Austin Meadows
Meadows was a guy who was talked about as possibly going number one this year. He and fellow top ten pick Clint Frazier tore it up in their Georgia town. Meadows was considered the #2 high school prospect, #2 outfielder, #2 overall hitter, and #5 overall player in the draft by Baseball America. That's quite a haul for the #9 overall pick. His bat is the big thing here. If he develops the power many expect he will, he will become a five tool outfielder like you see with Andrew McCutchen. He's not McCutchen though because he'll lose speed as he gets bigger and his arm isn't that good but solid. Meadows isn't seen as a guy that will be hard to sign so don't worry about that. Meadows is added to a deep stable of gifted outfielders along with Cutch, Starling Marte, Travis Snider, Gregory Polanco, Josh Bell, and Barrett Barnes. This takes pressure off of all of these guys to reach full potential and I would expect one or two of them to be traded in deals for major league pieces at the trade deadline or the offseason. This could also allow the Pirates to let Cutch walk down the road if three other guys are stepping up or he is starting to decline. I see a future outfield of Polanco, Marte, Meadows left to right in five years.
Reese McGuire
This was the guy the Pirates were linked to at #9 by every single mock draft. But when Meadows fell into their lap, they had to take him. I was kinda disappointed with this pick but it's not bad by any stretch of the imagination. Braden Shipley, a RHP from Nevada, was still available and was regarded as the third best college pitcher in the draft. He was expected to go #6 overall. I understand why they didn't take him though. Sign ability. Shipley was expected to go higher so he'll want more money. The Pirates couldn't afford another Appel situation so they took a guy they loved in McGuire. Back to McGuire now, he's regarded as the best catching prospect and #10 player overall so this is another value pick at #14. The problem with prep catchers is usually if they will stick at catcher (Neil Walker). McGuire has unbelievable defense and arm behind the plate so that is no problem. His bat is the issue and gets different reviews by different people. I tend to think his bat will develop and he'll add power in the minors. This should make him a future all-star catcher and those are extremely hard to come by.
Blake Taylor
Taylor is a big project LHP. He sits in the low 90s with his fastball and throws a nice curveball. He needs to develop a change up and learn some control, two things the Pirates are good at developing, just look at Tyler Glasnow. I feel this pick was more need based than people think although it is good value. Taylor was expected to go around here so it's a good value pick but considering who was on the board, Jon Denny and Bobby Wahl to name a few, it doesn't look that great. Denny makes it interesting because he is a prep catcher that some think has a higher ceiling than McGuire. If the Pirates knew he would still be available (and still is) I'm sure they would've taken Braden Shipley at #15 and taken the risk to sign him. Meadows, Shipley, and Denny would've deserved a standing ovation. Wahl is a college pitcher out of Ole Miss who was considered top 20 in some mocks I would've liked to see him because he'd be closer to the majors but I can live with passing on him. The Pirates needed LHP talent and got some at good value. Can't complain too much about that.
Overall the beginning of this draft has been fantastic and I expect more of the same as today goes on. Look for the Pirates to go for college hitters and pitchers early today and then taper off and go for falling high school pitchers they think they can develop into aces as many do in college around round 5 or 6 and see if they can pay over slot to sign them. Its starting to work with Tyler Glasnow so they'll keep doing it. I'll write another shorter one of these
tomorrow with interesting selections. Stay tuned
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