Pirates pick Texas pitcher 12th overall
Hard-throwing RHP turns 18 soon
Shane Baz sat down with representatives from the Pirates front office before the beginning of his senior season. The team kept in contact with his father throughout the year. The area supervisor, Wayne Mathis, Baz said, was “awesome.”
Even so, Baz, a righthander from Concordia Lutheran High in Tomball, Texas, had only a general idea where he would be drafted. But the Pirates took him with the 12th overall pick Monday in the first round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft, adding a power right-hander with a deep mix of pitches to their system.
“I didn’t know for sure, obviously,” Baz said. “I don’t know if anybody did. I was just lucky enough to hit a sweet spot with the Pirates.”
Baz, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound right-hander, was Baseball America’s top prospect in Texas. He throws a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s mph, and has reached 98 mph. He also uses a hard cutter, which he can alter to throw more like a slider, along with a curveball and changeup. In his senior season, he had an 0.93 ERA and 96 strikeouts.
“I started throwing [the cutter] last summer, about a week into the summer, early June,” Baz said. “I just had a natural feel for it.”
Baz turns 18 Saturday. Such youth intrigues teams (the Pirates selected Cole Tucker late in the first round in 2014 in part because he was 17 at the time). Baz is committed to TCU and could be a two-way player — as a third baseman and outfielder, he hit .431 his senior year, and hit 18 home runs in the first round of the Area Code Games home run derby a year ago. He reportedly is perceived to be a tough sign.
“I haven’t gotten there yet,” he said. “I’m just enjoying this for now. I’ll have to speak with my adviser and go over that another time.”
The Pirates’ bonus pool of $10,135,900 — the sum of the values of their 12 selections in the first 10 rounds — is the seventh-highest in baseball. The 12th overall selection is worth $4,032,000. They can spend more than that, but they must make up for the difference elsewhere. Teams pay a 75 percent tax on the amount by which they exceed their pool limit up to 5 percent, but going over by 5 percent or more results in losing a future first-round pick.
“I’m definitely honored they picked me,” Baz said. “They’ve got to have one of the best systems in baseball, if not the best.”
Two years ago, the Pirates selected another firstrounder out of Concordia Lutheran — third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, who is currently with Class A Bradenton.
“It’s just a plus,” Baz said. “I’m blessed enough to know Key and I can reach out to him if I ever need anything.”
The Pirates had not selected a high school pitcher in the first round since taking Jameson Taillon second overall in 2010.
They took Gerrit Cole out of UCLA in 2011, Stanford right-hander Mark Appel the following year, and four position players from 201316.
The Pirates had four selections on the draft’s first night, which encompassed the first two rounds in addition to two competitive balance rounds. The Pirates received a selection in competitive balance round B as a result of ranking in the bottom 10 in MLB in market size and revenue.
They also had a compensation pick at No. 42 overall because they did not sign high school left-hander Nick Lodolo, whom they chose at No. 41 overall in 2016. Lodolo, like Baz, was committed to TCU, and he decided to attend.