Pirates slip to No. 9 in MLB Draft lottery, marking 5th consecutive year with top-10 pick
The Pittsburgh Pirates slipped out of the top six in the draft lottery and will have the No. 9 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.
The Cleveland Guardians defied the odds, winning the No. 1 overall pick despite 2% odds. The draft order follows with the Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Oakland A’s, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals rounding out the top six selections.
The A’s, Royals and Rockies had the highest odds of winning the No. 1 overall pick, at 18.3% each, followed by the White Sox (14.7%), St. Louis Cardinals (8.3%), Los Angeles Angels (6.1%), New York Mets (4.3%) and the Pirates.
It marks the fifth consecutive year the Pirates have had a top-10 pick under general manager Ben Cherington.
With a .469 winning percentage, the Pirates (76-86) had a 3% chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick for the second consecutive year. The Pirates won the inaugural draft lottery last December and selected LSU right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes with the first pick in July.
They chose New Mexico State middle infielder Nick Gonzales at No. 7 in 2020, Louisville catcher Henry Davis No. 1 overall in ’21, Georgia prep middle infielder Termarr Johnson at No. 4 in ’22 and Skenes first in ‘23.
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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