On the third and final day of the 2022 MLB Draft, the Pirates continued Day 2's trend of stockpiling pitching talent. Eight of the club's 10 picks were dedicated to pitchers, almost exclusively from the collegiate level.
Of the 21 total picks in this year's draft, 16 have the ability to toe the rubber. No matter how that looks on the surface, Ben Cherington maintained the same stance from Day 1 of the draft.
"We're looking for the best players," he said during Tuesday's draft recap. "I think once you get to a certain part of the draft, you need to start looking at where we can impact the system in the best way. We do have to be mindful of areas in the system where we've already got a lot of players that need opportunity. So you look at that a little bit as you get deeper in the draft, but we didn't go into the draft looking to have take 'X' number of pitchers."
11th-round pick Dominic Perachi led the way with the Pirates taking him 320th overall out of Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. The southpaw dominated Division III competition with the Seahawks, posting a 9-1 record with a 1.00 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 11 starts. He also struck out 120 batters and walked only 20 in 71 2/3 innings of work.
The 6-foot-4, 195-pounder went on to pitch for Newport in the New England Collegiate Baseball League in the summer, posting a 2.22 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over five starts and 24 1/3 innings.
Equipped with a 93-mph fastball and two breaking balls (one a 12-6 curveball and the other more of a slider), Perachi dominated lower-level collegiate competition. But at 21 years old, the Pirates have to work to make sure he can transition into a big-league pitcher.
"Scouting-wise, we think he’s going to continue to do the things he does, traits-wise and ability-wise and how he’s gotten hitters out," said Joe DelliCarri, director of amateur scouting. "We expect him to continue to do some of the things that he’s done to this point. We think that has a chance to play very well, continuing forward at whatever level. ... We’re trying to bridge a gap and we think he brings a lot of things to the table that should continue to play out going forward, regardless of who’s in that batter’s box.”
The Pirates took three more college pitchers in rounds 12-14: righty K.C. Hunt out of Mississippi State, lefty Miguel Fulgencio out of Cowley County Community College in Kansas and lefty Julian Bosnic out of South Carolina.
The "K.C." stands for Kyle Clemente, which will surely excite fans in Pittsburgh. He stands 6'3" and throws a fastball that sits 93-94 mph with a slider as his go-to pitch. Hunt's 7.46 ERA and 1.58 WHIP in 25 1/3 innings (15 games, one start) from this season doesn't jump off the page, but he pitched well for Trenton in the MLB Draft League, posting a 2.65 ERA and 0.77 WHIP in 17 innings (four starts) with 26 strikeouts to three walks.
Hunt joins sixth-round pick Derek Diamond and seventh-round pick J.P. Massey as pitchers that saw their draft stock fall with recent performances. However, the Pirates believe in the relationships built with these players and the work that's been done prior to 2022.
"Those are exciting in many ways that our area supervisors, our regional supervisors and a whole group pretty much have known those types of players for a long time and have tracked them for a long time," DelliCarri said. "The work that’s done sometimes for years comes to fruition at the moment in individual drafts."
The Pirates certainly added quite a bit of depth to a farm system that includes the likes of Quinn Priester and Mike Burrows. All but two of them are drafted out of college instead of high school. While Cherington maintained this wasn't intentional from the outset of the draft, it certainly gives the Pirates an opportunity to develop pitchers who are coming in a little more refined.
"We’ll get a lot of chances to do that with the volume of pitching that we’re bringing in," Cherington said. "No intent going into the draft to go toward a demographic or high school/college. Just the best player available. This is how the draft fell for us."
THE REST OF DAY 3 ...
• Fulgencio was ranked 289th in Baseball America's Top 500 prospects. Here's their breakdown of Fulgencio:
"Fulgencio has one of the most interesting and circuitous routes of anyone in this draft class. He initially headed to Oklahoma State to play running back for the Cowboys in 2018, but he didn’t end up playing football. Eventually he ended up at Cowley County (Kan.) JC in 2020 as an outfielder. He hit .412 in very limited action that season before the coronavirus shutdown. He moved to the mound in 2021 and in 2022 he went 6-0, 1.83 with five saves and a 55-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 44.1 innings as the Tigers’ closer. Fulgencio is extremely old for the class (23) because of his unusual path to pitching, but he has a big league reliever mix with a 93-96 mph fastball and an average mid-80s slider. Fulgencio headed to the Cape Cod League after the season to give scouts more looks."
• Bosnic missed 2022, his redshirt junior season, due to surgery to repair a flexor injury. He announced his transfer from South Carolina to Arkansas for the 2023 season, where he is expected to pitch out of the starting rotation should he not sign with Pittsburgh. Bosnic, 22, was selected by the Giants in the 16th round of the 2021 MLB Draft, but did not sign.
In 2021, the 6-foot-3 Bosnic went 4-2 with a 2.84 ERA and 0.93 WHIP in 50 2/3 innings (22 games, four starts) with 78 strikeouts to 25 walks.
• 15th-round pick Josiah Sightler hit .300 with 11 doubles, a team-best 15 homers and 31 RBIs in 51 games in 2022 for the University of South Carolina, and was charged with just two errors in 162 total chances (.988 fielding percentage) at first base. Sightler, 22, hits from the left side of the plate and has good size for a first baseman, standing 6'5" while weighing 234 pounds. He was drafted by the Reds in the 12th round of the 2018 draft, but did not sign.
• 16th-round pick Nick Cimillo was a 2022 All-Big Ten second-team selection after leading the conference with a .385 average, .707 slugging percentage and 1.199 OPS with Rutgers. The right-handed-hitting catcher also recorded 18 doubles, 16 home runs and 52 RBIs in 54 games this season. The 22-year-old was also a 2022 ABCA/Rawlings All-America third-team selection.
