Patrick Reilly: Power stuff makes for interesting name to watch in 2024

The fifth round pick in 2023 missed plenty of bats in pro debut season.

Photo Credit: WTM

It was fairly obvious that the Pittsburgh Pirates had a ‘type’ when it came to what they were looking for during the 2023 draft.

The time they used to scout Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews and (potentially) Wyatt Langford, they also multi-tasked and went in another very specific direction later on in the draft - SEC relief pitchers.

Including Skenes, the Pirates took seven SEC pitchers over the course of the 2023 draft, with the majority of them being relievers.

They may try and convert some of them back into starters, thinking with how deep the SEC is, there may be some potential in stretching some of them out - but that will remained to be seen.

One of the pitchers they took comes from a school that is no stranger to pushing arms through the draft and into the majors - Patrick Reilly out of Vanderbilt.

His freshman year he was on a team with two eventual top 10 picks, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, but still managed to make seven starts. The next two years he pitched mostly out of the bullpen, only making a start here and there (seven total as a sophomore and junior).

Part of that was continued control problems, but regardless he was ranked in the Top 250 for both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America heading into the 2023 draft.

After being selected in the fifth round, Reilly was among the first of the draft picks to make their professional debuts, skipping the complex league and jumping straight to Single-A Bradenton.