Who will the Pirates draft? Mock drafts may hold the answers

· Yahoo Sports

The MLB Draft is this weekend in Philadelphia, and there are plenty of mock drafts circulating and predicting who each team is going to take with their first round pick. The Pittsburgh Pirates pick at five in the first round of the draft and there’s a varied opinion on who people think the Buccos will select.

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Jonathan Mayo of MLB.con predicts that the Pirates will address their longterm issues at catcher and select one of the best catchers that the college ranks have to offer in Vahn Lackey out of Georgia Tech.

“The Pirates have drafted the best high school position player (Konnor Griffin) and best high school pitcher (Seth Hernandez) in the last two Drafts,” Mayo writes. “If they wanted to go down that road again they could look at Eric Booth Jr. on the hitter side, or Gio Rojas on the mound, but it would be tough to pass on the super-athletic Lackey, the Yellow Jackets’ catcher with a 1.265 OPS, 15 homers and 14 steals.”

The Pirates are certainly in need of a catcher, and having one as athletic as Lackey would be a great grab at fifth overall. Being that he’d be coming out of college it would be assumed that he’d be closer to being pro-ready as well, so if the Pirates go in that direction it may not be long before a player like Lackey would be seeing action in Pittsburgh.

Keith Law of The Athletic thinks that the Pirates could add another strong arm to their pitching staff by taking one of the best college pitching projects in this year’s class. Jackson Flora out of UC Santa Barbara is Law’s pick, after setting school records for most strikeouts in a season.

“The most opaque team in the top 10, the Pirates would take any of those top three names if one fell here. Buster Posey was the No. 5 pick in 2008, and Vahn Lackey has some similarities in his career arc, although they are not similar players — but that’s probably not happening at pick 5,” Law writes. “Several sources noted that the Pirates have swung big in several drafts now and have a pretty good hit rate, so don’t be surprised if they go for another high-upside pick here.”

ESPN and Bleacher Report both see the Pirates taking one of the top high school prospects in the country. Shortstop Jacob Lombard out of Gulliver Prep High School in Florida has been shooting up mock draft boards as of late, with ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel officially projecting he’ll be a Pirate.

“The Pirates are a lower-payroll team with playoff aspirations, but the college players available aren’t talented enough to move them off the best talent,” McDaniel writes. “In addition, I would only give Lombard to a team with a history of picking and developing players who will need a contact improvement and/or swing tweaks. Konnor Griffin is a nice recent example. Lombard’s profile is similar to that of 2025 No. 4 overall pick Ethan Holliday at the same stage, but with even more athleticism/upside.”

Sports Illustrated Ryan Phillips also predicts that the Pirates will draft a top high school prospect, he just happens to think it’ll be the one from the same home state as the Pirates’ current short stop, Konnor Griffin. Eric Booth Jr. out of Oak Grove High School in Mississippi is looking to be one of the most athletically gifted outfielders in this year’s class and has all the makings of a big league center fielder.

“Flora could be the pick here, but the Pirates like upside and might be able to cut a deal with Booth. That would save money for the three other picks they have in the top 51,” Phillips writes. “At 6’ and 207 pounds, Booth has elite speed, a plus hit tool and good raw power. He’s also a plus fielder in center who will flash an above-average arm. The Vanderbilt commit’s swing can get a bit out of whack as he holds his hands away from his body and moves them up and down as a timing mechanism before he locks them to move to the pitch. He still has good bat-to-ball skills despite that. There’s a lot of upside here with proper development.”

The Pirates and the rest of Major League Baseball will begin the draft on July 11 from the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

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