10 Observations: Final draft thoughts, FCL outfielders, Tony Blanco Jr.

Look around the system over the past week

Photo Credit: WTM

Murphy: Watched some Nick Frusco video from a Perfect Game event. He hid the ball well, and the fastball had some nice life on it, with some pop as well. Perhaps some tinkering that needs to be done on the delivery to smooth it out, but in the meantime, he repeats it well, and while it seems like a shorter extension, he moves his arm fast enough where he should be able to hold more velocity down the road.

Murphy: Surprise, surprise, the Pirates drafted a kid with a projectable frame and a live fastball, this time in Connor Hamilton. He may be the toughest sign of the group, but if they do, once he fills out and gets in the Pirates’ pitching lab, that fastball could be an easy plus pitch, maybe more.

Murphy: McLane Moody stands at 6’7” and is already pumping mid-90s fastballs as a high schooler. Imagine when he puts on some grown-up strength. Looks like he can manipulate the breaking ball a bit, but (shocker) it looks like another kid with an intriguing fastball.

WTM (7/17): I thought for sure the Pirates would draft a bunch of college pitchers this year. Several of their affiliates have faced a challenge just finding starters, so it seemed likely they’d add some depth. Instead, they selected only four college pitchers, and one of them — 19th-rounder Brandon Cain — was a two-way player who didn’t pitch much this year.

The easiest solution would be to do a better job of scouting in Latin America. And I’ll be surprised if the team doesn’t sign a few non-drafted free agent pitchers. In fact, they’ve already signed two.

I don’t see a lot being lost, though, by not stocking up on college pitchers. Most of the time, those pitchers from rounds 11-20 just serve as organizational guys, providing innings. They’ve gotten a few prospects that way, mainly in 2023 when they drafted Khristian Curtis and Garrett McMillan. But they might do about as well signing lots of NDFAs. (Draven Zeigler, who just signed, looks pretty interesting.) It seems at least as sensible to take fliers on some prep players and/or college bats with some power, both of which they did this year.

WTM (7/18): In two drafts so far, scouting director Justin Horowitz hasn’t gone for the sort of big-time, under/over slot strategy the Pirates employed in 2021 (the Davis/Chandler draft). Or at least it doesn’t look like he did this year, although we don’t know for sure yet who will sign for what. Of course, lots of draftees last year signed, and probably lots this year will sign, for something other than the slot amount on one side or the other. But it’s been what you could call “minor adjustments,” which haven’t involved drafting players well before or after a slot that aligns well with their perceived talent level. It’s just spending a little less here to allow a little more there.

It may be better just to draft players roughly where their talent dictates. The Pirates didn’t exactly win the jackpot in 2021. Bubba Chandler looks like a terrific prospect, but using a 1-1 pick on Henry Davis isn’t holding up well. And the other above-slot signings — Anthony Solometo, Lonnie White, Jr., Owen Kellington, and Braylon Bishop — aren’t looking so good, either. Like a lot of the other strategies in the Pirates’ last two drafts, or what at least seem to me to be strategies they’re following, this one looks to me like the right way to go.

Other Stuff

WTM (7/17): The FCL Bucs got a couple of additions about a week and a half ago from the DSL in Bralyn Brazoban and Raymond Mola. Brazoban had a terrible time in the DSL last year; he was doing better this year, but still not well. He’s looked fine in his brief FCL time so far, driving the ball fairly well and not chasing excessively. He’s not the lean, speedy type I was expecting, but instead looks very physical. And he’s speedy. Mola struggled through injuries, mainly a wrist problem, for two years, but was hitting very well in the DSL. He’s batting .353 so far in the FCL with as many walks as strikeouts.

I’m hoping these guys will impress the Pirates enough that they’ll get to open next year in Bradenton. Of course, with all the college hitters the Pirates drafted, that’ll create quite a logjam. Hopefully, in turn, some of the college draftees will get enough time at Bradenton this year and do well enough to open next year at Greensboro. Of course, that could create a logjam at Bradenton late this year. Problems, problems.

Murphy 7/15: It’s been a rough year for Tony Blanco Jr. He was hurt before the season started, placed on the 60-day IL, and then lost his father to that horrific accident at the nightclub in the Dominican Republic.

He’s finally back on the field, and it didn’t take long for him to get going. After popping out in his first at-bat, he blasted a home run, shown above. Blanco Jr. got almost exclusively breaking balls there, and finally timed one up.

So, while there isn’t much to go on for now, it’s nice to see him out there mashing the baseball again.

Murphy 7/18: Feel like I’m just nitpicking the fantastic start that Edward Florentino is having, but I still would like to see him get a little more aggressive at the plate. His zone swing percentage is in the fourth percentile right now among Florida State League hitters.

While that’s led to a really strong walk rate, he’s also putting himself behind in quite a few counts. Not something you want to do as you move up the ladder against better pitchers.

Murphy 7/18: It’s hard to follow up throwing two-thirds of a perfect game, where you also punched out double-digit batters. Curtis struggled a bit in his first game after that, but bounced back nicely this past week.

It wasn’t the eye-popping numbers he put up in the perfect game, but he commanded the zone well throughout and recorded double-digit whiffs over five innings and got the win.

The numbers may not reflect it when the season is done, but you can see Curtis heading in the direction that you want.

Murphy 7/19: Reinold Navarro's fastball came as advertised, even if the rest of the outing was rough. He got up to 97 mph, and got 23” of induced break at its best, averaging 19”. It also got whiffs on 4-of-7 swings and scored about a 113 on the TJStats Stuff+ model.

I was surprised he got moved up to Bradenton due to the walk issue, but I do like the aggressiveness of some of the players they seem to be higher on.

The key in the future is the same as it always has been: throw strikes. Even saw what looked like a changeup mixed in there, although it wasn’t close to the zone.

Another young power arm to watch in the lower levels.

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