Day 2 of the MLB draft starts at noon today. They’ll be picking rounds 2-15. I’d assume the Pirates will be making picks like Barrett Barnes (college guys, decent skillset but something that limits them like Barnes’ defense in center and will allow them to easily and cheaply sign) in pretty much every round. I’m kind of sitting around at work, scratching my head and trying to figure out what I was doing when I left for Michigan ten days ago, so I’ll be around to update this post with picks and hopefully some relevant reading on the prospects relatively close to when they happen.
UPDATE #1 – Round 2 is about to get rolling, and you should read Dave Cameron’s take on the Pirates’ selection of Appel and the consequences their decisions will have today today. It’s a very interesting, very good take that gets at the heart of what intrigues me about this selection so much. The Pirates really have a very thin and interesting line to walk now that they’ve picked Appel.
SECOND ROUND UPDATE – The Pirates take Texas HS C Wyatt Mathisen with the 69th pick. Baseball America has Mathisen ranked as their 47th overall prospect, so like the Barrett Barnes (ranked #41, picked #45) pick, they’re not exactly going super-cheap to save money to sign Appel with so far. This is MLB.com’s from scouting report on Mathisen, which you can watch here:
The University of Texas recruit mostly played shortstop and pitched for Calallen, but he has the build and the tools to be a good backstop. He has a strong arm and should be agile and athletic enough to be a good all-around defender. He has good raw power from the right side of the plate and he should hit for average as well as he develops. Because he hasn’t caught much, it might take him a while to develop, but the end result could be a very good all-around catcher who can play the position every day at the highest level.
We’ll see how the next few picks play out, but the Pirates’ strategy may just be to conduct their draft the way they normally would and dare Appel and Boras to turn down ~$3 million.
THIRD ROUND UPDATE – Pirates pick Jonathan Sandfort, a right-handed high school pitcher from Florida. Guess what? He’s 6’6″, 205! I know, I’m shocked, too. As a third rounder, he could be a potentially tough sign for $746,300. It should be clear at this point that the Pirates are not substantially altering their draft strategy at all to save money for Appel. He’s going to be offered ~$2.9 million and not a whole heck of a lot more.
FOURTH ROUND UPDATE – Brandon Thomas, CF, Georgia Tech. Seems like he’s a similar pick to Barnes; some power projection, but probably not a good enough defender to stay in center, which means that he’d have to develop a lot of power to justify the position he’ll end up at.
FIFTH ROUND UPDATE – Adrian Sampson, a right-handed community college pitcher two years removed from Tommy John. Three pitches, was a 16th round pick of the Marlins last year. As a JuCo guy on Baseball America’s Top 100 list this year (84), I guess it’s conceivable that he could decide to go back to school for a third year and try to get drafted higher next year.
