Will he get any ABs this time around? If he is going to ride the bench as an emergency infield option then might as well cut bait now. He is on his last option year so its now or never.
I doubt he gets many with the team showcasing IKF for trade, no. I did just notice they had him get some games at 1B and 3B this year in AAA so maybe he will if/when Hayes is traded.
Hopefully after the trade then. This year there has been too much wasting of ABs on vets not worth signing in the first place i.e. Frazier and Pham. Either sign someone with above replacement value or see what your young players can do with some leash.
Frazier on face value as a signing was fine. He was used more than he would have had it not been for Stixx's injury. And Pham, had he fixed those eyes before the season and he performed like this all year, we'd be just fine with the signing. Frazier has turned into an interesting post-hype prospect and Pham may just end up doing the same. That being said, I too wish they would go higher upside on the signings.
At the risk of a serious case of recency bias, I think Florentino has to be in the top 10 somewhere. And I have lost confidence in Johnson and Harrington.
Agree on Barco. I would put him 5th below Ashcraft.
Yeah, Hernandez has a chance of being pretty special, only Holliday ranked higher from the draft.
I like this - "Based purely on upside, Seth Hernandez might have the highest ceiling of any prospect in the 2025 draft class. He brings a rare combination of projection, present stuff and polish to the mound, and he went 9-1 with a 0.39 ERA, 0.49 WHIP and a 105-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 53.1 innings this spring."
Edit: the 4 hit shutout he threw against Orange Lutheran in the National High School Invitational, the hits and walk came from the likes of Derek Curiel and Josiah Hartshorn. Hartshorn was the only one to make it to second base. That inning ended on a double play.
It was a kid named C. J. Weinstein from the Huntington Beach High School Oilers on May 14, 2024. Corona won the game 3-1, and Hernandez pitched 6 innings in the win.
On Wednesday, MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis selected five teams that did the best at identifying and drafting talent.
Callis picked the Pirates as crafting the second-best draft, only behind the Baltimore Orioles. Listing five teams, Callis slotted the Pirates second.
“For the second straight Draft, Pittsburgh landed the player with the most pure talent in the Draft despite not owning a top-five selection,” Callis said.
The Bucs selected high school shortstop/outfielder Konnor Griffin No. 9 last season and has blossomed into a top 15 prospect in the sport. Callis noted several teams had issues with his swing. Griffin has proved them wrong.
Some teams shied away from the Pirates No. 6 overall pick, Seth Hernandez, “because the industry is skittish about the risk associated with high school right-handers.”
Hernandez, 19, can hit 100 mph with his fastball, but typically sits into the mid-90s and tops out at 97-98 mph. The 6-foot-4 righty put up video-game numbers at Corona High School.
In 53.1 innings, Hernandez posted a 0.39 ERA and struck out 105 batters. He only walked seven.
Tbf, Cherington said the Pirates had the same questions about KG as everyone else — his swing and his ability to stay at SS. But they took him and here we are.
I also like Horowitz not being stopped by “industry skittishness.” I get the impression, rightly or wrongly, that he just wants to get the best players he can and won’t be stopped.
It’s just so baffling that they’d be willing to take risks in the draft but be afraid of their own shadows when it comes to doing anything at all at the major league level.
Because Horowitz is running the draft, and the people doing the MLB and MiLB analysis are smoking crack cocaine or on some sort of hallucinogenic. They seem to have very rigid formulas for evaluation in which they give priority to factors in a way that does not conform to reality.
Horowitz does not seem so rigid in his evaluations and seems to realize that there is no one formula or specific set of abilities that can guarantee success. He seems very "tools-based" and does not overvalue any one tool: (e.g., just as willing to take a guy with power and swing-and-miss as a guy with no power and little swing-and-miss).
Slow day, so how abut a repeat on a very important topic to Pirate fans - Hitting. I mentioned an article in Baseball America in Oct 2024 regarding the actions taken by the Red Sox after the 2022 Season to upgrade their hitting program at every level. As quick as possible -
The first thing they did was hire Jason Ochart who founded Driveline's Hitting Program in 2016, and then worked as the Phillies MiLB Hitting Coordinator from 2019 to 2022. They tasked him to create a more data-driven development environment and scale it out in ways to achieve measurable progress toward contributing to in-game success. Heavy emphasis on work in the batting cages. How?
