Pirates surprise by taking Louisville catcher Henry Davis with No. 1 overall pick in MLB Draft

The Pittsburgh Pirates kept everyone in the baseball world guessing over who they would select with the No. 1 overall pick right up until the start of the MLB Draft on Sunday night at Denver’s Bellco Theater.

The Pirates ended the suspense by selecting Louisville catcher Henry Davis, addressing their greatest organizational need with their top choice. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said that after much debate in their draft room, the club settled on Davis by the end of Saturday night.

“We did not take him because he was a catcher,” Cherington said. “But, I know one of the things he feels strongly about is helping guys around him and certainly the pitchers, so we’re excited about that. We know that’s important to our pitching development to have catchers who are interested in that. We took him because he was the top player on the board. That’s where he was after all of the debate, and (we are) really excited to have him with the Pirates.”

The Pirates passed on a pair of prep shortstops who were ranked the draft’s top two prospects by Baseball America in Jordan Lawlar of Dallas Jesuit and Marcelo Mayer of Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, Calif., as well as heralded Vanderbilt right-handers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. Davis was regarded as a top-five prospect in most mock drafts and believes he can be a franchise cornerstone for the Pirates.

“That’s the plan,” Davis said. “I mean, going there and meeting with all of them, everybody in the organization, it was clear they’re all chasing the same thing, and they’re chasing greatness for the Pirates. They see the vision where they can be great, they can win World Series, and just being able to contribute a teeny bit going toward that goal, I’m super excited. I’m ready to go.”

Davis, 21, of Bedford, N.Y., is regarded as one of the top hitters in college baseball, a right-handed pull hitter with power who has good athleticism behind the plate and was a finalist for the Buster Posey Award, given to college baseball’s top catcher. A first-team All-American, the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder batted .370 (68 for 184) with nine doubles, 15 home runs and 48 RBIs in 50 games as a junior, leading the ACC with a .482 on-base percentage. Davis also threw out 13 of 28 baserunners (46%) attempting to steal in 2021, and 40% (25 of 63) in his three-year career.

“Obviously, the college performance speaks for itself,” Cherington said. “We believe he can catch. We know he’s going to put the work in to do that. (Davis is) just a learner, how much he keeps improving and has done that since high school. You’re obviously betting on talent at the top of the draft. You’re also betting on the person. We feel really good about the person.”

Davis is the seventh catcher to be taken first overall in MLB Draft history, joining the likes of Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins in 2001 and Adley Rutschman of the Baltimore Orioles in 2019. Danny Goodwin was selected with the No. 1 overall pick twice, first by the Chicago White Sox in 1971 and then by the California Angels in 1975.

Prior to the draft, MLB Network analyst Dan O’Dowd said Davis has work to do defensively but believes his maturity level and ability to self-evaluate are crucial at the position.

“I love him,” O’Dowd said. “He’s got great leadership tendencies. And the bat is well above average. I think his desire to catch and the athleticism that he has if whoever takes him gives him a chance to settle in at that position … I think Henry is going to be a really good major league catcher and a middle-of-the-lineup bat.”

It was the fifth time in franchise history that the Pirates had the top pick in the draft but the first time they chose a catcher No. 1 overall. Their previous No. 1 overall picks all were college players: infielder Jeff King of Arkanas (1986) and pitchers Kris Benson of Clemson (1996), Bryan Bullington of Ball State (2002) and Gerrit Cole of UCLA (2011).

The Pirates have drafted seven catchers in the first round, most recently in 2013 when they chose Reese McGuire from Kentwood High School in Covington, Wash., who was traded to Toronto in the Francisco Liriano deal in 2016. They also have landed the likes of Steve Nicosia (1973), a member of their 1979 World Series champions, a three-time All-Star in Jason Kendall (1992) and Pine-Richland’s Neil Walker (2004), who converted to second base and played on three wild-card teams from 2013-15.

“I think I have the ability to be one of the rare catchers who impacts the ball on both sides,” Davis said. “That’s what I strive for. … That’s the path I see myself going down.”

The Pirates drafted a shortstop last year, taking Nick Gonzales of New Mexico State No. 7 overall. Gonzales has since moved to second base. They took right-handed pitchers with their other five picks in 2020.

The first pick in the draft has a slot value of $8,415,300, and the Pirates have the draft’s highest pool, at $14,394,000, for signing their picks. They have five of the first 102 picks in the draft, with the first pick of the second round (No. 37), a Compensation B pick (No. 67) and the first pick of the third (No. 72) and fourth rounds (No. 102).

“Ultimately, we want to sign the players we take, and so, it’s always going to be information we want to share,” Cherington said. “But we wanted to do right by the process first, which was to really debate the heck out of that top group. We did that. We did have a group of players really close together. Ultimately, Henry was on top of that group. We had him listed first. So as we engaged in the conversations, you start there. We haven’t signed him. We haven’t agreed. But we take him with some confidence and hope that we can.”