• 17th-round pick Jaycob Deese was recognized by Baseball America as having the “Best Fastball” in the American Athletic Conference in 2022. The right-hander went 5-3 with one save, a 5.19 ERA and 62 strikeouts in 17 outings with the University of Houston in 2022.
• 18th-round pick RHP Elijah Birdsong was named to the Perfect Game All-WCC (West Coast Conference) team prior to the 2022 season and was named Pacific’s Opening Day starter. The 22-year-old right-hander posted a 5.68 ERA and 1.38 WHIP with Pacific in 2022, and went 8-0 with a 0.75 ERA in 10 appearances in 2017 at Benicia High School (CA).
• 19th-round pick Yoel Tejeda out of North Broward Prep High School (Fla.) is an intriguing player who could also be a two-way player wherever he goes. Tejeda, 19, stands 6'7" and weighs 210, but he's also a switch-hitter that's already hit mid-90s off the mound. The No. 372 prospect on Baseball America is committed to Florida.
Should the right-hander sign with the Pirates (it would likely take an over-slot commitment), the club views him as a pitcher first.
"He’s played a little bit of first base, potentially outfield along the way," Cherington said. "But I think we’re much aligned with the pitching end of things going into it at the start."
• 20th-round pick Joshua Loeschorn recorded 11 wins during the 2022 campaign, which were the second-most in a single season in Long Island University history, trailing only Sal Campisi’s 12 wins in 1964. The 6-foot-3 right-hander earned his 11th win on May 26, which at that point matched NCAA leader and the Pirates' Competitive Balance Round A round selection, Thomas Harrington.
Loeschorn, 22, was named the Northeast Conference Pitcher-of-the-Year and earned a first-team All-NEC selection in 2022. He was also named an ABCA first-team All-Northeast Region selection this year.
ALSO ...
• Third-round pick Jack Brannigan was drafted as a two-way player, and the Pirates do plan to look into developing both sides of the ball with him. However, third base will get more attention from the outset.
"He's a really talented defensive third baseman with power. He can run. He has a great arm. We're excited to develop him as a third baseman," Cherington said. "What we'll look to do is once he's on the ground with us and getting into game shape, the position player side of things will be the priority to start. And then when it's safe to do so, we'll look to find a way to expose him to some mound work and we'll see where that goes. I don't think we'll have that mapped out quite yet exactly, what it'll look like, but he's got a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. The priority will be to play third base initially, and we'll look to expose him to some pitching work when the time is right and when it's safe to do so."
• I pressed Cherington and assistant GM Steve Sanders about any potential issues with signability, and didn't get much of an answer.
"We’re still working through that," Sanders said. "Like any year, and Joe [DelliCarri] can attest to this, we do a lot of work beforehand so we know as much as we can coming in about expectations. It’s also building relationships. We’ll turn our full attention to that. Can’t give you a much better of an answer other than it’s got our full attention now. We’re hopeful that we can bring as many of these guys on board as we can."
• All players drafted after the 10th round can sign up to a $150,000 bonus without counting toward the $13,733,900 bonus pool. Undrafted free agents can sign up to $125,000 without counting toward the bonus pool. The deadline to sign drafted players is Aug. 1.
• Alex Stumpf covered Day 1 of the draft from Los Angeles. He has more on first-round pick Termarr Johnson and the two pitchers taken later in the night.
• Here's my breakdown of Day 2.
• Thanks for reading our draft coverage!
DRAFT RECAP
Round 1 (4th overall): SS Termarr Johnson, Mays H.S. (GA) -- $7,002,100 slot value
Competitive Balance Round A (36th overall): RHP Thomas Harrington, Campbell University -- $2,149,200 slot value
Round 2 (44th overall): LHP Hunter Barco, University of Florida -- $1,775,200 slot value
Round 3 (83rd overall): 3B/RHP Jack Brannigan, Notre Dame -- $770,300 slot value
Round 4 (110th overall): LHP Michael Kennedy, Troy H.S. (NY) -- $554,600 slot value
Round 5 (140th overall): OF Tres Gonzalez, Georgia Tech -- $414,300 slot value
Round 6 (170th overall): RHP Derek Diamond, Ole Miss -- $311,400 slot value
Round 7 (200th overall): LHP J.P. Massey, University of Minnesota -- $242,800 slot value
Round 8 (230th overall): RHP Cy Nielson, Brigham Young University -- $193,000 slot value
Round 9 (260th overall): RHP Mike Walsh, Yale -- $166,100 slot value
Round 10 (290th overall): OF Tanner Tredaway, University of Oklahoma -- $154,900 slot value
Round 11 (320th overall): LHP Dominic Perachi, Salve Regina University (RI)
Round 12 (350th overall): RHP KC Hunt, Mississippi State University
Round 13 (380th overall): LHP Miguel Fulgencio, Cowley County Community College (KS)
Round 14 (410th overall): LHP Julian Bosnic, University of South Carolina
Round 15 (440th overall): 1B Josiah Sightler, University of South Carolina
Round 16 (470th overall): C Nick Cimillo, Rutgers
Round 17 (500th overall): RHP Jaycob Deese, University of Houston
Round 18 (530th overall): RHP Elijah Birdsong, University of the Pacific
Round 19 (560th overall): RHP Yoel Tejeda, North Broward Prep H.S. (FL)
Round 20 (590th overall): RHP Joshua Loeschorn, Long Island University