Draft Day: Possibilities

Starting at 7PM, baseball will begin its draft with the first, compensatory and second rounds slated. The action, if it can be called such, will be shown on MLB Network and MLB.com. Tomorrow will feature rounds 3-10, and the rest of the field will be selected Saturday. Those rounds will be televised, starting in the afternoon.

The Pirates have five of the Top 100 picks at numbers 24, 39, 64, 73, and 100, with $7,063,700 as their pool allotment. The teams have until July 18th to sign their picks.

Pittsburgh's #1 & Supplemental/Compensation Sandwich picks during the Neal Huntington era:

• 2013: Austin Meadows, OF
• 2013: Reese McGuire, C
• 2012: Mark Appel, RHP (didn't sign)
• 2012: Barrett Barnes, OF
• 2011: Gerrit Cole, RHP
• 2010: Jameson Taillon, RHP
• 2009: Tony Sanchez, C
• 2009: Vic Black, RHP (traded to Mets)
• 2008: Pedro Alvarez, 3B

Here are selected player profiles of some interesting guys that could fall into Pittsburgh's first-round  draft slot:

• OF Monte Harrison, an athletic prep player who has a football scholarship to Nebraska. he's toolsy but raw;
• SS Jacob Gatewood, another preppie who profiles as a power-hitting third baseman who needs to shorten his swing;
• LHP Brandon Finnegan of TCU doesn't fit the Bucco Hulk preference, but is a lefty with a live, live arm;
• 1B Casey Gillaspie from Wichita State, a kid with a pedigree and advanced bat;
• LHP/1B AJ Reed out of Kentucky, who will count on his big bat to land an MLB job but may be a stretch at #24;
• OF Derek Fisher is a guy with more projection than performance from Virginia;
• RHP Tyler Beede from Vandy is 6'4" with a plus heater, so enuff said;
• C Kyle Schwarber of Indiana projects as 1B, with big LH pop and is a guy the Bucs would like to see on the board;
• RHPs Erick Fedde of UNLV and Jeff Hoffman of East Carolina are big-time arms that underwent TJ surgery but might be worth a roll of the dice at this point.