Draft day 'nerve-racking,' even for 1st-round picks like Pirates' Cole Tucker

With “hundreds of people” gathered around the television, Cole Tucker and his family just wanted to go somewhere quiet.

It was MLB Draft day in 2014, and with the Los Angeles Dodgers on the clock at No. 22, Tucker’s agent had just called with the news.

“Hey, man, it’s happening. The Pirates are taking you at Pick 24. It’s done. Let’s rock.”

Without saying a word, Tucker, his mother, father and brothers slipped away from the party goers, who were nervously munching on chicken fingers and fries while waiting to hear his name.

At 22, the Dodgers selected pitcher Grant Holmes. The Detroit Tigers were next and took outfielder Derek Hill. Then, it was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ turn, and Tucker’s phone rang. It was Joe DelliCarri, the team’s senior director of amateur scouting.

“We were upstairs because it was quiet,” Tucker said.

But the quiet didn’t last long. After Tucker, 17 at the time, hung up with DelliCarri, “we were up there freaking out, jumping up and down, dancing, screaming, shouting, all that.”

Finally, they went downstairs where the gathering of family and friends wanted to know what all the commotion was for.

“Nothing, just watch,” he ordered.

“We didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up and have it not happen. It came up, MLB Network, Harold Reynolds was talking about me. Everyone just freaked out. It was unbelievable.”

Similar scenes played out all over the United States on Monday night when MLB held its player draft. The Pirates were scheduled to pick 18th.

“It is nerve-racking,” said Tucker, who waited nearly five years from the day he was drafted to wear his first big-league uniform.

“To that day of your life, it’s the biggest day of your life.”

The MLB Network had asked Tucker to sit in their Secaucus, N.J., studios during the draft, but he declined. “I wanted to stay home (in Phoenix),” he said. “If things went bad, I didn’t want them to go bad on television. I wanted to be in the comfort of my own home.”

His agent had predicted Tucker would be among the top 30, but, “obviously, there was some uncertainty because you don’t know what’s going to happen until it does.”

Likewise, no one knows what’s going to happen after the draft.

Here’s a look at what the five Pirates’ most recent No. 1 draft choices have done since their big day:

2018: Travis Swaggerty

• Center fielder, No. 10 overall, South Alabama

Swaggerty, 21, is playing for the Single-A Bradenton Marauders, hitting .249 with five home runs and 19 RBIs.

2017: Shane Baz

• Right-handed pitcher, No. 12, Concordia-Lutheran (Texas) High School

Baz, 19, was the player to be named in the Chris Archer trade, and he has started strong with the Tampa Bay Rays’ Single-A Bowling Green team. In five starts, he’s 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 32 strikeouts and seven walks in 25 innings.

2016: Will Craig

• 3B, No. 22, Wake Forest

Craig, 24, has switched to first base, where he is blocked by Josh Bell. But his numbers could be attractive as trade bait.

He’s hitting .280 with 15 home runs and 39 RBIs for Triple-A Indianapolis. Last season, he hit .248 with 20 and 102 for Double-A Altoona.

2015: Kevin Newman

• SS, No. 19, Arizona

Newman, 25, recently has assumed the leadoff spot in the Pirates order while starting at shortstop ahead of Tucker.

After hitting only .209 in 31 games late last season, Newman has recovered to hit .316 in 32 games. He made three errors in one game April 8 but none since.

https://www.mlb.com/pirates/video/cole-tucker-signs-with-pirates/c-33661869?tid=8877442

2014: Tucker

• SS, No. 24, Mountain Pointe (Ariz.) High School

Tucker, 22, is as physically gifted as any Pirates shortstop in recent memory, but he still might be in the minors if Erik Gonzalez hadn’t broken his collarbone. To illustrate, Holmes, Hill and the two top picks in the 2014 draft, Brady Aiken and Tyler Kolek, have yet to play in the majors.

Tucker has made some spectacular plays while committing only one error in 111 chances.

He has been challenged at the plate, but he lifted his average from a low of .155 to .190 by getting seven hits in his past 21 at-bats.