The Red Sox had HitTrax Machines installed in every batting cage at every level so that hitters could get immediate feedback on
1. Location of the pitches they were swinging at,
2. how hard they were hitting the ball,
3. Launch Angles, and
4. Expected wOBA of the balls they were hitting
It is based on the theory that more positive swings in the cages will achieve better game results. Imagine the beneficial interaction and competition something like that inspires? I wonder how many HitTrax Machines the Pirates have in use at any level?
The Pirates have partnered with EL1 Sports to build two community hitting facilities they've called Pirates Training Center in Canonsburg and Vanderbilt and they mention having Hittrax so you'd think Pirate City et al would as well: https://www.piratestrainingcenter.com/
I would hope so, but I cannot imagine BC doing anything like that without major PR coverage at any location where they make that type of commitment. I would think we would want to have 2 or 3 indoors at PNC and hopefully, at least one or two at every MiLB location including the DSL. It's a major commitment, no doubt, but a necessity.
Are you out there WTM? Do the Pirates have a HitTrax at any batting cage at Pirate City or Bradenton? Anybody with other info?
I want to know what's in the Gatorade in Greensboro? I can't remember an affiliate being this dominant. Yes, Sally League, but still. I don't see any ringers in the lineup (Escotto did vest a pension there but he was still young). Opposing hitters hit in the same park... a great hitting coach/manager? People want to know
Blake Butler, Manager. Very young and would probably be mistaken for one of the middle infielders on the team. 75-55 in 2024 and on the way to doing much better in 2025.
Second, Greensboro is a very nice small city with a very diverse population.
Can you believe that the Rockies can’t pick higher than 10th? Same as the White Sox this year. That’s brutal. I assume the Pirates will face the same penalty in 2027 if they suck again next year.
I like the rule. In this era, teams with that bad of records are either trying to lose or "not trying to win". We saw too many teams get rewarded for tanking. It's time to reward bad teams that are actually trying to win.
The Pirates will be middle of the pack next year after they trade Keller, Bednar, Hayes, Pham and Barco for a few upper minors bats and two of them turn out to be league average or better bats. Then they'll tank again the next season when Skenes gets traded and the team is demoralized.
I did notice when I signed up that all the iterations of Bob Nutting and Robert Nutting usernames on BucsonDeck were "taken". Made me wonder if the team actually had a PR intern out on the web doing that for them! I had to go with "Ogden's Boy".
Dudes gots to eat. And I bet there are hundreds of us mock draft readers out there. Feeding us both. Unlike the Pirates normal sweeps I call that a win win.
Pham has been hitting since he got contacts. https://pittsburghbaseballnow.com/contact-solution-tommy-pham-hoping-updated-prescription-does-the-trick/ .400.435.691 206 wRC+ line since the date of that article. Pretty wild. Cherington would be smart to plant the splits story in the media somewhere so he could hope it got shared around a bit.
Peguero the 26 man add lol. Last chance, Liover.
Peggy’s last stand?
Will he get any ABs this time around? If he is going to ride the bench as an emergency infield option then might as well cut bait now. He is on his last option year so its now or never.
I doubt he gets many with the team showcasing IKF for trade, no. I did just notice they had him get some games at 1B and 3B this year in AAA so maybe he will if/when Hayes is traded.
I saw Peguero play first and he didn't stand out as being bad.
wouldnt IKF be more valuable if team see him at third and in the outfield as well?
Hopefully after the trade then. This year there has been too much wasting of ABs on vets not worth signing in the first place i.e. Frazier and Pham. Either sign someone with above replacement value or see what your young players can do with some leash.
Frazier on face value as a signing was fine. He was used more than he would have had it not been for Stixx's injury. And Pham, had he fixed those eyes before the season and he performed like this all year, we'd be just fine with the signing. Frazier has turned into an interesting post-hype prospect and Pham may just end up doing the same. That being said, I too wish they would go higher upside on the signings.
Kiley McDaniel’s post-draft Pirates top 10:
1. Chandler
2. Griffin
3. Hernandez
4. Ashcraft
5. Sanford
6. Johnson
7. Barco
8. Burrows
9. Yorke
10. Harrington
Cervantes and Sterling just missed.
No Florentino, then I ignore…
Eddie Flowers, blooming into a nice prospect…
one you step foot on a mlb field, your name should no longer be on these lists
I would like to ask for an exemption for any player that took part in the "Run the Bases" day as a youngster.
