Perrotto: Draft Not Place for Immediate Boost (+)
Henry Davis reached the major leagues last month and it was a rather quick rise.
The used-to-be catcher from the University of Louisville made his major-league debut less than two years after the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him with the first overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft. Now, Davis is the Pirates’ primary right fielder after playing just 118 minor-league games.
Right-hander Paul Skenes and center fielder Dylan Crews, LSU teammates, are considered the top two players available in this year’s draft, which begins Sunday night at Lumen Field in Seattle. Many scouts believe the duo is so advanced that both might be ready to play in the major leagues as soon as this season.
With the Pirates again holding the first overall pick, it leads to the question of whether they might lean toward taking a player who is almost ready for the big leagues. The Pirates are still on the fringe of the National League Central race, though they have fallen 7.5 games off the pace of the first-place Cincinnati Reds.
Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, though, says promoting a player from the college or high school ranks to the majors in 2023 would be difficult.
“That would be pretty aggressive even for an advanced college player to consider,” Cherington said. “I guess it has happened but pretty aggressive. I think whoever we take, obviously we believe is going to be a really good player and hopefully have a chance to help us in the relatively near future, but we still need to keep in mind that future and making sure that we’re not putting a player in a compromised position.”
Also factoring into the possibility of a player reaching the big leagues the same year he is drafted is the timing of the draft.
Most high school or college players’ seasons have already been over for more than a month. Thus, it would take a ramp-up period before they would be ready to play at the sport’s highest level.
While Cherington has aggressively promoted some prospects in recent years, he also doesn’t believe in rushing a player to the major league regardless of his talent.
“You need to be careful about that,” Cherington said. “You don’t rule anything out but it’s important, it’s a really important decision and we don’t want to compromise that by kind of manufacturing a path that might not be, it just might be too risky. We’ll see. I think we just have to see how it goes and who it is.”
While it is becoming increasingly doubtful the Pirates will be in a pennant race in September, Cherington says he won’t be tempted to draft a player who could bolster their chance almost immediately.
“I think the players at the top of the board are going to tell us which direction to go more than kind of where we are as a team,” Cherington said. “We still have to think about best player. I believe that is always the case for every baseball team. It’s just too hard, even if you’re talking about a college player that might be a little closer than a high school player it’s still, a lot can happen in this game, even between this year and 12 months from now a lot can happen to our team. And what the needs might be and what the fit might be. So, I think we want to stick with best player available.”
It is the best philosophy to take for an organization still in a spot where it needs to think long term more than short term.
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