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2012 MLB Draft: Pirates Select Adrian Sampson, Kevin Ross, Walker Buehler

In the fifth round, the Pirates have selected Adrian Sampson, an RHP from Bellevue Community College in Washington state. He has a commitment to Oregon. He had Tommy John surgery a few years ago, but apparently is fine now. Jim Callis said he generally pitches in the low 90s and has solid command. He's "only" 6-foot-2, so this isn't a projectability pick. Baseball America ranked him the second-best prospect in the state of Washington and No. 84 nationally, so again, this is a very solid pick in terms of value.

In the sixth round, the Pirates take Eric Wood, a third baseman from a junior college in Texas. I can't find a lot of information on him, but the Athletics took him in the 37th round last year. He batted .318 this year. The draft pool recommendation for this pick is about $188,800, so this might be a spot where the Pirates aim to save a bit of money.

Update (by Vlad): Wood is a Canadian player who played high school ball at Pickering High School of Ontario. BA doesn't have much on him, but PGUSA recorded him as throwing 84 MPH and having a 7.2 second 60 yard dash in late 2010.

From Charlie: In the seventh round, the Pirates have chosen Jacob Stallings, a catcher from UNC. Pat will have some good information on this guy, I'm sure. The Reds took Stallings in the 42nd round last year. He apparently has an outstanding arm, so much so that people have thrown around the idea of converting him to pitcher. He hit .294/.388/.445 for UNC this year. He's a senior, so the Pirates are probably going to save some money here.

In the eighth round, the Pirates take Kevin Ross, a high school shortstop from Illinois. As a high school guy from a northern state, I imagine he'll be a project, but he was apparently a big star there and saw a ton of breaking pitches this year as a result. The article linked above mentions a stat line of 14 walks and two strikeouts, probably a byproduct of being fed a lot of junk. His coach said he heard Ross might be picked in the fourth or fifth round, which is probably a good sign, even once you adjust for hometown coach optimism. He's committed to the University of Michigan. He doesn't look at all like a shortstop, so my guess is that he'll move somewhere else.

In the ninth and 10th rounds, the Pirates selected SS Douglas Crumlich out of UC-Irvine and RHP Pat Ludwig out of Yale. Both are college seniors, so I assume they're signability picks.

In the 11th round, the Pirates got Chris Diaz, a junior shortstop from NC State. Diaz hit .356/.394/.482 this season. Baseball America ranked him the No. 430 overall prospect in the draft.

Their 12th-round pick is Dalton Friend, a lefty out of Jefferson College in Missouri. Baseball America ranks him the No. 328 talent in the draft. Perfect Game calls him "the dominant JC player in Missouri." He apparently had a bump in velocity last year, and now throws 90-95 MPH. Of course you should usually assume a player sits in the lower end of that range, but that's still perfectly respectable velocity for a lefty.

In the 13th round, it's Thomas Harlan, a senior from Fresno State and a lefty. He's 6-foot-6. He struck out 85 batters and walked 16 in 106.2 innings for Fresno State this year. He's not ranked in Baseball America's Top 500.

In Round 14, it's Walker Buehler, a high school righty from Kentucky. You can check out video here. He's 6-foot-2, 160 pounds, and evidently sits at around 90 MPH. He has the makings of some good secondary pitches. Baseball America ranked him best prospect in the state of Kentucky and No. 50 overall. He's committed to Vanderbilt, and with the new rules, I don't see how they're going to sign him, but I guess it's worth a shot.

In Round 15, the Pirates get Jonathan Youngblood, a center fielder from a Mississippi community college. The Braves took him in the 30th round last year. Like Buehler, he's originally from Kentucky.

8. Mark Appel, P, Stanford
45. Barrett Barnes, OF, Texas Tech
69. Wyatt Mathisen, C, Texas HS
103. Jonathan Sandford, P, Florida HS
136. Brandon Thomas, OF, Georgia Tech
166. Adrian Sampson, P, Bellevue CC
196. Eric Wood, 3B, Blinn College
226. Jacob Stallings, C, University of North Carolina
256. Kevin Ross, SS, Illinois HS
286. Douglas Crumlich, SS, UC-Irvine
316. Pat Ludwig, P, Yale
346. Chris Diaz, SS, NC State
376. Dalton Friend, P, Jefferson College
406. Thomas Harlan, P, Fresno State
436. Walker Buehler, P, Kentucky HS
466. Jonathan Youngblood, CF, Meridian CC

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