Pirates select Alvarez with 2nd pick of the draft
PITTSBURGH – For years now, the Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t gotten the baseball draft right. They’re convinced that drafting Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez will the first step to changing that. Alvarez, one of college baseball’s top power hitters, was chosen No. 2 overall by the Pirates on Thursday despite concerns about a hand injury and their ability to sign him.
Although a broken bone caused a drop-off in Alvarez’s power numbers this season, there is much about Baseball America’s top-rated prospect for the Pirates to like. He had 49 homers and 51 doubles in 170 career college games and hit 40 homers his first two seasons.
The Pirates also like this: He’s a left-handed hitter who should fall in love with PNC Park’s hitter-friendly 320-foot right field foul line.
“Short porch,” Alvarez said, laughing, when asked during a conference call what he knows about the ballpark.
The 21-year-old Alvarez had a .349 career average at Vanderbilt after turning down an estimated $1 million signing bonus from the Red Sox as a 14th-round pick out of high school.
“He’s got a nice stroke,” Pirates scouting director Greg Smith said. “The ball comes off his bat very well. He takes a professional approach, uses the whole field. You watch him take batting practice and he works to left field, left-center, across the field. He’s an advanced college hitter.”
There was a surprise waiting on the second round: Tanner Scheppers, a Fresno State right-hander who was projected in some pre-draft forecasts to go in the upper half of the first round. He was 8-2 with a 2.93 ERA and throws his fastball in the 92-95 mph range.
Coincidentally, consultant Chuck Tanner, the team’s former manager, was chosen to officially announce the Pirates’ picks at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
In later rounds, the Pirates took another Fresno State pitcher, left-hander Justin Wilson (7-4, 4.17 ERA), after choosing college shortstops Jordy Mercer of Oklahoma State and Chase D’Arnaud of Pepperdine. They grabbed their first high school player with their final pick of the day, outfielder Robert Grossman of Cypress-Fairbanks High in Texas.
Choosing Alvarez signals a change in draft philosophy for the Pirates, who devoted eight of their 10 most recent first-round picks to pitchers – many of whom later developed major arm problems. They hadn’t drafted a third baseman on the first round since No. 1 pick Jeff King in 1986.
Also, Alvarez is represented by agent Scott Boras, whose clients the Pirates have directly or indirectly avoided in the past, including catcher Matt Wieters a year ago.
Boras is expected to ask for a signing bonus of $7 million, or $3 million more than was paid last year’s No. 2 pick, shortstop Mike Moustakas of Kansas City, plus a major league contract that would guarantee Alvarez additional money.
“That isn’t a huge issue,” Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said.
Giving Alvarez a bonus close to what he is seeking would go against the slotting system devised by former Major League Baseball legal counsel Frank Coonelly, now the Pirates’ president.
Coonelly worked hard to establish a system that could work against the Pirates signing Alvarez. If he doesn’t sign by Aug. 15, Alvarez goes back into the draft pool and the Pirates get a compensatory pick in 2009.
“Negotiations aren’t going to be easy,” Huntington said. “But it’s our belief Pedro wants to be a major league player and realizes that, as Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki and Evan Longoria before him, they’ve gotten on the field that summer and were in the majors within 24 months.”
Alvarez wouldn’t discuss the signing issues, saying, “I need to sit down with my parents and my adviser and talk about that later.” He also expects to stay at third base, though some scouts predict he will end up at first base.
The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Alvarez missed 23 of Vanderbilt’s first 24 games this season with a broken hamate bone that was later removed from his right hand. The injury can affect a hitter’s power short term but isn’t considered to be a career-altering problem.
The injury helped limit Alvarez to nine homers and 30 RBIs in 40 games, down from his 22 homers and 64 RBIs in 64 games as a freshman in 2006 and 18 homers and 68 RBIs in 66 games as a sophomore.
“I couldn’t work out when I was hurt so it’s natural to lose some strength,” Alvarez said. “But it’s easily gainable again.”
Alvarez isn’t discouraged by the Pirates’ 15 consecutive losing seasons, one short of the major league record.
“It’s a privilege and an honor to be drafted by the Pirates. … They’re an uprising club and there’s a bright future for this ballclub,” Alvarez said. “I believe I can be (a difference-maker). I believe so. I want to thank the Pirates for thinking I can be that as well.”
Copyright Associated Press 2008