Sanders on virtual draft: 'Certainly a new way of doing things'

Pirates assistant general manager Steve Sanders knows how the amateur draft is normally supposed to run, but this year's draft, which will be held June 10, is going to look much different because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's certainly been a new experience for all of us," Sanders said in an interview with 93.7 The Fan Saturday. "No matter how long you've been involved in the draft or baseball for that matter. This is certainly a new way of doing things, being over Zoom, working through technology and not being able to be in the same room and communicate face to face."

Not only will this draft be held virtually, there is also less information for teams to work from when making their selections this year, as the pandemic shortened college seasons and prevented most high school campaigns from getting started.

However, Sanders still feels confident in the information they have to make their selections.

"We still have seen a lot of these players over the course of the summer, over the course of the last few seasons, for the most part," Sanders said. "Especially guys at the top of the board. We've been scouting [them] in some form or another for multiple years, so I think we still do have our experiences with these guys to lean on."

Sanders was hired by the Pirates this offseason after working with Ben Cherington with the Blue Jays and Red Sox. He ran the Blue Jays' past three drafts.

The Pirates have six picks in this year's draft, including an additional first-rounder via a competitive balance pick at 31st overall. They have the fifth largest draft pool of all teams, and they could also potentially add more players as undrafted free agents, too.

"We're really excited about the group of players we're going to be able to bring into the organization next week," Sanders said.