Only One Focus for Ben Cherington in First Round of Draft

PITTSBURGH — Ben Cherington’s draft strategy as general manager is clear. Take the best player available.

Sure, there are other factors that are weighed, but when the Pittsburgh Pirates are on the clock with the sixth pick in the first round on July 13, there will be only one focus.

“We need to get better, so the best talent available,” he said on the Pirates’ strategy.

Baseball is not like other sports. Whereas teams in the NFL and NBA, for example, draft for need, teams in Major League Baseball generally hunt upside since draftees have to ascend through the minor leagues before making any impact on the big-league club.

The process for how long a prospect takes to develop a case by case basis. Some players need more time to  polish their games in the minor leagues. It’s not too common to see someone like Paul Skenes, who was selected by the Pirates with the top pick of the 2023 draft, make his Major League debut within a year of getting drafted.

By that logic, the Pirates will be open to both hitters and pitchers depending on how the top five picks of the draft unfold.

“I really just want to look for the best player,” Cherington reiterated. “We’re confident in our ability to draft and develop pitching, certainly. So, if that’s the way it falls and it’s a pitcher, we’ll be excited about that. But we have to create more offense, too. We know that as an organization. It’s going to come down to the best player.”

The Pirates’ track record of developing pitching under Cherington’s guide is much stronger than the development of position players.

The aforementioned Skenes is already one of the best pitchers in baseball despite only being with the Pirates for a little over a year. Jared Jones showed promise last season before needing elbow surgery this year. Bubba Chandler is the top pitching prospect in baseball, and other pitchers such as Carmen Mlodzinski and Braxton Ashcraft, though the latter wasn’t drafted by this regime, have found early success in the majors.

On the position player side of things, Nick Gonzales is really the only one to make an impact with Pittsburgh. Last year’s first-rounder Konnor Griffin looks as promising as any minor-leaguer, though.

Cherington admitted that the Pirates are understandably feeling pressure to improve the offense, but one draft pick isn’t going to be enough to be the sole solution.

“One decision, one free agent, one trade, one draft pick, it’s never going to be about that. It’s going to be about 100 things,” he explained. “We need to create more offense. So what I want to avoid in the draft is making our decision any harder because of that. Let’s just find the best player, and with that, we need to create more offense over time.”

If the best player on the Pirates’ board when they are on the clock is a pitcher, the Pirates could theoretically trade the player they take — pitcher or position player — for an established lineup addition down the road.

Of course, the Pirates could also entertain the idea of taking a player who could be quick to reach the big leagues. It’s become more and more of a common practice in recent years.

Four position players taken in the first round of last year’s draft have already made it to the majors, and three of them have had reasonable levels of success.

Cam Smith, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs but traded to the Houston Astros in the offseason, has a 2.1 bWAR through his first 68 games and is batting .277 with a .773 OPS. Nick Kurtz, who was selected with the fourth pick by the A’s, has slugged 11 home runs through his first 44 games. Christian Moore was recently called up by the Angels and has three home runs and a .723 OPS through 14 games.

Obviously, players taken out of college are more developed and are on a faster track once drafted. There are two players in particular who could fit that criteria for the Pirates to consider in the first round — Oregon State shortstop Aiva Arquette and Auburn catcher/outfielder Ike Irish.

The Pirates could be wise to consider this idea, and it might work out that way in the end, but Cherington again circled back to his main point.

“I don’t feel like now we’re really having to think about the decision maybe between upside and risk of being further away, versus closer and safer,”  he said. “I think it’s all part of the process, and the process itself is, I believe, doing a good job of capturing all of that. Capturing both the upside and the risk of every player. It’s getting them in an order and we’re gonna be disciplined and honor that order when we’re done with it on July 6 and just take the best player available.”

Cherington’s draft philosophy is simple enough. Take the best player available.

The hard part will be developing that player into a big-league contributor, whenever the time comes.