Pirates GM Ben Cherington: No. 1 overall draft pick pool 'much deeper than 2 players'

With the scouting consensus that the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft is between a pair of stars from LSU’s College World Series champions — outfielder Dylan Crews or right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes — Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington was careful not to tip his hand on which direction the Pirates are going next Sunday.

Cherington wants to be clear the consideration shouldn’t stop with Crews and Skenes.

“We’ve heard a lot about those and other players, too,” Cherington said before Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers. “We’ve been following this whole class closely for a while. Even before we got the first pick, we knew we were going to be selecting high so going back to last summer were looking at who might be in the class and who might gravitate toward the top — and we’re still doing that. We’re still learning about all of the guys, and we think it’s a strong group. By group, I really do mean that it goes much deeper than two players.”

Three other outfielders are ranked top-five prospects by MLB Pipeline: Florida’s Wyatt Langford and prep stars Walker Jenkins of South Brunswick, N.C., and Max Clark of Franklin, Ind. Grand Canyon shortstop Jacob Wilson, son of former Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson, is considered a top-10 prospect.

Whether Cherington is doing pre-draft posturing remains to be seen, though he echoed Pirates president Travis Williams’ statement last week that they plan to spend the full allotted bonus pool of $16,185,700.

Related

• MLB Draft expert sticking with Dylan Crews as Pirates' No. 1 pick despite concerns about cost
• Report: Perceived No. 1 MLB draft choice Dylan Crews may not be 'interested' in Pirates

Cherington, however, was evasive about how much of that the Pirates will use to sign the first overall pick, which has a slot value of $9,721,000. Rumors swirled last week that Crews and Skenes want a signing bonus in the $10 million range, and Cherington wouldn’t say if the Pirates are willing to go above-slot to sign them.

“The first choice is really important, to state the obvious,” Cherington said. “Every team’s job is to get as much total talent out of every draft as they can. Historically, when you have the first pick, the biggest portion of that is going to be for the first pick so we have to consider that.

“History says that that’s where the best player is going to come from. But the whole draft is important, and our job is to get as much as we can out of it. Right now we’re just focused on the board itself, trying to get the most out of it and trying to get them in the right order.”

Cherington knows passing on Crews, the Golden Spikes Award winner as the best player in college baseball, could leave the Pirates open to criticism they aren’t willing to spend for top talent. And Cherington called it “totally reasonable” for opinions to vary on whom the Pirates should pick, calling it “part of the fun of the business.”

“I’m not worried about that because we’re going to spend our pool,” Cherington said. “I’m confident that people will see that. I fully expect to do that, and you can see that by the end of the process.”

The Pirates signed 2021 No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis for $6.5 million, a below-slot savings of $1,915,300 they used to go above-slot on four other top-100 prospects. Left-hander Anthony Solometo signed for $2.8 million, $800,000 higher than the slot bonus for the No. 37 pick, and right-hander Bubba Chandler signed for $3 million, which was $2,129,300 above slot for the No. 72 selection.

Davis made his major-league debut for the Pirates — in right field, not catcher — on June 19. Solometo is a top-five Pirates prospect who cracked MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list last Monday, and Chandler is ranked a top-10 prospect.

“We feel good about that process. We feel good about where we are with it, the players you mentioned (Davis, Solometo, Chandler) and some other players we think are going to be big-leaguers, too,” Cherington said. “Twenty years from now, we can look back and we’ll see exactly who the best players were. We think that draft class is going to help the Pirates in the way we hoped that it would.

“That was not an easy choice, but I remember saying the night of the draft that Henry was the first player on the board — and that’s true. We were able to take him and sign the guys after him. Hopefully, a bunch of those guys help us win games here in Pittsburgh.”

Cherington knows the Pirates’ history with No. 1 overall picks has been hit and miss, from infielder Jeff King (1986) to right-handed pitchers Kris Benson (1996), Bryan Bullington (2002) and Gerrit Cole (2011) prior to taking Davis two years ago.

That’s not to mention the risks of drafting a pitcher versus a position player, given the prevalence of Tommy John surgery.

“If there’s a certain type of player that’s riskier for some reason that’s kind of baked into the process,” Cherington said. “Doesn’t mean that player can’t be ranked really highly, because if you have enough strengths, even if there’s some risk in the profile, you can still go really high. You can go first overall.

“Once that happens, we really try to honor that every draft class is its own class, and this is the group of players that’s eligible this year. We have to focus on that — on who’s eligible this year — and not worry too much about decisions that were made in the past or even going forward. Just who’re the best players? Who’s the best player 1/1, trust our process and be able to get to that decision.”