PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – At one point the Pirates drafted nine college pitchers in a row. In all the Bucs selected 14 pitchers, 18 of the players went to college. It seemed like a trend, although their lead scout and assistant GM said it just fell that way.
“I think the easy answer is that's the way it shaked out,” said Pirates Director of Amateur Scouting Joe DelliCarri. “Each selection afforded the opportunity of what was in front of us and take advantage of that opportunity.”
“Obviously, as you work through the draft, particularly later in the Day 2 and Day 3, it's not uncommon to see a disproportionate amount of college players selected relative to high school players given the financial restraints that every team works under in the bonus pool system,” Bucs Assistant GM Steve Sanders said. “Does it mean that early in the draft those proportions are probably a little bit more even? I would say so. But, I think our goal is to add as much talent up and down the draft as we possibly can and do everything we can to bring in as much collective talent as we can.”
“Again, I think this year what you're seeing on Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft, oftentimes there's just a little bit more depth of the college pool there. I think that's mostly what you're seeing and not something that's really out of the ordinary, whether it's for us or the industry.”
Both said the numbers may not tell the whole story about players. For instance, Vanderbilt right-handed pitcher Patrick Reilly and Georgia left-handed pitcher Jaden Woods each had a 5.77 ERAs. Lefty Magdiel Cotto (11th round, Kentucky) had a 6.00 ERA and righty Khristian Curtis (12th round, Arizona State) had a 7.03 ERA.
The 6’5”, 210-pound Curtis has had a history of elbow problems, but just that he was able to stay healthy and pitch 64 innings in 2023; that was a win for him. He pitched seven shutout innings against USC in May after giving up 16 runs in his previous six innings. He also had 17 strikeouts in 11.1 innings against Cal and Washington State. There is inconsistency, but also a variety of pitches that excite scouts. His freshman year at Texas A&M before elbow surgery, he had a 1.42 ERA.
“Very pleased that Khristian got a chance to get on the mound this year, stay on the mound this year, show us a little bit coming out of his past health,” DelliCarri said. “He did a really nice job posting. We feel strongly about tapping into even more of what he did this past year, and definitely his pitches in particular.”
Not everyone was a pitcher and not everyone played collegiately, the Bucs rolled the dice on a highly rated prep prospect in the 17th round. 6’4”, 225-pound 3B Daniel Cuvet from ESB Academy in Florida was ranked the ninth best player in the state and has show glimpses of raw power.
“I would definitely share he has some power in this draft class, no question,” DellaCarri said. “He’s going to hit the ball long and far, there’s no question about that. But even more so, liked Daniel’s personality, attitude towards the game, growth mindset, big learner. Has done a lot to get himself to this point in time. He has improved over the last year. Big growth. But, yeah, he definitely has some of the (best) power in this draft.”
Sanders said every draft is unique when it comes to available players. This is a year stocked with college players, partially because there were so many more in the pool because of extra COVID seasons. The Bucs assistant GM says they come in with thoughts of what they want to do and then adjust, like you would in a game.
“Our goal is to come out of the draft adding as much impact to the organization as possible,” Sanders said. “In this case, we went into night one with a couple different approaches to take, from pick one all the way down to the 20th round. That’s dictated by the draft pool, the options that we have, what other teams do. Our goal is to respond and react as nimbly as possible to take advantage of what the draft presents to us.”
“I think we did that this year. It probably looks a little different than past year and will look a little different than future years.”