Monday, June 6, 2011

MLB.com Says It's Cole

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com wrote "The Pirates will take UCLA right-hander Gerrit Cole with the No. 1 overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft on Monday, a baseball source told MLB.com." (Click here for the story and Cole's bio.)

No surprise there, we guess, if Mayo is right, and most media and baseball experts agree with him. So add one more power arm to the Bucs' prospect arsenal. And as a blogger bonus, another round of negotiations with Scott Boras for a top pick's signature will surely keep us in flaming posts over the summer.

The TV coverage tonight will be on the MLB Network for the first and supplemental round; coverage starts at six and the selections at seven. Tuesday (rounds 2-30) and Wednesday's (rounds 31-50) picks will be carried in real time and streamed on MLB.com.

Those second and third day prospects will be key to churning the system. The draft is supposed to be fairly deep and the Pirates could use some guys to keep the pressure on, although with all the sandwich picks, the Bucs won't pick again until #61.

There's no doubt that the organization from the big team down to Latin America has the imprint of Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly; we'll see what one more year brings.

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