Pitch By Pitch

Over the past few days, the Pirates have continued to sign their 2009 draft picks, and they now have a total of 12 signings.

1st Rounder, Tony Sanchez signed, and he has been playing for State College.
1st Round Supplemental Pick, Victor Black signed, and he will be assigned to State College.
2nd Rounder, Brooks Pounders signed, and he will be assigned to the Gulf Coast League.
9th Rounder, Brock Holt signed, and he will be assigned to State College.
11th Rounder, Aaron Baker signed.
21st Rounder, Philip Irwin signed.
23rd Round – Jose Hernandez signed and has been playing for State College.
24th Round – Jason Erickson signed and has been playing for State College.
30th Round – Ty Summerlin signed and has been playing for State College.
33rd Round – Patrick Irvine signed and has been playing for State College.
42nd Round – Marc Baca signed and has been playing for State College.
43rd Rounder, Ed Fallon signed.

Also of note, the Pirates 2008 1st round draft pick, Pedro Alvarez, has been promoted to AA-Altoona. He will make his AA debut on Tuesday night. Dustin Molleken, Michael Dubee, and Miles Durham will join Alvarez in Altoona.

Brad Lincoln was promoted to AAA-Indianapolis.

It doesn’t yet have the same appeal as the NFL draft, but the MLB is taking steps to make their draft more and more interesting.

The 3 day event starts tonight at 6:00 P.M. EST when the Washington Nationals go on the clock.

The MLB Network will be televising the entire first round, and all rounds will be simulcast live on mlb.com.

The draft could pan out a million different ways, but there are 2 things that you can count on.

1) Washington Nationals select Stephen Strasburg. This pitcher from San Diego State has been the talk of the draft class. He should go #1.

2) Seattle Mariners select Dustin Ackley. This 1B/OF seems like the clear choice at #2.

The Pirates pick 4th. There are lots of possibilities for where the Bucs will go with this pick, including: Tony Sanchez (C – Boston College), Aaron Crow (P – Fort Worth Cats), Alex White (P – North Carolina), and Zach Wheeler (P – East Paulding H.S.).

I’m guessing that the Bucs first round pick will be a pitcher. We’ll find out closer to 6:45 tonight.

The Pirates also get the 49th pick. This is a compensatory first round pick, for unsigned 2008 No. 48 overall pick Tanner Scheppers.

Draft Update

Round 1 – Pick #4 – Jorge (Tony) Sanchez – C – Boston College
Compensatory Round A – Pick #49 – Victor Black – RHP – Dallas Baptist U
Round 2 – Pick #53 – Brooks Pounders – RHP – Temecula Valley H.S.
Round 3 – Pick #84 – Evan Chambers – CF – Hillsborough CC