Major League Baseball completed its annual draft on Thursday night. The spread of the novel coronavirus required the draft to be held virtually instead of in Omaha, Nebraska alongside the College World Series. The owners' desire to slash costs, meanwhile, led to the draft being shortened from 40 rounds to five.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected New Mexico State shortstop Nick Gonzales with the No. 7 overall pick. He was ranked No. 9 on R.J. Anderson's big board. The Pirates earned an A grade from our experts. Here's what we wrote:
Pittsburgh kicked off its draft by taking Nick Gonzales, who will ostensibly end up at second base. There are some concerns about his power potential, but the Buccos were just out of range to grab one of the top five players in the class. After Gonzales, the Pirates went to the mound early and often, popping a trio of athletic arms, in Carmen Mlodzinski, Jared Jones, and Nick Garcia. Gonzales, Mlodzinski, and Jones all ranked in our top 50.
Below you'll find a draft tracker for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
| Round | Overall | Player | Position | School | Top 50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | No. 7 | Nick Gonzales | SS | New Mexico State | No. 9 |
1s | No. 31 | Carmen Mlodzinski | P | South Carolina | No. 27 |
2 | No. 44 | Jared Jones | P | La Mirada HS (CA) | No. 49 |
3 | No. 79 | Nick Garcia | P | Chapman | N/A |
4 | No. 108 | Jack Hartman | P | Appalachian State | N/A |
5 | No. 138 | Logan Hofmann | P | Northwestern State | N/A |
