The Pirates failed to line up with competitive balance Round A selection Gunnar Hoglund, Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs reported on Twitter. This afternoon (5pm CST) represented the deadline to complete deals with drafted players.
Hoglund, a right-handed pitcher from Florida, didn’t crack the top fifty of any draft prospect rankings, topping out at #55 on the Fangraphs board. While he’s not credited with an electric arsenal of pitches, Hogulund is valued for his pinpoint control and increasingly impressive radar gun readings.
The Pittsburgh organization clearly liked Hoglund quite a bit, as it took him with the 36th overall pick. But the Bucs were not able to convince him to join the organization, meaning they’ll instead receive the 37th selection in next year’s draft. Hoglund, meanwhile, is headed to the University of Mississippi.
What is with the draft failures this year? 4 in the top 36. That is as much in that range as the past 4 years combined. What is the difference this season?
I’d never pick a HS player anyway, they end up toiling in the minors for 5 years. Pick the college guys. Pirates have been burned before on this.
Thats pretty ridiculous. Theres more good players that came from high school than college
WRONG !
Yah there’s no way that’s true
Theres more players from college as a whole but many of the all star caliber position players came out of high school.
You mean like Mike Trout?
Sooo let me guess Andrew right out of HS….
Cole as he was leaving college. Yup,they got burned.
That clown Cole turned down Yankee Money.
“Oh he’s with Houston.” He’s not with Pitt. They had every chance to build a winner. They didn’t.
Scott Boras
Folkish for a HS arm to give up millions with all the injuries arm sustain in the college game
I would have to agree with you
Wait, are you arguing that Boras advised his client against taking the deal? Thus forgoing his agent’s commission? That seems odd.
I can’t see him being good with that name. Just not a baseball name. Sorry, SMH.
hell only be about as good as Eric skoglund
I dunno, a pitcher named Gunnar is fitting.
He does sound more like a linebacker with that name.
Don’t comp picks get just forfeited or am I confusing them with comp picks from the old system?
I think the only picks that can be forfeited are if you don’t sign someone with a pick you were awarded for not signing someone last year. I could be wrong though.
Does MLB traderumors have a list of picks from rounds 1 to 10 that do not sign or is there another site that has that info? MLB? Does someone have a link?
MLB draft tracker has that info. Just Google MLB draft tracker and you should find it.
LOL… three first-rounders each leaving millions on the table to head to the State of Mississippi. What are the odds?
As I wrote underneath the failed Braves/Carter Stewart signing…
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/07/braves-fail-to-reach-agreement-with-first-round-pick-carter-stewart.html
… these Mississippi schools are as desperate as they are unscrupulous in their pursuit of gaining some relevance among their SEC brethren. Ole Miss as well as Mississippi State have recently been caught paying recruits considerable sums, among other things. There’s nothing in this world these programs wouldn’t do for their first national championship in any of the three big college sports (football, basketball, baseball).
They definitely look desperate. If you look at these kids social media feeds you see tons of Mississippi people begging them to go there rather than sign. The coaches like the Vanderbilt one make asinine claims like “you will never play in a bigger baseball game than the college world series” oh lets see how about the real world series
“You will never play in a bigger baseball game than the college world series” if you never turn pro, that’s true.
You are definitely onto something. The fact that this many first rounders are not signing to play in a Mississippi college – and we are NOT talking about Ivy League or anything close to it – tells me there is more incentive at stake than a manager promising nothing more than a trip to the college World Series. Something’s not right here.
Let’s hope history shows that Gunnar Hoglund did the Pirates as big a favor as Mark Appel did years ago.
Let’s hope history shows that Gunnar Hoglund made right decision by not signing a contract with an org that can’t develop a talented player into a major league star.
…like Mark Appel.