I am glad that I waited a bit to post this one.I was angry about the overdraft of Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez, but yet I wanted to see just who the Pirates were looking at on day two of the draft before I blasted their first-day efforts.
Some would call Neal Huntington and the Pirates cost-effective, others just plain cheap.
Either way, give the Bucco GM credit for one thing-he certainly could care less about what others think about his moves.
Neither the casual Pirate fan nor the hardcore fan that lives in the blogging universe seemed thrilled with the selection of Tony Sanchez, which was a change from the mixed reaction to the Nate McLouth trade.
No matter how much Huntington raved about the intangibles of Sanchez or the ridiculous comments of Sanchez's manager at Boston College that rated Sanchez above Matt Wieters and Buster Posey in their draft years- nothing was going to change the image that once again the Pirates had gone cheap.
Not even the sunshine and lollypop crowd at the MLB Network could put a
positive spin on the pick as Sanchez was described as a "starter if he hits" and a backup "if he doesn't".Wow, now that it is faint praise if I ever heard it.
Scouting reports on Sanchez varied from "quick hands with some power" to "slow bat and struggles to hit breaking balls".
I cannot say I have seen him play, although if I ever dreamed a month ago that the Pirates were interested, I would have tried to what I could find.
Take a look at his swing and see what you think.
The Pirates owned two picks in the second round using the first on hard-throwing Victor Black of Dallas Baptist University.
Black hits 95 and is likely to sign quickly and the Pirates need to do that as Black was selected with the compensation pick that was earned when Tanner Scheppers didn't sign last season.
USC commitment Brooks Pounders was the other second-rounder.
Pounders pitches and plays first and has good size at 6'5.
Pounders is reported to have control on four pitches and was drafted as a pitcher.
Day one finished with another surprise in round three with stocky outfielder Evan Chambers from the Florida JUCO ranks.
Chambers is 5'9 220 lbs and is reported to have some pop.
Kinda like a poor man's Michael Burgess.
Disappointed at the end of day one, the Pirates then did exactly what I hoped and what they said that they would do-pick players with high upside and large bonus demands and use the savings from Sanchez to land some of these players.
Four top-notch power arms that have college commitments were tabbed, if the Pirates grab two or maybe even three of these arms, then I might be won over by the strategy.
Zackry Dotson (4th Round, Baylor), Zachary Von Rosenberg (6th LSU), Trent Stevenson (7th Arizona), and Colton Cain (8th Texas) are all going to ask for far more than slot money and might be worth the cost.
Signing some of these players will go a LONG way toward an image rehabilitation for the Pirates and will help ease the pressure on Tony Sanchez as well.
Daniel Moskos has never recovered from the abuse that was erroneously heaped upon him after being selected over Matt Wieters and even though I believe Sanchez to be a questionable selection, the Pirates should hope to avoid a similar problem with the young catcher.
I also liked two other shots yesterday in the double-digit rounds.
11th-rounder Aaron Baker smacked 15 homers from his spot as the first baseman for the Oklahoma Sooners and power is desperately needed in this system and yet another prep arm with a college commitment was picked in the 17th round as Kentucky commitment Jordan Cooper could be a fall back on one of the earlier four pitchers not signing.....
So, I feel much better about the draft than I did after day one, but I am far from sold yet-IF the Pirates cannot use the money properly and take advantage of the plan that they are attempting then all the talented picks that they used will be all for naught and the future may not be as bright as it could be.
Photo Credits
Logo:Chris Creamer
Sanchez:ESPN.Com
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