Three of the Pirates top four draft choices are now under contract. The club announced Friday it had signed second-round pick Braxton Ashraft, a high school right-handed pitcher, and shortstop Connor Kaiser, a third-round draft choice from Vanderbilt.
Kaiser was assigned to short-season West Virginia, while Ashcraft will report to the Pirates' rookie ball affiliate in the Gulf Coast League. Lynn University infielder Pat Dorrian, Western Kentucky outfielder Steven Kraft, Wright State infielder Matt Morrow and University of Cincinnati infielder Kyle Mottice were signed as undrafted free agents.
The Pirates have signed 29 of their 40 draft picks, and right-handed pitcher Gunnar Hoglund, whom they drafted 36th overall, remains unsigned.
Kaiser, a junior who went undrafted out of high school, batted .293/.389/.446 with six home runs and a team-high 45 RBIs for Vanderbilt this season. That’s a remarkable improvement from his sophomore season, in which he batted just .222 with only nine extra-base hits and 44 strikeouts in 194 at-bats. A right-handed hitter, Kaiser was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 211 prospect in the draft, although he was viewed as one of the top defensive shortstops in the class.
His stock began to rise last summer when he recorded an .873 OPS in the wood-bat Cape Cod League, and he was a three-year starter in the SEC, an achievement in and of itself. Kaiser received national attention over the weekend when he hit three homers with an NCAA Tournament record-tying 10 RBIs in a 19-6 win over Clemson to reach the super regionals.
“Connor has grown in his strength, in his young-man strength,” Joe DelliCarri, the Pirates director of amateur scouting, said following the draft. “He’s athletic. He proves it in his reliability, durability and athleticism staying on the field. In the batter’s box he’s grown. … You’re going to see those kind of players grow in areas of his game. … He’s going to continue to grow there.”
Ashcraft, who signed a letter of intent to attend Baylor, led Robinson High School to a state title as a junior and was also a talented wide receiver, catching 204 passes for 2,090 yards and 37 touchdowns in 2016.