Welcome to the Pirates, Carmen Mlodzinski.
The Pirates added a powerful, consistent hitter at No. 7 overall in the 2020 MLB Draft in Nick Gonzales, then they went for college pitching with the righty Mlodzinski at No. 31.
Mlodzinski made a name for himself in the summer of 2019, striking out 40 in six starts and 29.1 innings in the Cape Cod League. There, he went 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA and 0.648 WHIP, his strongest showing at any level to date.
"I would say the Cape is always an important factor in evaluations," Pirates senior director of amateur scouting Joe DelliCarri said on a Zoom conference call after the selection. " ... Carmen had missed some time, so we just started seeing him get a chance to get on the field in the Cape and do the things that we had thought before he had missed some time with a foot the previous spring. So the Cape was a nice platform to see him compete coming off of the downtime."
The important details with Mlodzinski all live right there in DelliCarri's quote. After a freshman season at South Carolina that saw him appear in 19 games, Mlodzinski fractured his foot as a sophomore, limiting him to just three games and a not-so-desirable 5.91 ERA/2.250 WHIP in those appearances.
Everything changed in the summer, though. Fully healed, Mlodzinski was able to showcase his stuff in the Cape Cod League, catching the attention of scouts across the nation with his dominant performance. It wasn't just the stuff on display, though. It was the composure. The mentality. Back from injury, Mlodzinski reached a new level, mentally and physically.
And you better believe the Pirates noticed.
"The potential is, first and foremost, I would say is the way he's made," DelliCarri said. "Very strong competitor. And then, second, we really like the way he, just simply put, he can make the ball move. He throws different pitches. He's worked on different pitches. He has a variety of pitches that can move in different directions. I would say that's first and foremost. He's worked on a little bit of cutter as well as slider, curveball, makes the fastball move to both sides of the plate."
In all, Mlodzinski played two seasons and change at South Carolina, appearing in 26 games and posting a 4.74 ERA/1.531 WHIP with 76 strikeouts.
His fastball reaches 98 mph, and he also brings a decent curve and a changeup to the table with room to grow, as DelliCarri mentioned. That said, many felt Cole Wilcox, teammate of No. 6 overall pick Emerson Hancock at Georgia, would be the pick here. Instead, the Pirates went down the consensus rankings, saw something they loved in Mlodzinski and went for it.
"He is fierce," DelliCarri said. "With 'fierce' comes intensity and, at times, you might want to share with him, our understanding is that's terrific, it's going to serve you extremely well. And there's times that he shared with us that he's learned to harness some of that. But we definitely would not want to take a lot of that away from him."
The Mlodzinski pick concludes the Pirates' Day 1. Now, they Roll into Day 2 with four picks to go, beginning at No. 44 overall.
All that action kicks off at 5 p.m. ET on MLB Network/ESPN 2.
The Pirates' full list of picks in the 2020 MLB Draft is as follows:
- Round 1, No. 7 overall (Gonzales)
- Competitive Balance Round A/Round 1, No. 31 overall (Mlodzinski)
- Round 2, No. 44 overall (Day 2, Thursday)
- Round 3, No. 79 overall
- Round 4, No. 108 overall
- Round 5, No. 138 overall
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