Commentary
Little excitement created by Pirates’ pick PITTSBURGH – Young Brian Bullington likely became a multi-millionaire Tuesday afternoon.
Big as this news was at the Bullington household in Madison, Indiana, it barely created a ripple elsewhere.
Bullington, 21, was chosen on the first round of the baseball draft by the Pirates, which meant he was the first of about 1,500 players who will be selected over the two-day process.
Bullington has been pitching for Ball State University, which is famous for being David Letterman’s alma mater, not for being a baseball powerhouse.
It’s doubtful even the most avid Pirates fan could pick Bullington’s mug shot out of a lineup of college kids.
Even the Pirates ho-hummed the process.
General Manager Dave Littlefield immediately projected Bullington as a No. 3 starter in the major leagues and also proclaimed him a minimum of two years away from competing in the big time.
For this, Littlefield will pay at least $4 million in the form of a signing bonus. It is, by far, the most the Pirates will spend on a pitcher this season.
Littlefield may have had practical reasons for keeping his enthusiasm in check. He’s trying to sign Bullington, so it serves no purpose to publicly build up Bullington’s potential. Most baseball executives have the good sense not to raise expectations unrealistically for untested players.
That bit of restraint eluded former scouting director Leland Maddox, who immediately compared J.J. Davis to sure-shot Hall of Famer Dave Winfield in 1997 when Davis was the Pirates’ first pick. Davis had not yet graduated from high school when Maddox made his reckless projection.
Most baseball people are smart enough to know that a lot of strange things can happen between the draft and the major leagues.
If a No. 1 pick like Jon Farrell (1991) can fail, then a 62nd rounder like Mike Piazza can become a star.
The Pirates once chose a player named Dwayne Peltier (1972) who hadn’t even played baseball. They liked his athletic ability and figured they could teach him the game. Bold but misguided. Peltier never made it.
When you think No. 1 pick in the nation, you think of a guy who will be riding in the lead car for a championship parade down Fifth Avenue someday.
Terry Bradshaw was that guy for the Steelers in 1970.
Mario Lemieux filled the role for the Penguins in 1984.
Baseball doesn’t work that way. The Pirates have had the first overall pick two other times. That got them Jeff King (1986), a good but not great player, and Kris Benson (1996), on whom the jury is still out after major elbow surgery.
The Pirates’ best pick on the first round was Barry Bonds in 1985. He was the sixth player chosen that year. The runner-up among Pirates first-round picks was Jason Kendall in 1992, who was chosen after 22 other players had been selected.
You can pick as high as second and come up with Mark Merchant (1987), who never made it. Merchant was the player taken after Ken Griffey, Jr.
The NFL draft is filled with players who have spent four years in a big-time program and played on television and in front of huge crowds every week. Most college baseball is played before a small audience of scouts and family members.
Most of the picks come from the high school level, which accounts for some of the attrition rate. Imagine what would happen if the Steelers had to draft from that level, projecting how big and how skilled a player might be five years down the road.
The Pirates tried to minimize that risk by spending their No. 1 pick on a college player who is closer to reaching his physical maturity.
Bullington was the best of a final field of three, which included a pair of high school players. The tiebreaker may well have been Bullington’s experience, which should help him advance more quickly. A high school player would start in the rookie league. The Pirates figure Bullington will head to Class A once he signs.
The bottom line on Tuesday’s choice probably belongs to a Pirates official who took a break from the process and reflected on Bullington thusly:
If the Pirates had selected him in the middle of the first round, they would have been very happy with the pick.
In other words, he’s a guy worth taking, but maybe not one worth the premium money he’ll command as the first overall pick.
Tuesday was probably a better day for Bryan Bullington than it was for the Pirates.
John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehno@lycos.com.