As the 2025 MLB Draft quickly approaches, the Prospects Live team wants to make your life as easy as possible. In this series of articles, I'll be providing team-by-team analysis of their recent draft trends, their available draft capital for 2025, any areas of the draft they've heavily targeted, as well as a few names in this year's class that might fit into their historically preferred archetype.
Max Ellingsen
This analysis isn't sourced for the upcoming year, nor is it a guarantee the organization won't pivot from what they've done in the past. Simply put, this article aims to provide an in-depth look at teams and their recent draft classes to try and decipher trends that could help uncover players your favorite team might be targeting. It's far from a perfect science, but I've done my job if it makes things easier to follow on draft day.
Pittsburgh Pirates
- 2025 Bonus Pool Value - $14,088,400 (9th)
- Top 100 selections - 6, 50, 73, 82
Right behind their division rival Cardinals in both first round draft order and total bonus pool allotment, the Bucs find themselves well positioned to infuse their system with a healthy amount of talent in this year’s draft. There may not be a Paul Skenes level acquisition for them this time around, but there’s plenty of promise to be had atop this draft. A solid draft in 2025 could push this system out of relative mediocrity into some national relevance and provide the ever cash strapped Pirates with some ammunition for the future.
2024 Draft Overview
In what is shaping up to be a very promising haul of prospects, the Pirates went for upside early and grabbed prep outfielder Konnor Griffin ($310,000 overslot) with the ninth overall pick. With all the physical tools in the world and a promising start to his professional career, Griffin looks like a potential steal despite being selected in the top ten overall. Pittsburgh followed up with Comp A pick Levi Sterling (slot), a projectable prep pitcher with strike throwing ability and promising stuff. Second rounder Wyatt Sanford ($520,000 overslot) is another prepster, this time manning the six defensively. He’s got a buttery smooth swing from the left side, a nice feel to hit, and burgeoning power potential. They went with college lefty Josh Hartle ($70,000 underslot) in the third, then dipped back into the prep ranks in the fourth with physical shortstop Eddie Rynders (slot). Toolsy fifth round outfielder Will Taylor ($30,000 overslot) is off to a scorching hot start in A ball this season and sixth rounder Matt Ager (slot) has some solid pitchability traits. A fantastic draft cycle for the Buccos.
2023 Draft Overview
Any draft where you land Paul Skenes ($520,000 underslot) is a good one, but after landing perhaps the best pitcher in the game, the Pirates followed up with a handful of interesting names that fill out their top prospect lists nicely. Second rounder Mitch Jebb ($400,000 underslot) had his fans in the 2023 draft cycle and Comp B pick Zander Mueth ($670,000 overslot) had a monster first year as a professional. They shipped third rounder Garret Forrester ($215,000 underslot) out in the Bryan De La Cruz deal, however fourth rounder Carlson Reed ($45,000 underslot) has shown plenty of promise thus far and fifth rounder Patrick Reilly (slot) was used to acquire Billy Cook. There isn’t a world where this class was ever going to be bad with Paul Skenes leading the way, but they actually picked up quite a bit of talent in this class. They’ve used quite a bit of it in trades as of late, but that’s acquired talent nonetheless.
2022 Draft Overview
The Pirates went with another prep bat in the first round in 2022, this time snagging second baseman Termarr Johnson ($210,000 overslot) with the fourth overall pick. He hasn’t quite been the player many thought he could be at this point, but there’s still plenty of reason to like Johsnon as a prospect. Landing back to back college starting pitchers with their next two picks, the Pirates took Thomas Harrington ($100,000 underslot) in the Comp A round and Hunter Barco ($250,000 underslot) in the second, both of whom are considered top ten prospects in the system and have considerable promise. Third baseman Jack Brannigan (slot) was the next pick and fourth rounder Michael Kennedy ($450,000 overslot) was a really nice pick up out of the New York prep ranks. The Pirates added a ton of valuable depth in this draft, landing three of their top ten prospects at current and potentially netting two major league starters. I’d consider this another slam dunk haul for Pittsburgh.
Early Round Demographics
The Pirates love to shoot for upside with their early selections, perhaps epitomized with the Konnor Griffin selection a year ago. They make high end prep talent a point of emphasis on their draft board, though the general archetype of player is less important than the youth and projection. Griffin obviously was an athletic freak, however both Sanford and Johnson had more of a hit-over-power profile, exemplifying how the player gets it done is far less important to their scouting division than other organizations around the league. If it’s not a prep, they typically aim for high floor college performers, looking to maximize their profiles (Harrington, Jebb, Barco, etc.) It doesn’t always hit, but they’ve had good success with it thus far. The Pirates like tools a whole lot, but effectively balancing the risks they take with a comfortable blend of floor and ceiling is what’s made this Pittsburgh system stay afloat.
Late Round Demographics
The Pirates have done a solid job of finding some later round gems in recent drafts, ultimately building out the back of their org chart with quality players who have legitimate shots at being big leaguers. Guys like Duce Gourson, Joe Vogatsky, and Charles McAdoo might not profile as game changers at the big league level, but they’ve all shown promise in their own rights and cost the Pirates next to nothing in the way of draft capital. Turning these late round selections into meaningful players is a massive boon to any system, but it’s been particularly helpful to the Pirates, who have flipped several of these players in deals to land big league talent. Continuing this trend in 2025 will be key. It’s not as talent-rich as year’s past, so this will truly put them to the test.
Names to Know
Billy Carlson, High School SS - Probably the best player-team fit at the top of this draft, Billy Carlson has a ton of tools to work with, is a great natural athlete, and is a surefire shortstop with a cannon of an arm. Seems like a match made in heaven.
Seth Hernandez, High School RHP - Teammates with Carlson, Hernandez has perhaps the most upside of any player in this entire class. It’s not a sure thing he gets to the sixth pick, but if he does, it’s massive stuff in a projectable, athletic frame.
Gavin Fien, High School 3B - This one’s a little bit down the board if you’re using most public evaluators, but Fien was easily the best high school player on the summer circuit last year and has a ton of tools, particularly on the offensive side of things. He doesn’t have the up-the-middle profile you covet at the top of drafts, but he’s a sleeper that could be a fit here.
Discussion