For much of the pre-draft process, Ben Cherington has maintained that the Pirates are still in a "get-to-know-ya" stage with just about every draft prospect available. Which is who they have at their disposal with the first overall selection.
“Right now, we’re still in the ‘learn about the player’ mode,” the general manager told Alex Stumpf last week on the field at PNC Park.
This week provides an opportunity for Cherington and the organization to make good on their promise to learn as much as they can about these amateur players. Beginning Sunday, the baseball world will converge on Cary, N.C. for the league's first combine. According to the few details that have emerged about the combine, the event will run through the week with eight games scheduled as well as a number of on-field practices and drills and physical and cognitive assessment.
Even with the extra month of preparation, the Pirates still face a time crunch as they enter what can be a truly telling week for the next busy stretch of the season for Cherington. The draft will of course be followed by the trade deadline and, as Cherington mentioned during his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan, some final touches on the international scouting season -- for which the official signing date won't be until January 2022.
Prior to Sunday's series finale against the Indians, Cherington said that after the combine, the higher ups will reconvene in their -- non-virtual -- draft room in the left-field lounge at PNC Park. All evaluators, scouts, decision-makers and the like will be able to compare notes on the players from the amateur levels -- and a lot of them can actually meet each other for the first time.
As the July 11 date draws nearer, Cherington said the team will be in closer contact with some specifically targeted players. By this point in the process, where the baseball skills and intangibles have long been scouted, the purpose of these conversations will likely have more to do with the player's expected signing bonus.
It was reported by Alex this weekend, that the Pirates can very well take the route that best spreads out their league-high $14,394,000 signing bonus pool. Within these conversations with players and likely their advisors, the Pirates will have a better understanding of expected price tags, and that will help figure out how to best navigate their entire bonus pool.
For example, if they value two players similarly, but one is expecting a bonus of at least slot value, which is $8,415,300 for the top pick this season, they might shift focus to a player that will allow them to spend more on the player they pick at No. 37, or 64 or 72 and beyond.
Cherington said that the Pirates will have a full presence at the combine, with the general manager spending a day in Cary while scouts at all levels and performance staff take to the combine in its entirety for an "added perspective."
Participants for the event have yet to be announced. And Cherington's attendance, even if it's just for one day, should not be an indicator that there will be any of the few potential No. 1 overall picks -- with names like Marcelo Mayer, Jordan Lawlar, Kahlil Watson and Henry Davis being the most recent, popular suggestions -- taking part in the combine. Without a list of participants, which has not yet been released, it's impossible to get into the fun stuff and highlight specific names of interest.
But Cherington did make a point to mention that a lot of the games will be added opportunities for high schoolers to show their mettle. And the Pirates have been connected to high schoolers in the draft in the past couple weeks.
It is, however, also important to remember that there's a lot of draft after the first and 37th selections, in which the Pirates will be picking two players of extreme importance to their future. There will be 21 names called by the Pirates between July 11 and 13 in Denver, and any one of them can be in Cary this week.
This is a first opportunity for Cherington and the Pirates' brass to simply be around these players and talk to them face to face. That's something Cherington hasn't even been able to do with many of his area scouts in the pandemic-restricted 18 months he's been on the job.
Cherington likened this process to a job interview. Not only will the team get a better understanding of the player, but the players will talk with higher-ups that can very well be calling the shots for their professional careers, and they'll get a chance to see what pro ball is all about.
One of the more interesting things Cherington had to say about this upcoming combine, and amateur player development as a whole, is the overemphasis on building specific skills and tools and not on teaching the game and its fundamentals more rigorously. What's most interesting about this is that this is a baseball executive that has full control over this type of development for an entire organization.
Sure, this is Cherington's opinion on how the game is being taught at the amateur level, but as one of the architects of a new curriculum of player development in an organization that will be heavily reliant on what's going on at the lower levels, his feelings on fundamentals and a new way to teach the game are worth noting.
Further following the Cherington bread crumb trail from his Sunday morning show, Cherington said something that shouldn't be much of a surprise, but should be of interest in regards to trades.
"There's opportunity to add more talent there," he said.
It wasn't much, but that bit about adding talent: Cherington and the Pirates have been ringing that bell on all fronts. Last week, Steve Sanders, who pinch hit for Cherington on that same show last week, explained that best talent is the largest determining factor in their draft strategy.
Cherington's comments should be a good indicator that the Pirates' busy season will at least last right up until July 30.