Pirates 2024 day three picks to watch in 2025
Late-round picks that are intriguing heading into 2025
The Pittsburgh Pirates swung for the fences with the early part of their draft, with four of their first five picks coming from the prep ranks.
Digging deeper, they signed eight of their 10 day-three picks, most of which came from the college ranks. The lone prep player they took on day three was Taylor Penn in the 20th round, who opted to go to college instead of signing.
Every now and again you can sneak in a quality signing on day three, especially if you could maneuver your draft pool dollar amount to save some heading into the final 10 rounds.
The Pirates took Charles McAdoo in the 13th round in 2023, and he hit the ground running and made it to Double-A in less than a year after signing before getting traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Isaiah Kiner-Falefa.
While a few names from day three made their professional debuts at the end of the season, none stood out from the rest. With that in mind, I wanted to look at a few intriguing names from day three that the Pirates selected:
Matt McShane
We know a strong performance in the Cape Cod League goes a long way in Ben Cherington’s eyes, and Matt McShane certainly has that on his resume.
Drafted in the 13th round out of Saint Joesph’s, McShane posted a 1.40 ERA in 19.1 IP in 2023, striking out 25 batters (30.4%) and walking another eight (9.5%) for the Bourne Braves.
It’s a team that the Pirates obviously scouted heavily, as they drafted two other pitchers on that staff—Patrick Reilly and Joe Vogatsky.
A reliever at St. Joseph’s, McShane bounced back from a rough 2023 season his junior year, posting a strikeout rate of 29.3% (up from an odd 11.6% mark in 2023).
He didn’t pitch for Bradenton to close out the season (he pitched in the Cape Cod League again, although he struggled the second time), but he threw in a few Bridge League games.
It’s an analytically appeasing fastball, at least from the little data we’ve gotten so far, reaching the mid-90s. Baseball America mentions a gyro-slider, but it also looked like he threw a curveball in the Bridge League.
Lower-level relievers are tricky, as a lot can go wrong, but as far as a day-three pick goes, McShane is one of the more interesting arms the Pirates picked up.
Camden Janik
One of two catchers the Pirates selected, Camden Janik, didn’t make his official debut last year but did play in a few Bridge League games.
He had a good career at Illinois, hitting .336/.440/.534 with 18 home runs in 120 games, but it’s his bat-to-ball skills that stand out. Janik struck out 47 times in 512 plate appearances (9.1%) at Illinois.
That includes him striking out just 11 times in 266 plate appearances (4.1%) this past season as a junior.
So, it’s likely a hit-over-power profile that we will have to wait and see how much he impacts the ball at the pro level. The available reports make it seem like he’s more than capable behind the plate.
Andrew Patrick
The only of the three here to make his official debut, Andrew Patrick struggled with Bradenton (.537 OPS in 54 plate appearances). What stands out about Patrick is FutureStarSeries’ write-up that mentioned he had Top-100 (draft pick) upside if it all came together.
He struggled his junior year at Wright State but hit 20 home runs in 2023.
It was a small sample size, but there was a lot of chase and whiff with Bradenton, with little impact behind it. So, you are hoping he can make some adjustments to allow for more contact.
Patrick has a solid frame that makes you think there could be some added power in there, but at the same time, he also swiped four bags in 16 games with the Marauders.
He played only the outfield in Bradenton but did play third base (and some shortstop) at Wright State.
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Patrick was also considered the top Horizon League prospect to start the season by D1 Baseball.
https://x.com/d1baseball/status/1757502524666294673?s=46
When I saw Janek in the bridge league, he wasn’t catching. Can’t remember whether it was OF or 2B.