Pirates select Mark Appel!!

The new rules that have capped the spending for the Major League Baseball draft will have its first test and the team testing it?
The Pittsburgh Pirates,who took advantage of the asking price of the player rated by most as the top player in the draft,watched him fall and then tabbed the player with the eighth pick.
Stanford pitcher Mark Appel and his agent Scott Boras are going to play the financial game and with the money that the Pirates can offer Appel,it is not a slam dunk that Appel will sign with Pittsburgh.

All of that considered,the new rules are "Supposed" to "level" the playing field and allow teams to take the best player without the "signability" concerns.
Pittsburgh and Mark Appel will be the first team to see if this truly will be the case.

The 6'5 Appel was thought to be the first pick of the draft by the Houston Astros,but the signing issues and the rising of Carlos Correa took Appel down teams board.
I did not mention Appel in the preview today because I did not think he would be a consideration for the Pirates at the eighth position
Appel throws in the mid to high 90's and has a plus slider and changeup.
My biggest concern is the abuse issue that comes with so many college pitchers.
I am going to see how many times Appel had a huge pitch count and I'll add some thoughts later once I know about those....

I was able to grab a few words from Pirates prospect guru Wilbur Miller on the Appel pick and Wilbur is a little more pessimistic than I.

"It's a double-edged sword.  The Pirates got to pick a guy who was much more highly rated than what they expected with that pick.  But they'll have a terrible time signing Appel.  He was expecting to go first, where the slot is $7.2M.  The Pirates' entire pool is less than that and the 1-8 slot is $2.9M.  And they lose the pool amount for any pick they don't sign.  At best, they're going to have to overdraft all their remaining picks to save up the money.  And then there's Boras, who'll undoubtedly threaten to take Appel to indy ball.  I think there's a very good chance they won't sign him, and I don't want them to be the test case for this foolish system.

I'm also not totally convinced he's that good, although I only know from what I read.  He doesn't seem to have nearly the stuff of Cole or Taillon, and scouts say his fastball lacks movement and his motion is too easy to pick up.  Plus, Stanford pitchers have a bad track record.  This is an incredibly risky pick."

 

All and all,I like this pick.

I know that I have complained about the college pitcher in the past and I stand by that opinion,but that was when the Pirates were picking so high that most options were available to choose from.
Mark Appel was clearly the top player available and the Pittsburgh Pirates pulled the trigger on the top player.
That said,this will still not be an easy sign.
Appel will be slotted for far less than he expected due to his fall,Scott Boras and Neal Huntington have had acrimonious negotiations in the past and the new system will be a hindrance,so Mark Appel actually becoming a Pittsburgh Pirate is not a guarantee.
It's a gamble,but one worth taking....