20 Comments

Let's hope Griffin works out... and that our stud pitchers are still here when Griffin gets to the big club.

Ugh.... one of the panel just compared his tools to Jo Adell. He's gotta do better than Jo.

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Wow, Angels took Moore, bit of a surprise.

BC, please take Montgomery.

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Dan O'Dowd needs to stop trying to make "aircraft carrier" a thing.

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I was hoping we wouldn't go Kurtz, so good he's gone. Pretty sure Royals will take Rainer.

I'm hoping for Montgomery, but that depends on Angels passing on him. I suppose if Monty is gone, then go ceiling with Griffin. But I guess they could save money on Tibbs and probably have already had those conversations.

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9. Kurtz

37. Meccage

47. Shields

83. Aloy

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I like Mayfield if he falls to 37. Or Santucci if Mayfield doesn’t.

Also Blake Kirby at 47 or 83 if they don’t take Kurtz

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Mel I am deferring to you. You are my Mel kiper of MLB drafts. Except I don't really like Mel. It's your day to shine.

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I hope one of the top 6 college hitters drop, most likely Kurtz or Montgomery. If Wetherholt falls you take him. If none of the top 8 college guys are left, I'm leaning to Moore on a discount but wouldn't mind Tibbs, Yesavage, Rainer, Griffin or Caminiti. I would throw Benge and Honeycutt in there if they took 75% of slot.

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I agree. Except for the discount part. The Pirates(except for Davis) overdraft college players all of the time and never (or almost never) get any significant discount. This works for other teams who draft prep players later but not for Pittsburgh.

If you don’t get the top line college bat, go for the prep players that have a high ceiling. Not a second level college bat that almost certainly won’t develop in Pittsburgh.

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I didn't word it well, the first group is a small discount but more than pick 10, $6 million. Honeycutt would have to be a big discount but if he corrects his swing and miss he has about the highest ceiling in the draft with Griffin. Honeycutt might fall to 37 but I doubt it.

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Any of these fellas been a top five pick last year?

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Condon possibly, if Wetherholt would have been healthy all year and put up similar numbers as his sophomore year he would have been.

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Assuming the earlier picks don’t get weird, which they often do, this seems to boil down to Kurtz or Griffin, unless Cherington decides to get clever. You’d hope the divergence in outcomes between Davis and Skenes taught him not to rely on strategery.

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I get the point your trying to make but comparing Skenes / Crews to Mayer/ Leiter is not apples to apples. IMO if a Crews was available at #1 in Hanks draft they draft Crews. At #9 things are even murkier.

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The concern with Griffin is that scouts are concerned about his hit tool. He claims he’s recognized the problem and is prepared to clean up his swing, but the Pirates are the wrong organization to help him do that.

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Jul 14Edited

The Pirates’ incompetence with hitters is just going to be a constant. They draft guys with supposedly great hit tools and guys with questionable hit tools, and they all struggle. We can’t do anything beyond hope they pick guys who can figure out for themselves that nobody with the Pirates can tell them which end of the bat to hold. Doubt you can scout for that.

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This do e s not seem to be the class to implement a strategy.

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I disagree, there isn't premium up the middle players but has good corner bats. Target guys that can hit and hopefully with power early and don't reach on major red flags on up the middle players. Get guys that might be redundant like Kurtz and Burke instead of hoping a guy can hit that plays questionable SS or CF. Take a guy like Jackson Appel at catcher in the mid rounds instead of reaching for someone that might not stick behind the plate early. Pick to the strength of the draft early, find the guy's to develop later.

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I do wonder if Tibbs having success with the wood bats will be a deal breaker and he is the Pirates pick. Really hoping either Kurtz or Montgomery are there.

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