6/6 Draft: Fraze, Jared Hughes, Cole Train, Josh Bell, Candy Man, Buster & Milt May; Meadows, Dickerson, Glasnow, Lincoln, Presley, Smiley, Stuper, Law, Macha, Randolph & Sharon

• 1968 - The Bucs selected HS outfielder Dick Sharon first (#9) in the draft; he spent three years in MLB as a reserve. They did hit on their 11th rounder, C Milt May, who played six of his 16 big league seasons with the Pirates and 14th rounder RHP Bruce Kison, who spent half (1971-77) of his career with Pittsburgh and won a World Series game in his 1971 rookie season. Pittsburgh also selected RHPs Wayne Garland, who pitched nine years for the O’s and Indians, and Paul Mitchell, who worked six big league years for four teams. 

Willie Randolph - 1975 SSPC

• 1972 - High school SS Dwayne Peltier was the Bucs first round (#23) pick; he stalled out at AA ball. But the second round pick did - Brooklyn prepster LHP John “The Candy Man” Candelaria, who pitched 12 years for the Bucs and won 124 games. 2B Willie Randolph, who played 18 years, mostly with the Yankees, was a seventh round selection. Shaler grad Ken Macha was picked in the sixth round and had parts of three seasons with the hometown nine. 
• 1978 - The Pirates picked HS first baseman Brad Garnett in the first round (#19) of the draft; he never advanced beyond Class A. In fact, none of their first 17 selections made it to the majors. They did get a couple of MLB keepers in the later rounds - Butler and Point Park RHP John Stuper (18th round), LHP Dave Dravecky (21st round) and SS Vance Law (39th round), Pirates Cy Young winner Vern Law’s kid who played for 11 seasons in the show. 
• 1983 - The Pirates selected high school OF’er Ron DeLucchi first (#12) in the draft, but he never advanced beyond Class A ball. Their only notable selection was twelfth rounder LHP John Smiley, who lasted 11 years (six with the Bucs), won 126 games and was twice an All-Star.
• 2006 - The Pirates selected RHP Brad Lincoln from the U of Houston as their first round draft pick. The fourth player selected overall, he signed for a $2.75M bonus. RHP Jared Hughes (fourth round) and OF Alex Presley (eighth round) were also members of that draft class. Hughes spent six years as a bridge man here and Presley four seasons as a bench piece of the Bucs. The Pirates really missed the boat with Lincoln in a pitching-rich class - the draft’s following picks were #6: Andrew Miller, #7: Clayton Kershaw, #10: Tim Lincecum and #11: Max Scherzer. OF Travis Snider, who would later join the Pirates in an ironic 2012 swap for Lincoln, was the #14 overall selection of the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Gerrit Cole - 2013 Topps Chrome

• 2011 - The Pirates drafted RHP Gerrit Cole of UCLA first overall and signed him to a record $8M bonus/minor league deal (his agent, Scott Boras, turned down an $8.5M major league deal, saying that Cole would make more in the long run under the MiLB arrangement, and Cole Train did do pretty well financially under the arrangement). The Bucco choice was made after a media debate whether Cole’s college teammate, RHP Trevor Bauer, would be the better choice (he went third to the D-Backs) or if the Pirates should get a hitter like 3B Anthony Rendon (sixth round to the Nats). Pittsburgh then signed high school phenom OF Josh Bell for $5M (now a Guardian) to lure him away from a commitment to Texas. They also signed California prep pitcher Tyler Glasnow (now a Ray) in the fifth round (152nd pick) for $600K. OF Alex Dickerson, who was dealt to San Diego for Jaff Decker & Miles Mikolas and is now playing indie ball after six years in the show, was the third round choice. The Pirates invested a MLB record $17M on its draft 2011 picks before a cap was established in 2012 in response to the Bucs free spending. One fish that they didn’t land was Trea Turner, who they drafted in the 20th round out of high school. He spurned the Bucs offer and instead went to NC State, becoming a 2014 first-rounder of the Padres. 
• 2013 - There was plenty of talent but not much local shelf life for this group. The Pirates picked high school players OF Austin Meadows (#9) and C Reese McGuire (#14) in the first round of the draft. Meadows received slot value to sign, $3,029,600, while McGuire inked a $2,369,000 deal that was $200K under slot. U of Delaware RHP Chad Kuhl was selected in the ninth round and was inked at slot value, $145K. Meadows was sent to Tampa Bay as part of the Chris Archer deal and is now a free agent and Kuhl is pitching with the White Sox after recovering from TJ surgery. McGuire was traded to Toronto as part of the Drew Hutchison/Frankie Liriano package and is now a Boston Red Sox. Adam Frazier was a sixth round selection who is currently with the Royals while OF JaCoby Jones, traded to Detroit (2016-21) for Joakim Soria, was a third-rounder who’s now looking for work. Shane Carle, a 10th rounder who was sent to Colorado for Rob Scahill, rejoined the organization briefly and then was shipped to the Braves; his last season was ‘21.