Also think Florentino will force his way into the top 10 by the end of the season
Looks about right- still think Barco could be a spot or two higher.
At the risk of a serious case of recency bias, I think Florentino has to be in the top 10 somewhere. And I have lost confidence in Johnson and Harrington.
Agree on Barco. I would put him 5th below Ashcraft.
Florentino for sure. I'm also ready to start seeing Antwone Kelly sniffing around that spot Tommy Harrington has been warming for the last year.
Not sure what it says exactly for Sanford to be at 5.
Good day to announce a draft signing or three.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25226375-ethan-holliday-eli-willits-and-updated-mlb-top-100-prospect-list-after-2025-draft
Dudes digging the newest first rd pick.
Kelly in the next 100. No mention of Termarr.
Yeah, Hernandez has a chance of being pretty special, only Holliday ranked higher from the draft.
I like this - "Based purely on upside, Seth Hernandez might have the highest ceiling of any prospect in the 2025 draft class. He brings a rare combination of projection, present stuff and polish to the mound, and he went 9-1 with a 0.39 ERA, 0.49 WHIP and a 105-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 53.1 innings this spring."
He gave up a few doubles one season so I'm waiting to get too excited. i kid.
I'm hoping for a little better Nick G for Stout.
It was 4 doubles and a homerun over 2 seasons and over a hundred innings at the high school level, also 41 singles lol.
i wanna see the dude who hit that dinger lol
Here he is... as per your request. https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/huntington-beach/huntington-beach-oilers/athletes/cj-weinstein/media/photos/full-size/?careerid=t9ndku69grb66
https://youtu.be/8nW7kDr1ap0?si=oZ2xmZM1gK4k7J7H
Beat me too it. Here's the homer.
incredible find!
It was Konnor.
I have no clue.
I tried to look it up!
Edit: the 4 hit shutout he threw against Orange Lutheran in the National High School Invitational, the hits and walk came from the likes of Derek Curiel and Josiah Hartshorn. Hartshorn was the only one to make it to second base. That inning ended on a double play.
It was a kid named C. J. Weinstein from the Huntington Beach High School Oilers on May 14, 2024. Corona won the game 3-1, and Hernandez pitched 6 innings in the win.
On Wednesday, MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis selected five teams that did the best at identifying and drafting talent.
Callis picked the Pirates as crafting the second-best draft, only behind the Baltimore Orioles. Listing five teams, Callis slotted the Pirates second.
“For the second straight Draft, Pittsburgh landed the player with the most pure talent in the Draft despite not owning a top-five selection,” Callis said.
The Bucs selected high school shortstop/outfielder Konnor Griffin No. 9 last season and has blossomed into a top 15 prospect in the sport. Callis noted several teams had issues with his swing. Griffin has proved them wrong.
Some teams shied away from the Pirates No. 6 overall pick, Seth Hernandez, “because the industry is skittish about the risk associated with high school right-handers.”
Hernandez, 19, can hit 100 mph with his fastball, but typically sits into the mid-90s and tops out at 97-98 mph. The 6-foot-4 righty put up video-game numbers at Corona High School.
In 53.1 innings, Hernandez posted a 0.39 ERA and struck out 105 batters. He only walked seven.
Tbf, Cherington said the Pirates had the same questions about KG as everyone else — his swing and his ability to stay at SS. But they took him and here we are.
I also like Horowitz not being stopped by “industry skittishness.” I get the impression, rightly or wrongly, that he just wants to get the best players he can and won’t be stopped.
It’s just so baffling that they’d be willing to take risks in the draft but be afraid of their own shadows when it comes to doing anything at all at the major league level.
Last para
MLB draft is really the only aspect of baseball where all things are equal for all 30 teams.
Because Horowitz is running the draft, and the people doing the MLB and MiLB analysis are smoking crack cocaine or on some sort of hallucinogenic. They seem to have very rigid formulas for evaluation in which they give priority to factors in a way that does not conform to reality.
Horowitz does not seem so rigid in his evaluations and seems to realize that there is no one formula or specific set of abilities that can guarantee success. He seems very "tools-based" and does not overvalue any one tool: (e.g., just as willing to take a guy with power and swing-and-miss as a guy with no power and little swing-and-miss).
One of those doubles was a poorly hit chopper that bounced over the 3bman's head because he misjudged the ball.
