August 13, 2008

Pirates Number 5 Draft Pick Justin Wilson Signing Announced

The Pirates announced the signing of Justin Wilson, their 5th round draft choice.

"We are pleased that we have been able to come to agreement with Justin. He is an accomplished college left handed starting pitcher with a solid upside," said Greg Smith, Pirates Director of Scouting. "He is coming off quite the college season, especially after starting and being the winning pitcher in the College World Series final game."

Wilson will report to Bradenton for workouts.

Wilson was 9-5 with a 4.14 ERA for College World Series Champion Fresno State.  He started the Championship winning game going 8 innings allowing 1 run against Georgia.

This makes 6 of the Pirates top 10 picks signed and 29 overall.

BTW Take:

Wilson is a good pitcher, but not an ace in waiting.  His CWS showing boosted his draft status significantly.  Based on what I saw of him in the CWS, he'll project to being a back end of the rotation guy, at best a number 3.  This is still a good signing, one of many I expect in the next 48 hours.  The Pirates could end up signing as many as 6 additional players before the signing deadline which would raise the total to 35 draftees signed.

 

Other Draft News:

MLB.com has an article on the unsigned picks, 7 of the top 11 have not yet signed.  Before fretting too much over Alvarez, the Pirates are not the only team yet to sign their top pick.  There has only been one signing of a top 5 pick, 4 remain to be signed.

 


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