Pirates 2025 MLB Draft full recap

How would you grade the Pirates draft picks?

The MLB Draft has come and gone, and the Pittsburgh Pirates made it clear their intentions as an organization were to keep things simple.

“We’re going to take the best player available,” General Manager Ben Cherington said.

On day one of the draft the Pirates did exactly that, taking top high school pitcher Seth Hernandez with their first round pick and then doubling down by taking another high school standout, pitcher Angel Cervantes. Despite the plethora of top college pitching talent in the class, the team decided to take two of the top high school prospects instead, showing that there is (unfortunately) no urgency to build for the immediate future but instead for a more long term goal.

The team wrapped up day one by selecting two collegiate players in the third round, drafting catcher Easton Carmichael out of the University of Oklahoma as well as third baseman Murf Gray from Fresno State. There were plenty of strong college hitters in this class, and the Buccos getting two on day one was huge for the future of the team. General Manager Ben Cherington went on to speak on the picks made on day one.

“We have to create more offense in Pittsburgh. We’re just going to have to attack that in every way possible. It doesn’t have to come through the top of the Draft. We’re thrilled to get these two young pitchers in the system, and we’ll just continue to attack the offense, solving that offensive issue in different ways.”

The Pirates started day two by taking high school shortstop Gustavo Melendez from Puerto Rico, but selected their next nine picks from the college ranks. In the fifth round the team took catcher Adonys Guzman from the University of Arizona making him the second college catcher selected by the club. In the sixth round Jack Anker was drafted from Fresno State and was named to the All-Mountain West First Team in his Junior season. Brent Iredale from the University of Arkansas was taken in the seventh round while Josh Tate (Georgia Southern), Jared Jones (LSU), Matt King (Arizona State University), made up their picks through the tenth round.

Dylan Palmer was drafted out of Hofstra, and Cameron Keschock from Samford was the first pitcher the Pirates drafted since the sixth round. In the thirteenth round the Pirates selected pitcher Dylan Mathiesen from Liberty, but Mathiesen started his baseball journey in Pittsburgh as he attended Montour High School and was named 2022 Pittsburgh Post Gazette 4A Player of the Year.

The Pirates then went back to drafting high school prospects, picking two more pitchers in Connor Hamilton and McLane Moody. Pittsburgh then selected outfielders Eddie King Jr. out of Louisville and Carter Gwost from Little Falls HS in Minnesota. Another college bat was taken in the eighteenth round as outfielder Canon Reeder was drafted out of Oregon State.

The team wrapped up their draft by selecting two more pitchers, righty Brandon Cain and lefty Nick Frusco.

Overall the team certainly made it a point to address the holes the current team has in terms of producing meaningful offense. Selecting two top high school pitchers early on helps build for the future, but there were plenty of college arms available that could’ve made a near immediate impact in the next year or two. Even still though, there were some strong picks made to sure up the team as it’s currently constructed, and given the fact that it seems Ben Cherington will be sticking around, they should fit into his philosophy as long as he’s running the team.