First Pitch: Pirates Prospects Revolutions

During the month of July, I will cover my 16th MLB draft on this site. This will also be the fourth time in that span where I’ve covered the draft alone.

This site was launched with an idea of covering minor leaguers throughout the Pittsburgh Pirates system, but it was really born from the draft coverage. Following the 2009 draft, Rob Neyer of ESPN linked to my recap, stating that “suddenly the 2009 Pirates draft looked great“, following the approach to pair under-slot catcher Tony Sanchez with a group of over-slot prep pitchers.

That 2009 draft wasn’t great. In fact, I spent time over the next 16 years writing about how the Pirates overhauled their scouting department after the results of…