- 1986 - The Pirates selected University of Arkansas's Jeff King‚ The Sporting News college player of the year‚ as the first overall pick in the June draft, giving him an $185K bonus. He spent eight of his 11 big league years as a Pirate, hitting .258 with 99 HR (Matt Williams and Bo Jackson were taken after him). The Bucs selected other MLB talent in OF Tom Goodwin (.268 over 14 years), SS Mike Mordecai (.244 over 12 years) and pitchers Stan Belinda (who spent his first four plus seasons as a Pirate) & Rick Reed, who started as a Pirate but blossomed as a Met and Twin.
- 1987 - HS outfielder Mark Merchant was the Bucs top pick and second overall in the draft, right after Ken Griffey Jr. The Pirates signed him for $165,000, he but never played an inning in the majors after a ten year minor league career. He was a highly touted player (he and Griffey were everyone’s 1-2 selections) but separated his shoulder during his second minor-league season and broke his ankle in the next, losing both his gun and his speed. 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 the top pick between leagues during the era and so the Pirates lost their chance to land the Donora-born Griffey to Seattle.
- 1994 - High school QB & SS Mark Farris was the Pirates first selection (#11; $820K signing bonus); he hurt his knee and 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. Farris was quite the big miss; another SS, Nomar Garciaparra, went to the Red Sox in the next pick.
- 1998 - The Pirates picked LHP Clint Johnston of Vanderbilt first (#15; $1M signing bonus); he ended his career playing indie ball, never advancing past AA. Johnston was an OF’er/closer who 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. But he ended up with elbow surgery and then ulnar nerve issues. Clint eventually went to Toronto and was converted back to the outfield, but never climbed the ladder. In fact, none of the Bucs’ first 14 picks ever played a MLB game. Later pitching picks Joe Beimel, Jeff Bennett, Dave Williams and Jon Switzer were the highlights of that draft day.
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| Dewey w/other Bucco Babes - 2005 Fleer Prospects |
- 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; $750K 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. Maholm became a rotation mainstay for several years while Gorzelanny was in and out as part of the regular staff.
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