Pirates GM Ben Cherington hopes to end team's curse with No. 4 pick in MLB Draft

History shows the Pittsburgh Pirates have a checkered past when it comes to possessing the No. 4 pick in the MLB Draft. The Pirates have had the fourth selection three times in franchise history — all within a span of four years — and the three players they picked proved to be busts.

General manager Ben Cherington hopes to end that curse Sunday, when the Pirates have a top-10 pick for the fourth time in five years. The slot value for the pick is $7,002,100, although the Pirates paid below slot value to sign No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis last year.

Cherington stressed the need to get the right player with the No. 4 pick.

“It is important,” Cherington said Wednesday afternoon on a video conference call. “It is important for every team. It’s certainly important for us that we get a good player. It’s important that we get more than one good player, and we’re certainly going to lean on young players more than some other teams, as everyone knows.”

After drafting Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen with the No. 11 pick in back-to-back years, the Pirates made a major miss when they selected right-hander Brad Lincoln from the University of Houston fourth overall in 2006. Lincoln went 9-11 with a 4.74 ERA in 99 games over five major-league seasons, including 7-9 with a 4.62 in 51 games (22 starts) over three seasons with the Pirates.

The following year, the Pirates infamously picked Clemson lefty Daniel Moskos over Georgia Tech catcher Matt Wieters, even though there was some confusion over whether Moskos was projected to be a starting pitcher or a reliever. Moskos was 1-1 with a 2.96 ERA in 24¹⁄₃ innings over 31 games in 2011, his only season in the majors. He’s now the assistant pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs.

Two years later, the Pirates took a catcher when they selected Tony Sanchez from Boston College. Sanchez played 51 games over three seasons for the Pirates, slashing .259/.303/.378 with five doubles, four home runs and 18 RBIs.

Where those draft picks continue to make Pirates fans cringe, Cherington said he hadn’t “heard those names come up in our draft room.”

What haunts the Pirates is the players they passed on.

Among their misses in 2006 were All-Star pitchers Andrew Miller, Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum and Max Scherzer, and the latter three have won a combined eight Cy Young awards.

Not only did the Pirates pass on Wieters, a four-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove winner, but they also missed on Madison Bumgarner and Jason Heyward. Both played pivotal roles for teams who eliminated the Pirates from the postseason in wild-card games at PNC Park.

Perhaps the biggest miss came in 2009, when seven players picked behind Sanchez became All-Stars. The most notbable is Mike Trout, as the 10-time All-Star and three-time MVP was selected 25th overall.

“The draft is really hard,” Cherington said. “I’ve been in draft rooms for over 20 years. It’s a hard thing. The best teams in the world at it also have their misses. We just try to keep getting better at it all the time.”