Thanks to the pandemic-shortened regular season, it was unclear before Monday how Major League Baseball would handle the 2021 amateur draft. It’s now known that the league plans on going the traditional route and determining the order according to teams’ 2020 records, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Jeff Passan of ESPN previously reported that MLB was likely to take this path.
This news means the Pirates, who finished with the game’s worst mark at 19-41, will pick No. 1 overall for the first time since they selected Gerrit Cole in 2011. As of now, Vanderbilt right-handers Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter are among the favorites to come off the board at the top of the draft, so either could wind up as the Pirates’ next prized prospect.
Here’s how the top five’s slated to look next summer:
- 1. Pirates
- 2. Rangers
- 3. Tigers
- 4. Red Sox
- 5. Orioles
Hope the Red Sox can finally draft a franchise player like the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts.
…ouch…..
Hope the Dodgers can finally win a championship this century.
Bingo on LA losers!
Maybe they just need to give their guys what Manny and Papi took, add in some Apple watches, and it will all work out.
Every team had juiced players in the 90s and beginning of this century. Teams and players always look for a competitive edge. That said, I have no respect for knowingly cheated which is why I’ve taken heat for my position on Papi. I believe he cheated even in 2016 but used something that wasn’t then detectable. Why else did Sox management change their rules and retire his number before he was voted into the HOF? Now that they changed that rule it’s time they retired 23 and 24 so if fans come back, Luis and Dewey can feel the love Sox fans have for them one more time (while they’re alive). The recent HOF deaths make it important to me anyway for the appreciation to be acknowledged before a family member has to accept the honor on their behalf.
Manny never tested positive for steriods with the Red Sox, only tested positive when he was with the Dodgers (TWICE}. Not saying he didn’t in Boston, but its a problem everywhere.. And Big Papi was only alleged to have by a media report.
Just didn’t get caught in my book. What else explains Papi’s 2016 season which arguably was the best ever for a 40 year old. Also why did ownership rush to retire his number?
Wow! That hurt me and I can’t stand the Red Sox.
Were getting leiter
Losing weight, huh?
Probably not at #4.
Javia: “probably not at 4”? He’s third best pitcher ranked, and 7th overall, in one ranking. A lot will change between now and June, not sure how you’re saying he’ll probably go in top 3.
Rangers are getting Leiter
They did draft a franchise player like Mookie Betts….
Woosh
Why do the Dbacks have the 5th spot over the Orioles? How is that tiebreaker determined? Division records look to be the same.
It should be based on the teams record from 2019, which means the Orioles should have the tiebreaker with the Diamondbacks. Maybe they didn’t factor for that? Or I read the rule wrong.
Probably strength of schedule which if true would be even more bizarre given the limited number of games compared 5o a normal season.
They changed it, good call by txtgab.
I don’t care what the experts say, the Pirates will select Trevor Lawrence.
So good
The Tigers selected Patrick Mahomes and he’s thriving.
Rangers got themselves a potential HOFer in Russel Wilson.
The A’s Kyle Murray is better than either of them.
He couldn’t hit the curve when he was in Rockies system. .215 in single A doesn’t cut it.
Racosun, I dont think so. They did at one point, ricky William’s too. But seems like rangers sent wilson to New York bc he was a yankee fan and wanted to be a yank even if only technically. I may remember wrong or got details mixed up but I think that’s right.
Yankees did get a Hall of Famer: John Elway!
LOL. In the second round, Levon Town.
Oops meant to reply to Rick Pernell below.
In the first round and the #1 overall selection, the Pittsburgh Pirates select Gowin Elsewhere!
I have the tiniest amount of hope that this management won’t botch this for the Pirates. This is the most hope I’ve had since those brief playoff moments in the early 2010s.
Well, technically, Huntington didn’t botch it when he selected Cole.
Unfortunately………..
Let me be the first to say that I highly doubt the Pirates will take the best player. They will draft perhaps the 8-10th best player and save the slot value
Why would they do that? This is ain’t the Littlefield regime. Even Huntington, outside of the Sanchez pick usually took the highest rated player, no matter the cost.
You do know the Pirates broke three signing bonus records the last time they had the #1 overall pick right? They still hold the highest signing bonus for a 2nd round pick and eigth round pick. Or that they spent more on their first round pick last year, the 7th seleciton in the draft, than the Orioles did on their 2nd overall pick, right? They also paid more for Shane Baz with the 12th overall selection in the 2017 draft than the Brewers did with Hiura (9th pick) and the White Sox did with Jake Burger (11th pick)If there’s anywhere the Pirates don’t skimp out in terms of spending, it’s the draft.
Can’t speak for anyone else.
But I sure as hell didn’t know any of that, @mlb1225.
Ducky: That’s because so many times, people (including myself) hear something & believe it’s true without even checking any relevant facts.
and we’re all sitting in front of a computer or smartphone that can look it up in seconds
Gerrit Cole’s career trajectory since the second he was off the Pirates roster makes me think any #1 pick or high pick will never reach his ceiling in that poisonous organization.
Austin Meadows too.
Yep Pirates got fleeced!
The Pirates finally won something.
about a month ago angels were to have a first round pick at second. they are now 9th or 10th. what for? it has been the story of angels last 10 years. cheap wins that count for nothing but job security for some.
I agree with you idk why they tried to win at the end when they desperately need high end talent. Especially pitching with leiter and rocker right there it was head scratching to say the least. Maybe they can find another adel Type pitcher with 9th pick. Go high upside high schooler or something.
If the Angels go 6-2 in extra inning games instead of 3-5, they make the playoffs.
Heck, if they go 5-3, they probably don’t roll over for the Dodgers the last three games of the year and still might make the playoffs.
