The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Henry Davis, a catcher out of Louisville, with the first overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft. Davis is coming off his best college season of his career. He batted .370 with 15 homeruns and 48 RBI in 50 games played. He also added 10 SBs to his 2021 stat line. Davis had a very impressive 1.178 OPS in a shortened 2020 season, which he followed up with a 1.145 OPS in a full 2021 season. And, he is only 21 years old.
I have had several people ask me already how I feel about the pick. I hate this question. I’m expected to give an opinion on a guy I have really never seen play and I can do nothing but regurgitate whatever some ‘expert’ has said about him. However, I will say there are several reasons I like the pick from a Pirates organizational perspective.
Draft Hitters, Sign Pitchers
The first reason is it makes more sense than drafting a pitcher. Pitchers are especially risky picks anymore. Oddly enough, it’s because Tommy John surgeries have become too advanced. What I mean by that is they are largely successful and much easier to recover from than they used to be. They have become more prevalent for young pitchers because the road to recovery is easier and not a death sentence anymore. Therefore, they’re rightfully more regularly prescribed. It’s often joked about that every young pitcher should just receive their first Tommy John surgery as soon as they enter the league to get it out of the way.
For this reason, I like to draft hitters and sign pitchers. Theo Epstein agrees. He brought that mentality everywhere he went and we see the results of that through the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs’ World Series titles. So, just on principle, I like when the Pirates draft hitters early. Hitters tend to pan out at a higher rate than pitchers.
Pirates Don’t Need Another Shortstop
The second reason I like the pick is there was this theory going around that the Pirates should draft a shortstop. To that I say, are we expecting the MLB to switch to 10 infielders by 2023?
The Pirates have dozens of shortstops in their pipeline already. In addition to the hope Cole Tucker can still amount to something, the Pirates have two shortstops in their top 10 and another in their top 20 prospects list. O’neil Cruz and Liover Peguero are highly touted prospects and both are expected to be joining the big club by 2023.
However, the Pirates have just one catcher in their top 30 prospects, Endy Rodriguez. Rodriguez is not expected to reach the big club until 2024. So the Pirates certainly were addressing a greater and more pressing need by drafting a catcher.
Ben's fired up.
We're all fired up. pic.twitter.com/Hcab9v249p
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) July 12, 2021
Several Players Needed
My final reasoning for liking the pick is he is was the most sign-able player that high on the board. Like it or not, baseball is still a business. Also, like it or not, the Pirates need as many young players to successfully make the majors as possible because GM Ben Cherington inherited an empty pipeline from Neal Huntington. They are just not a good team right now. With Davis being perceived as the most easily signed player on the board, this gives the Pirates the ability to throw more money at their second and third round picks.
So instead of the Pirates having the ability to sign one of the big arms on the board, they can now sign three or four players that may have chosen to go or stay in college. Then consider that they do draft a pitcher and he has to get Tommy John surgery. The Pirates would then not see a return from this draft in quite some time.
So there it is. I am giving my opinion on the pick without actually assessing a player I have never seen play or has a single big league at-bat. I hate trying to predict what a young man will be in three to four years from now. Instead you receive a different perspective from me. I like the pick for the strategic reasons that a catcher makes sense for the Pirates at this current time.
The post Wolfe’s Den: Don’t ask me about the Pirates MLB Draft pick, but I do like it appeared first on Pittsburgh Sports Castle.
