Ben Cherington isn't trying to be the smartest guy in the room.
He's just trying to make the best decisions.
Heading into the 2020 Major League Baseball draft Wednesday, June 10, at 7 p.m., Cherington and his Pirates face a brand-new challenge: The virtual stage.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 edition of the MLB draft will take place online and remotely, giving every team a new hurdle to overcome when they go on the clock to make their selections.
With any new problem comes new solutions, new ideas and new strategies. For this one, Cherington and company could devise their own plans, conduct their own research and come to their own conclusions.
Or they could ask somebody who just experienced the same challenge.
"I had a couple conversations with [Steelers general manager] Kevin [Colbert] and then some text exchanges," Cherington said during a Zoom video conference Wednesday. "We’ve also, within our group in the front office, we’ve been able to pull some feedback from other NFL teams, too."
Ask those who have been there.
It's a smart move from Cherington, and it's one that's been expected since late April, when Cherington said he wanted to connect with the Steelers after they breezed through the virtual 2020 NFL Draft from April 23–25, making all six of their scheduled picks without a hitch.
To Cherington, the knowledge he gained from Colbert was 100 percent worth the effort.
"Kevin was extremely helpful and generous with information," Cherington said. "One of the things that he said that really resonated with me was that in a virtual environment, there can be a sort of inclination to kind of pursue every possible new gadget and technical toy out there to incorporate into the process. You want to be careful about that, because at the end of the day it’s still about getting the board right. It’s that, ‘Use everything you need and nothing you don’t’ [approach] and then just really stressing that whatever system you’re using is really working well and you have enough backup going into the draft itself in case you have complications. That’s where we are now."
Cherington will get to put all this knowledge to the test early in the 2020 MLB Draft, as the Pirates first take that virtual stage with the No. 7 overall pick.
Here is the list of Pirates' picks:
• Round 1, No. 7 overall
• Competitive Balance Round A/Round 1, No. 31 overall
• Round 2, No. 44 overall
• Round 3, No. 79 overall
• Round 4, No. 108 overall
• Round 5, No. 138 overall
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