I’m glad this team tried to win right up to the point where they were eliminated. Who doesn’t want their team to do that?
The Angel brain trust has done this same thing every year. Win just enough games to miss the playoffs and get a high 1st round draft pick. They will probably waste the pick on yet another outfielder or short stop. They employ the worst scouts money can buy because they always go cheap. Artie claims he wants to win yet he won’t spend any money on there minor league system. They were a much better run organization when Mickey Mouse was calling the shots.
Any idea where angels finish? 8-10 somewhere?
according to mydraft.com 9th.
Ah, the annual late season surge to miss out on both the playoffs and the top 2-3 college arms in the following draft.
trAdition
Phillies should have pick 13.
It doesn’t actually matter as much because they don’t have 1st and 2nd round picks this year, so it just effects later rounds, but with expanded playoffs it’s pretty lame that Houston is playing in the ALCS, but picking 16th. I don’t think they’re going to win it all because they’re about to be down 2-0, but the fact that they could win the WS and still pick ahead of half the league just isn’t right.
Look at the other end, Minnesota which got bounced in the wildcard round, ends up at 27… ouch! They really should have done it NFL style where the two teams in the WS pick 29-30, the teams who lose in the ALCS/NLCS pick 27-28, etc…
Should copy what the NFL does.
Non playoff teams order based on record.
Playoff teams based on elimination round and then record of who’s been eliminated.
Yeah I think you have to, otherwise you end up with weird situations like San Diego picking 28th when they didn’t even win their division and were a 4 seed in the playoffs.
The NFL occasionally has situations where division winners have higher playoff seeds than wild card teams with better records, but at least the draft order is based on when they’re eliminated so if that division winner makes a deep run then their draft position is adjusted. If Atlanta wins it all and picks 24th based on regular season record that’s a huge come up for them.
This year I disagree. It was a short and many still didn’t try. If anything, it should be a lottery with all 30 teams in there minus the cheats to pick how the first round will go
Miami went to the playoffs, which teams didn’t try?
The Red Sox, Orioles, Tigers, Pirates, Rangers, Mariners, and Astros.
Good Guys:You do realize that the Astros are in the ALCS, right? That is far from a team that’s “not trying to win”. Look at the players who were injured, including a future HOF’ER pitcher who was in 1 game. The Tigers brought up their 1st & 2nd rd picks fr the ’18 Draft (Casey Mize & Tarik Skubal) to further their development & to help progress their rebuild to competitiveness.
Tigers signed 3-4 free agents and were in the playoffs race until the last few weeks…dropped off because of injuries..
Orioles were in it also.
Last time the Pirates were in this position, two pitchers from the same college were predicted to be at the top as well – Cole and Bauer. Interesting the same could happen this year.
Tigers get another Pick in the Top 5? That’s 4 years in a Row. Pretty soon they’ll be accused of Tanking, like the Astros were doing earlier this Decade, when they picked in the Top 5 for 5 consecutive years, from 2011-2015 (Correa, Appel, Aiken, Bregman, Tucker).
But unlike the astros the tigers haven’t been accused of cheating.
Lest we forget Kenny Rogers and his pine tar.in the 2006 World Series.
That was actually 4 consecutive drafts not 5, from 2012-2015. The first 3 were overall #1s in 12, 13, and 14. Bregman was the compensatory pick for not signing Aiken and Tucker was the regular pick both in the 2015 draft.
And the Tigers pretty much have been tanking. They have traded away every big leaguer that wasn’t completely immovable (Miggy, Zimmermann) or had too high an asking price (Boyd). And they didn’t sign any free agents to speak of to compete.
Tigers signed 2 starting infielders, starting catcher (Austin Romine)
Jonathan Schoop (2B) Ivan Nova SP, CJ Cron 1B (out for year knee surgery) and were in the playoff run for most of the year until they faded in the last 3 weeks..
Any idea how many rounds this draft will be? There will be far more than the usual number of college seniors available, the juco ranks should be flooded too.
This is the lowest pick the Red Sox have had since 1967. Hopefully there is a good close to MLB ready arm to choose
I would be worried about picking #4. It may be coincidental, but that slot seems to have more busts, especially in the last 25 years than any other high pick. Since 1996, Ryan Zimmerman is by far the best #4 pick according to WAR. The second best is a toss up between Gavin Floyd, Kevin Gausman, and Dylan Bundy. That is a steep drop off, but not nearly as steep as the drop after those 4. Mostly filled with cup of coffee guys that were just not very good.
Kumar Rocker is my new favorite player. The Indian background is really great: I don’t know if anyone of Indian descent has played in the bigs. Plus his name is awesome, and I assume he is not related to John Rocker.
The Mets won something other than a disappointing tie for last place in the NL East. Awesome.
Since nobody has asked the obvious question…Leiter or Rocker, who are you picking? I’m going with Leiter because of his offspead stuff. Plus Rocker is perfect for Texas as a big dude that just overpowers everyone.
Bucs will choose Leiter. Only problem is, will they be any good by the time he arrives? Big decisions looming this off-season.
They should see what they can get for Frazer, Polanco, Bell and Moran. Every one of those four can help a big league club.
Build around Hayes and Reynolds and hope the injured pitchers come back healthy.
The Pirates have given Moneyball a new definition. Nutting will always take the cheap way out.
2021 Projected MLB Draft
1) Pirates Kumur Rocker RHSP
2) Rangers Jack Leiter RHSP
3) Tigers Brady House SS/RHSP
4) Red Sox Jud Fabian OF
5) Orioles Mayer Marcello SS
6) DBacks Gunner Hoagland RHP
7) Royals Ethan Wilson OF
8) Rockies Braylon Bishop OF
9) Angels Matt McLain SS
10) Mets Chase Petty RHP