Cherington Bucs Trend, Hits Home-Run in Draft

Pirates fans have good reason to be apprehensive when it comes to the Draft. They’ve seen former management elect to take players who aren’t by any means considered one of the top players in the remaining player batch. Instead, we’ve seen them take players because they know they can sign them at under slot value, which basically means they didn’t want to sacrifice a larger salary for a higher caliber talent. Hate to pick on former catcher Tony Sanchez, but when the Bucs made him the 4^th overall pick in the 2009 draft they clearly weren’t intent on drafting the best player available. Players drafted shortly after Sanchez include pitchers Zack Wheeler, Mike Minor, and Mike Leake – three arms who have had considerably strong careers – at least compared to Sanchez. Mike Trout when 25^th overall that year, but 23 different teams missed on that one.

This year there were rumblings that the Pirates could also draft a player they thought would fall on the cheaper side. Don’t get me wrong, smaller market teams often have to balance talent with sign-ability, but too often we’ve seen the Pirates elect to weigh the latter more heavily.

Well, not this time around. New General Manager Ben Cherington didn’t mess around. He drafted Nick Gonzales with the 7^th overall pick, and I’m here to tell you why you should be excited about that.

Nick the stick (my own nickname) was lightly recruited out of high school with only one offer out of high-school, that being New Mexico State, but made an impact immediately. Gonzales projects as a middle-infielder at the next level – most likely at second base. His fielding is solid and should never be looked at as a glaring hole. It is however graded lower on his scouting report but that’s mostly due in part to the fact that his bat is explosive. The dude can rake. As a sophomore at New Mexico State he hit .432 with 16 home runs. And all he did in this shortened 2020 campaign was lead all of college baseball in dingers with 12.

There was some skepticism around Gonzales’ stats because he plays in high altitude in New Mexico, and hasn’t faced the type of competition that SEC or ACC players consistently do. But he put those to rest rather quickly in the Cape Cod League last summer, where he played with the top talent from all over the country. He was sparking that summer - earning league MVP honors after hitting .351 and crushing seven bombs for team Cotuit.

Gonzales was projected by most mock drafts to go in the top five. The Pirates got a steal with him at number seven. The easy thing to do may have been to take local outfielder out of West Allegheny Austin Hendrick, who ended up going 12^th overall to the Reds. The pick would have been logical due to the promximity, but he certainly doesn’t have the pedigree of a Gonzales - a sign that Cherington and company are willing to spend a bit more to infuse the system with talent.

That was doubled-down on when they took South Carolina pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski with the 31^st overall pick. The right hander has a power arm and likely profiles as a future closer in the show but also has the chance to be stretched out.

Overall, I’m very happy with the first round draft by the Pirates – and that’s a sentence that in years past didn’t always roll off the tongue.