SB Nation's minor league and draft blog, Minor League Ball, recently had a community mock draft in which the Pirates chose high school outfielder Albert Almora with the No. 8 overall pick. Here are the Bucs' results, along with John Sickels' comments:
1-8) Albert Almora, OF, Florida HS
1S-45) Barrett Barnes, OF, Texas Tech
2-69) Tom Murphy, C, University of Buffalo
3-103) Lex Rutledge, LHP, SamfordJohn's Take: I like this. Barnes and Murphy are two of my favorite college players. Both have power; Barnes adds speed to the mix, while Murphy is a sound defender. Almora is about as safe as a high school player can be: all of his tools are better-than-average-to-excellent, he's polished for his age, and his makeup is sound. He could go higher than this under some scenarios. Rutledge is erratic but throws very hard and could be a steal.
Getting Almora, a young hitter with good tools and great makeup, would be a terrific result for the Pirates. The question is whether he'll be available when they pick. This particular mock (you can see the results here) worked out a bit differently than most mocks I've seen, with Stanford pitcher Mark Appel, who usually goes at No. 1 to the Astros, dropping to the Royals at No. 5, and the Cubs and Padres, who pick at No. 6 and No. 7, going for high school lefty Max Fried and Alabama high school outfielder David Dahl, respectively. Dahl, in particular, is a bit of a reach at No. 7.
Arizona State shortstop Deven Marrero, who many Pirates fans fear the team will pick, falls all the way to the Rays at No. 25 in this mock.