MLB Draft 2025: Pirates swing for the fences looking for tools, upside
Deep dive on the Pittsburgh Pirates 2025 draft class
Major League Baseball may have the biggest crapshoot when it comes to their respective draft compared to the other major sports. Even being a top selection rarely guarantees success at the next level.
Once they make it to the majors, you don’t always get the kind of production that was initially predicted, and realistically, if you can get any kind of sustained contributions from a draft pick, it can be looked at as a success.
The Pittsburgh Pirates decided that, since things can be so uncertain with the draft, they might as well search out the highest upside or the loudest tools they can find.
They made 21 selections in total, and while they won’t sign all of them, there is a resounding theme throughout those picks.
The draft itself carries such an innate sense of risk that you might as well swing big, knowing a good amount will fail, but the ones that don’t will have a carrying tool that will help at the major league level.
Prep heavy presence
For the second straight year, the Pirates went with prep players with their first two picks of the draft, but this time they were both pitchers.
If we are talking about swinging for the fences, there is still no demographic that brings a bigger risk factor than high school pitching.
Seth Hernandez was arguably a top-two talent in this draft, but he fell to the sixth pick, more than likely due to him being a prep pitcher. He’s a rare case, as there’s a certain amount of built-in floor that you don’t usually have with high school arms, all the while coming with the same insane.
He’s been talked about in the same sentence as Hunter Greene and Josh Beckett—two of the most highly regarded prep pitchers in recent history. It’s a risk, yes, but even if he doesn’t completely live up to his potential, there’s so much there that it’s hard not to see him helping in the majors to some extent (healthy permitting, of course).
Hernandez was one of five prep pitchers the Pirates took, with Angel Cervantes being drafted in the second round and three more coming in rounds 14 or later.
Cervantes was one of the top high school pitchers available, and they were able to land him at the 50th overall pick. He has a very projectable frame, has already seen one velocity bump, and has a well-rounded pitch mix for a 17-year-old (he’s also one of the youngest in the class).
They won’t sign all three of the late-round prep pitchers they took. Two are committed to playing in the SEC, while the other is at Clemson. Those won’t be easy commitments to break, and they may only sign one of them.
Nick Frusco, the last pick of the draft for the Pirates, was #249 on MLB Pipeline. McLane Moody has a giant 6’7” frame with projection, and Connor Hamilton has a fastball that’s got up to 96 already. He would be a draft-eligible sophomore if he attended Vanderbilt, so he may be the hardest of the group to sign.
But they took a swing and increased their odds of adding another young, projectionable arm to a system that has done well in developing them.
Fishing for power
If there is one thing that the system seems to lack, it is true power-hitting prospects. Konnor Griffin looks like he should be able to push for 30 home runs in the future. Esmerlyn Valdez has emerged as a potential big power bat, and Edward Florentino has shown flashes of above-average to plus raw power as an 18-year-old.
The Pirates went into this draft and added several power-hitting prospects like Murf Gray, Brent Iredale, and Jared Jones.
Even names like Easton Carmichael, Eddie King Jr., and Josh Tate put up double-digit home runs in their draft season.
Do they have some swing and miss concerns? Absolutely. Will all of them work out? No. But adding so many with this kind of toolset only increases the odds of one working their way through the system.
Sneaky Sleeper: Gustavo Melendez
Drafted out of Puerto Rico, the more I’ve read and watched of Melendez, the more I have liked. He’s listed at 5’8”, which allows him to get through the strike zone quickly, but he also has some good bat speed that should allow him to get to more power than what his frame would make you think.
Add in the fact that most sites believe he has the tools to stick at shortstop and have an above-average hit tool, there’s a lot to like here with this pick.
DEEP Sleeper: Carter Gwost
Another prep player, this one from Minnesota, Gwost is committed to Nebraska, so it's unclear what his signability would look like.
But he apparently had a nice little growth spurt and was listed at 6’4” on the MLB Draft Tracker.
I strongly dislike using highlights as a guiding tool, but since the video was limited, it was just a few home runs I’ve seen of him.
The swing looks strong and explosive, and there’s a little flair apparent as he watches a couple of shots he hit. For a 17th rounder, if they can get him signed, I’ll take that all day.
There’s some risk in this class. As with any group of kids you draft, a lot of things could go wrong.
But if you do take some risks, which I am all for, go all-in on the tools that have been proven to be a difference maker.
The Pirates got a lot of upside on the pitching side of things, but then also have a proven track record developing these exact kind of players. We will have to see how many they sign and how they develop, but this is a very intriguing class.
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Bucs on Deck: Pittsburgh Pirates Top 30 Midseason Update
We are past the halfway mark of the 2025 minor league season, and it seems like a perfect time for an update on our Top Prospect list, which has been expanded to 30 players.
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Great write-up full of fun information. I don't take this for granted at all. Keep up the good work!
So the draft experts have all weighed in this morning. McDaniel and Law write overall reviews without giving grades, and tend to see at least some merit in every team’s approach. Callis ranked the top 5 draft classes in terms of amassing talent.
The highlight of the three is Callis ranking the Pirates second behind only the Orioles. He compares Hernandez to Griffin in the sense that the Pirates got arguably the most talented player in the entire draft, this year taking advantage of the unwillingness of teams to go with high school pitchers so high. He also likes Cervantes and Melendez, and says that Carmichael is one of the better catchers in the draft. Finally, he calls Jones a steal, saying that he may have the best power bat in the entire class.
McDaniel and Law don’t have much to add to the info here on the board. McDaniel loves the Pirates willingness to buck the industry and take Hernandez. He has Melendez as a sleeper, and overall praises the Pirates for a balanced approach to their top 10 selections. Law is more cautious on Hernandez. He reiterates that Gray, Iredale, and Jones all have elite exit velocities, but have problems with swing and miss and controlling the strike zone. Law likes the Guzman pick, saying that he really improved his offensive game as the year went on, and implies that he could be a starting catcher in the majors.
The overall point, I think, is that the Pirates have significantly improved their approach to the draft under Justin Horowitz, and this is recognized by the national analysts.