MLB.com’s latest mock draft has the Pirates selecting UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole first overall. That pick would greatly disappoint Pirates fans who want the Bucs to pick Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon. The article notes that Rendon should by this point have made information about his injured shoulder available to teams who might draft him. If he’s healthy, or anywhere near it, it’s hard to see the Pirates passing on him, frankly.
Anyway, have Cole at No. 1 and Rendon at No. 2, this mock has the Diamondbacks picking Danny Hultzen and the Orioles taking high school pitcher Dylan Bundy. Both these picks look very likely, at this point. Meanwhile, the Royals take Kansas high school outfielder Bubba Starling, in what would be a good match of organizational preference (the Royals love toolsy players, and Starling is as toolsy as they come) and geography. UCLA pitcher Trevor Bauer, who I wrote about yesterday, goes to the Nationals at No. 6.
This all makes sense, but hopefully author Jonathan Mayo is wrong about which order Rendon and Cole will go. Pitchers are risky, and I don’t want the Pirates taking one with the top overall pick unless it’s a ridiculously great prospect like a Stephen Strasburg or a David Price, and Gerrit Cole, who has struggled with his mechanics this year, is neither.