Pirates

MLB Draft: How Pirates can sign all six picks

Hunter Homistek
Posted on

The Pirates' 2020 MLB Draft class is a wrap, as Ben Cherington and company officially made all six of their scheduled selections.

Now, the challenge becomes signing the players.

Heading into the draft, the Pirates' had $11,154,500 to invest, a figure that can inflate by five percent with no penalty, bringing their maximum spend to $11,712,225.

Broken down pick by pick, those values shake out as such:

  • Nick Gonzales, Round 1, No. 7 overall ($5,432,400 value)
  • Carmen Mlodzinski, Competitive Balance Round A, No. 31 overall ($2,312,000 value)
  • Jared Jones, Round 2, No. 44 overall ($1,689,500 value)
  • Nick Garcia, Round 3, No. 79 overall ($780,400 value)
  • Jack Hartman, Round 4, No. 108 overall ($538,200 value)
  • Logan Hofmann, Round 5, No. 138 overall ($402,000 value)

So this is easy, right? Just get all the guys to agree to their slot value, bag 'em up, and carry on.

Nah.

It's not that simple.

Eyeballing the list, the Pirates' sole high-school player, Jones in Round 2, will likely need more than his $1.6895 million slot value to take the leap to the pro ranks. He's currently committed to Texas, and he didn't pitch full-time in high school, meaning he can significantly elevate his stock in college as he focuses more on his work on the mound.

Jones could bet on himself, forgo signing with the Pirates and rocket up draft boards in the near future, earning more money while honing his skills in a less pressure-filled environment in the process.

The appeal there is obvious, so now it's up to the Pirates to persuade him to join the pro club instead. To do this, they'll need to overpay at that No. 44 position, which means they'll need to save some money elsewhere.

The two candidates there who immediately leap off the page: Hartman in Round 4 and Hofmann in Round 5.

Hofmann was drafted in Round 35 last year by the Cardinals but, like Jones could do this year, he bet on himself, returned to school, improved, and rose all the way up to the fifth round in 2020 as a result. Good move. That said, he may feel ready for the pros after already going through the process once, and he may feel fortunate to be drafted during this shortened, five-round 2020 MLB Draft at all.

Taking another season at Northwestern State University could damage his stock, too. Hofmann rocketed out to a 4-0 start with a 0.000 ERA in 2020, striking out 38 batters across 28 innings pitched. And he did this after being named a Cape Cod League All-Star in the summer of 2019. Will he realistically perform much better than that, or should he just take the money and the offer and move along?

The Pirates are undoubtedly hoping for the latter, and they're likely hoping he'll do it at a discount, too.

That leaves Hartman, who was recruited as an infielder before transitioning to pitching at the collegiate level. He bounced around from Tallahassee Community College to the College of Central Florida before finally landing at Appalachian State Unversity for 2019 and 2020, where he settled onto the mound.

But that journey was brutal for him — so rough that he almost quit playing baseball entirely.

"I’ve told people, whether it’s scouts or other players, I had a goal this year of being drafted as a senior, back when the draft was 40 rounds," Hartman wrote in an article for his college. "Now, with it being five rounds, and they’re only going to sign so many free agents, I would never have imagined to be in this position as a 'prospect.' I mean, two years ago, I almost stopped playing baseball. I wanted to make a Division I team, or Division II, whatever it was going to be."

Sound like the kinda guy who will be willing to take a little pay cut just for the opportunity? Mhm. Sure does.

Plus, Hartman's a senior. While he could head back to school thanks to the NCAA granting an additional year of eligibility to spring-sport athletes due to the coronavirus pandemic, it seems unlikely he would exercise that option. He's traveled a tiring path at the collegiate level already, and he'll likely take what's presented within reason.

And, hey, it's just Twitter, but both guys seem excited to get on with their careers with the Pirates:

Ben Cherington and company plan to get to work on this sooner than later, too. While the coronavirus has disrupted many of the processes surrounding the draft, including the format of the draft itself, Cherington told reporters that signing his draftees remains an immediate priority in the wake of the event.

"I don't think there's any reason to stall, necessarily," Cherington was saying on a Zoom conference call with reporters. "I don't think there's any real benefit in waiting longer than is necessary. And the guys we took, we have some level of confidence that we can sign. There's no guarantee, but we have a level of confidence, so I'd say we'd probably get to work on that ...

"You do want to formalize the relationship if you can. Even though you can't work with guys in person maybe right away, just start sharing more information more formally and be able to talk about what development might look like for them over the rest of the year."

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