Damn high school sophomores misjudging shit. I had life all figured out by then.
anything on who is replacing Fraz on the 26?
Slow day, so how abut a repeat on a very important topic to Pirate fans - Hitting. I mentioned an article in Baseball America in Oct 2024 regarding the actions taken by the Red Sox after the 2022 Season to upgrade their hitting program at every level. As quick as possible -
The first thing they did was hire Jason Ochart who founded Driveline's Hitting Program in 2016, and then worked as the Phillies MiLB Hitting Coordinator from 2019 to 2022. They tasked him to create a more data-driven development environment and scale it out in ways to achieve measurable progress toward contributing to in-game success. Heavy emphasis on work in the batting cages. How?
The Red Sox had HitTrax Machines installed in every batting cage at every level so that hitters could get immediate feedback on
1. Location of the pitches they were swinging at,
2. how hard they were hitting the ball,
3. Launch Angles, and
4. Expected wOBA of the balls they were hitting
It is based on the theory that more positive swings in the cages will achieve better game results. Imagine the beneficial interaction and competition something like that inspires? I wonder how many HitTrax Machines the Pirates have in use at any level?
The Pirates have partnered with EL1 Sports to build two community hitting facilities they've called Pirates Training Center in Canonsburg and Vanderbilt and they mention having Hittrax so you'd think Pirate City et al would as well: https://www.piratestrainingcenter.com/
I would hope so, but I cannot imagine BC doing anything like that without major PR coverage at any location where they make that type of commitment. I would think we would want to have 2 or 3 indoors at PNC and hopefully, at least one or two at every MiLB location including the DSL. It's a major commitment, no doubt, but a necessity.
Are you out there WTM? Do the Pirates have a HitTrax at any batting cage at Pirate City or Bradenton? Anybody with other info?
I want to know what's in the Gatorade in Greensboro? I can't remember an affiliate being this dominant. Yes, Sally League, but still. I don't see any ringers in the lineup (Escotto did vest a pension there but he was still young). Opposing hitters hit in the same park... a great hitting coach/manager? People want to know
Blake Butler, Manager. Very young and would probably be mistaken for one of the middle infielders on the team. 75-55 in 2024 and on the way to doing much better in 2025.
Second, Greensboro is a very nice small city with a very diverse population.
Greensboro... Went down there ... was it last year... to see Bubba Chandler pitch? Such a lovely town. Would be easy to live there.
Got to meet Andy Durham, their radio voice with the funny home run call. Got a signed Hopper hat from Andy.
Then came home to Toon Town and there was Bubba pitching in Toon Town..
But, honestly? Greensboro is a gem.
I love that guy who announces their games. Has an enthusiasm that is not feigned.
They have a new drink. Of course they call it Hopperade.
https://www.mlb.com/news/early-2026-mock-draft-july-2025
Funny, they have the Bucs 4th, BA had them 2nd, but both give them Grady Emerson.
Maybe the draft is a mirage and the pirates all ready have a deal in place for Emerson.
Can you believe that the Rockies can’t pick higher than 10th? Same as the White Sox this year. That’s brutal. I assume the Pirates will face the same penalty in 2027 if they suck again next year.
I like the rule. In this era, teams with that bad of records are either trying to lose or "not trying to win". We saw too many teams get rewarded for tanking. It's time to reward bad teams that are actually trying to win.
You’d think that’d add motivation to get rid of the idiot GM.
I think so. Teams that receive revenue sharing can only get a lottery pick two years in a row.
The Pirates will be middle of the pack next year after they trade Keller, Bednar, Hayes, Pham and Barco for a few upper minors bats and two of them turn out to be league average or better bats. Then they'll tank again the next season when Skenes gets traded and the team is demoralized.
You really are Bob Nutting!
I did notice when I signed up that all the iterations of Bob Nutting and Robert Nutting usernames on BucsonDeck were "taken". Made me wonder if the team actually had a PR intern out on the web doing that for them! I had to go with "Ogden's Boy".
Wow, this a very early mock.
Always happens. As soon as one cycle is done, the next begins. In fact it already has. BA has top 100s out for 2026 already.
Dudes gots to eat. And I bet there are hundreds of us mock draft readers out there. Feeding us both. Unlike the Pirates normal sweeps I call that a win win.
Click bait, but of course I read it anyway.
let's go bucs