The Pirates secured a strong haul in the 2020 MLB Draft on paper, selecting power-hitting infielder Nick Gonzales with the No. 7 overall pick, then rolling with five straight high-upside, right-handed pitchers to round out the event.
While there's still work to do in signing these players and making everything official, the Pirates appear poised to move along and to continue adding to their farm system.
In the coming days, that'll happen via undrafted free agents. Under the revised format of the 2020 MLB Draft, the Pirates can sign an unlimited amount of undrafted free agents with a maximum signing bonus of $20,000 apiece.
Currently, general manager Ben Cherington and company are stuck in a "quiet period," meaning they're unable to contact/negotiate with those players, but that lifts Sunday morning, and the team will get to work almost immediately at that time.
"Starting Sunday, we'd be able to communicate again directly with passed-over players," Cherington said on a post-draft Zoom video conference call. "We were able to do that with some guys prior to tonight, guys that we thought might be candidates, we were able to have some communication, but we'll pick that up again on Sunday."
When it lifts, where will the Pirates go?
In the draft, they took a clear-cut top-10 prospect in Gonzales then loaded up on pitching. So will they now address other areas of weakness, such as catcher, as many expected they'd do in the draft?
"Not particularly," Cherington said of that thought process. "We probably would look at areas at the lower levels where we might be a little deeper and that might guide us a little bit. For example, we do have [quite] a few outfielders currently who are kind of in the [short-season, Low-A] mix this year and need to play and will need opportunity next year. So that may factor a little bit if there [are] areas where we're relatively a little bit deeper ... But I think more than that, it will continue to be players we just have interest in and who we believe there might be a good development match with."
Just as the Pirates did with the draft itself, they're not reaching for positions. They have their board, they have their methods, and they're looking for the best players available all day. If that's five straight right-handed pitchers, so be it. Cherington and company are looking to bombard the Pirates' system with an influx of talent. That's it.
Of course, that doesn't mean there's no thinking involved here. The team does feel it has a structured, organized approach toward navigating the undrafted market.
"I think [our approach will] end up being a little bit more targeted for a couple reasons," Cherington said. "One: I think we're trying to really present an opportunity and why signing with the Pirates might be a unique opportunity for a particular player. And it seems easier to do that, honestly, if it's a little more targeted group. And then the other half of that is just that we also need to look at, any non-drafted player we sign and bring in is in some way in competition with a player who's already here, a minor-league player who's already here. Obviously, as you know, we made some releases this week, so we need to look at that too. So I think we'll target guys that we feel honestly have opportunity with the Pirates and who we feel we can help in some way. And that probably ends up meaning it's a bit more targeted list."
Makes sense.
So who's out there?
Predicting undrafted free agents, especially in a year like this, is virtually impossible. But there are some intriguing names who didn't get called throughout the two-day 2020 MLB Draft.
Here are three options the Pirates could pursue:
Kevin Parada, catcher, Loyola High School
Kevin Parada was No. 48 on Baseball America's top-500 prospects lists heading into the draft. And this immediately makes me think: "Holy crap, the Pirates should get him" and "Holy crap, this dude told every team in the league he's not signing for $20,000."
While his commitment to Georgia Tech is almost definitely the dealbreaker here, it'd be foolish for the Pirates to not at least inquire and see if they can work their magic to persuade him to join the club. Parada was the 2018 WWBA World Championship MVP as a junior and has shown strong hitting alongside decent defense. Some question whether he'll remain a catcher, but the hitting projects so well, it may not matter. He's a guy the Pirates would want in their farm system tomorrow.
Tommy Mace, RHP, Florida
Tommy Mace has actually been drafted before, in the 12th round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Reds. Instead, he went to Florida, where he's played three seasons and posted some intriguing results.
Cumulatively, Mace put up a 4.37 ERA/1.299 WHIP across 46 games at Florida, hitting his stride fully in the shortened 2020 campaign, when he went 3-0 in four games with a 1.67 ERA/0.963 WHIP while striking out 26 across 27 innings of work. He's 6-foot-7, 225 pounds and was Baseball America's No. 75 prospect heading into the draft. The knock on Mace, however, is that he doesn't really have a devastating, plus pitch, and his 97-mph heat looks good on paper but has been extremely hittable throughout his college career.
With the new Pirates regime showing a love for high-upside pitching prospects already, though, Mace seems like an ideal candidate to get a phone call in the near future.
Corey Collins, catcher, North Gwinnett High School
Yeah, another catcher. I know Cherington said they're not going to sign players based on need — which is smart, by the way — I can't shake the feeling that they're going to pursue a catcher or two in the very near future. At some point, they just have to.
And Corey Collins is an ideal candidate. Ranked No. 139 in Baseball America's pre-draft board, Collins brings a powerful left-handed bat and solid defense to boot. He's 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, at 18 years old, leading many to believe he will continue to fill out and add even more power to that frame at the pro level.
Currently, he's committed to Georgia and, with his ceiling, he may lean toward fulfilling that promise instead of taking $20,000 to go pro. But his skill set looks to be exactly what the Pirates need, making him well worth a quick buzz.
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