our first round pick at #10. This is a preliminary list and I am sure is bound to change as we discuss the pick and get closer to the draft.
LHP Shane McClanahan
OF Travis Swaggerty
HS OF Jarred Kelenic
C Joey Bart
3B Jonathan India
3B Alec Bohm
LHP Ryan Rolison
RHP Jackson Kowar
HS RHP Kumar Rocker
HS RHP Cole Winn
I will also leave a poll down below with these players on it as well as an option for "other" and if you choose it, please specify who and why.
I'm really excited to start this undertaking.
