Pirates notebook: Neal Huntington doesn't like pitchers in draft

Neal Huntington lamented the unfortunate reality of the MLB Draft.

“There doesn’t seem to be a ton (of pitchers),” the Pittsburgh Pirates general manager said Sunday on 93.7 FM.

The draft begins at 7 p.m. Monday — there will be 78 players drafted — and continues through 40 rounds before shutting down Wednesday.

The top prospects are largely hitters, creating what Huntington described as “an interesting dilemma” for MLB teams, all of which constantly are seeking healthy young arms.

“Five years from now, there are going to be a heckuva lot more 12-10 games than 2-1 games,” he said.

Thanks to compensatory and competitive-balance picks awarded by MLB, the Pirates have five selections among the first 95, second only to the Arizona Diamondbacks. They will choose at Nos. 18, 37, 57 and 72 on Monday.

The lack of top pitchers won’t necessarily steer the Pirates in another direction, however.

“There are high school pitchers that we like. There are college pitchers that we like,” Huntington said.

At least two pitchers have been projected to the Pirates in mock drafts.

MLB Pipeline and FanGraphs anticipate the Pirates selecting right-hander Quinn Priester of Cary-Grove (Ill.) High School. Draftsite.com has wavered between TCU left-hander Nick Lodolo and Matt Allan, a 6-3, 210-pound right-handed pitcher from Seminole (Fla.) High School. The Pirates drafted Lodolo 41st overall three years ago when he was a high school player, but he opted for TCU.

Priester, 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, has displayed four-seam and two-seam fastballs that reach 90-plus mph on the radar gun. Lodolo was impressive in 16 starts this season, recording a 2.36 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while striking out 131 in 103 innings.

If the Pirates opt for a position player, CBSSports.com says it will be Clemson shortstop Logan Davidson. He’s the son of former major league outfielder Mark Davidson. Logan’s bat faltered in the Cape Cod League, slashing .202/.304/.266 in two summers.

Still trying to trade

Huntington said the team is looking outside its system for pitching help, noting there have been “way too many three-, and four- and five-inning outings” by either regular starters or the openers.

“I haven’t done a good job of getting the right guys at the right time for the right spots,” he said.

But with four months left in the season, trades are difficult to consummate, he said.

“There has to be value play out on both sides,” he said.

In Saturday’s 12-10, 13-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, both teams combined to throw 508 pitches (276 by the Pirates). Starter Nick Kingham threw 74 in three innings, allowing five runs on six hits, including two homers.

That led to the Pirates using seven of their eight relief pitchers. Richard Rodriguez was the exception. Losing pitcher Alex McRae gave up the decisive home run to Orlando Arcia in the 13th inning.

Conservative thinking

Francisco Cervelli (concussion) was eligible to come off the injured list Sunday, but Huntington said the team won’t rush to return him to the roster. The 33-year-old catcher has had six documented concussions since 2011.

“We’re going to be more conservative this time than we have been in the past,” he said. “Cervi is going to fight us on it, but we’re going to take our time on this one.”