- 1987 - HS outfielder Mark Merchant was the Bucs top pick and second overall in the draft. The Pirates signed him for $165,000, he but never played an inning in the majors after a ten year minor league career. Pittsburgh’s seventh round pick, Kittanning SS Mickey Morandini, spent 11 years in MLB, mostly with Philadelphia where he was an All-Star in 1995, and OF Wes Chamberlain and SS Brian Williams also spent a few years in the majors. The Pirates actually had a worse record than the Mariners did in 1986, but the AL and NL alternated years with the top pick during this era, and so the Pirates lost their chance to land Donora-born Ken Griffey Jr. to Seattle.
- 1994 - High school QB & SS Mark Farris was the Pirates first selection (#11; $820K signing bonus); he left the Bucs after hitting .273 in AA to attend Texas A&M as a football player in 1999. It was a sparse draft for the Pirates; only LHP Jimmy Anderson and last round pick UT Brandon Larsen played in the majors.
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| Jimmy Anderson 2002 Topps |
- 1998 - The Pirates picked LHP Clint Johnston of Vanderbilt first (#15; $1M signing bonus); he ended his career pitching indie ball, never advancing past AA. Johnston was an OF’er/closer the Bucs wanted to convert to full time pitching, noting that he threw 90-94 and that “big strong left handers were hard to find” per scouting director Leland Maddux. In fact, none of the Bucs’ first 14 picks never played a MLB game. Later pitching picks Joe Beimel, Jeff Bennett, Dave Williams and Jon Switzer were the highlights of that draft day.
- 1999 - The Bucs selected RHP Bobby Bradley as their first pick (#8; $2.3M signing bonus) in the draft; he topped out with a cup of coffee in AAA after undergoing three surgeries. They had more success in the second round, choosing C Ryan Doumit. They also chose LHP Brian Tallet in the middle rounds; he didn’t pitch for the Bucs but did end up with nine seasons in the show. Multi-sport all-star JR House was signed in the fifth round. Pittsburgh even went over slot then; they signed 39th round pick Patrick O'Brien, a big high school RHP, for $500‚000, but he never made it past AA.
- 2003 - Lefties Paul Maholm (#8; $2.2M signing bonus) and Tom Gorzelanny (#45; $750,000 signing bonus) were the first two Pirate picks of the 2003 draft. Later selections Matt Downs, Jeremy Horst and Josh Sharpless also saw time as major league pitchers.
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| Paul Maholm 2005 Topps |
2 comments:
I always liked Maholm, a guy who deserved a better fate than to pitch on the mostly awful Pirates teams from the last years of the McClatchy era. I always thought he would have been better had he not had a chronic knee injury that, if memory serves, actually went all the way back to his high school days. The knee got progressively worse during his career, and may have led to the arm problems that led to him trying to reinvent himself as a sidearmer.
True stat: Maholm managed the most consecutive quality starts of ANY Pirates starting pitcher since Doug Drabek in his Cy Young season.
I agree, Will, though I don't recall his knee being a major issue until the past couple of years. He was misplaced at the top of the rotation; in his heyday, he would have slotted very nicely as a 3-4 man.
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