There were quite a few interesting first-round talents still on the board with the Pirates picking at #39, but they’ve gone off the beaten path again by picking Connor Joe, a catcherr from the University of San Diego. Joe wasn’t ranked in the top 100 by Baseball America.
I suppose it’s possible that the Pirates simply didn’t like the highly-rated talents in this draft all that much and they’re planning on using a lot of their allotted bonus pool to sign tough-signability guys in the middle rounds in the way that they used to before the cap on draft signings was official. It is of course also possible that the Pirates legitimately like both Joe and Tucker much more than the scouts for a reason that will make itself apparent.
For now, though, it’s fair to say that at the very least that the Pirates’ strategy in this year’s draft seems to be a bit head-scratching.
