No. 1 pick agrees to contract, bonus
Source: Davis will sign as soon as Sunday pending a team physical
Henry Davis has been telling people close to him that he wanted to start playing professional baseball as quickly as possible.
TheNo. 1 overall pick in the 2021MLB draft appears to be a manof his word.
According to a source, the Pirates and Davis agreed on a signing bonus, and the former Louisville catcher is in town to complete a physical, which wouldfinalize his contract.
That final part is expected to be completed Sunday, with an introductory news conference to follow. The amount of the signing bonus is not known at this time, although it is believed to be under slot value($8,415,300).
“He’s champing at the bit to go,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell told the Post-Gazette shortly after the MLB draft in Denver this past week. “He wants to play. He wants to hit.”
Picking first overall for the fifth time and first time since 2011, the Pirates addressed what is likely their greatest organizational need with Davis, a talented catcher who was viewed by many as the best college hitter in the draft.
Listed at 6 feet 2, 210 pounds,Davis hit .370 this past season with 9 doubles, a career-high 15 home runs and 48
RBIs in 50 games, earning first-team All-America honors from Baseball America and the American Baseball CoachesAssociation.
A Bedford, N.Y. native, Davis was also a finalist for the Buster Posey Award, given to the best college catcherin Division I.
Pre-draft rankings consistently placed Davis in the top 5. FanGraphs had him No. 2; Baseball America and ESPN ranked Davis fourth; and MLB.com ranked him No. 5.
The drafting and signing of Davis helped the Pirates set up their entire draft strategy, as they selected four of Baseball America’s top 32 prospects.
Castro sent down
Rodolfo Castro will have to wait for his next legitimate opportunity. The 22year-old El Llano, Dominican
Republic, native will head back to Class AA Altoona, leaving amid a push from fans for him to get a chance to play.
Bumping Castro from the active roster is Gregory Polanco, who was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Polanco had been out since July 6 because of a bilateral adductor strain and was eligible to come off the 10-day IL Friday.
It’s doubtful this one will go over terribly well. In six games (two starts) since his most recent recall, Castro hit .273 (3 for 11), with all three of those hits landing over the fence. He’s the first player in franchise history whose first three hits were home runs and the first in Major League Baseball since Kyle Higashioka for the Yankees in July 2018.
As for Polanco, he was back in the lineup Saturday, batting sixth and playing right field. Polanco was hitting .199 with 9 home runs and 23 RBIs in 70 games prior to Saturday, producing a .640 OPS and striking out 74 times in 252 plate appearances.
The only conceivable thing here is that the Pirates want to see this through the trade deadline and resuscitate the push to get something for Polanco, who would be due $12.5 million in 2022 if the Pirates, for some crazy reason, do not buy him out for $3 million.
Fifth-rounder signs
The Pirates signed their fifth-round pick, second baseman Jackson Glenn. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Pittsburgh drafted Glenn out of Dallas Baptist
University in Texas. He hit a team-high .366 with 19 doubles, 21 home runs and 55 RBIs as a senior, becoming the Missouri Valley Conferenceplayer of the year.
Glenn was fourth nationallyin home runs, and he was named an All-American by five publications. For his college career, Glenn hit .317 with 40 doubles, 30 home runs and 118 RBIs in 138 games.
The Pirates now have signed six players from the 2021 draft.
Two-way threat Bubba Chandler, a third-round pick from North Oconee High School in Georgia, also has indicated he will sign. There’s also confidence that high school pitcher Anthony Solometo, a left-hander from Philadelphia and the first pick of the second round, will bypass college.