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Pirates 2014 draft: On the Pirates' 6th through 10th-round picks

Rich Schultz

Here's a roundup of the Pirates' picks for rounds 6 through 10. None of them are obviously striking, but one aspect of these late picks that's notable as compared to some other teams is that the Pirates didn't draft any college seniors, in any round. College seniors often represent opportunities for teams to spend money against their bonus pools, and teams other than the Pirates took a ton of them in the late rounds today. The Bucs, of course, may have saved money with their first two picks, so there was no obvious reason for them to pursue that strategy.

6. RHP Tyler Eppler, Sam Houston State. Baseball America ranks Eppler the No. 256 prospect in the draft, but notes that his velocity is "average" and his fastball "lacks life." BA doesn't have great things to say about his secondary pitches, either. Eppler is a big dude, at 6-foot-6, and he's a junior, so the Pirates may view him as projectable.

7. SS Nelson Jorge, International Baseball Academy, Puerto Rico (HS). Jorge is apparently a switch-hitter. Neither BA nor MLB.com have scouting reports for him. Google doesn't seem to know much either. The Pirates drafted another Puerto Rican shortstop, Benji Gonzalez, in the seventh round in 2008, and if I recall correctly, there wasn't much information about him available at the time, either.

8. RHP Austin Coley, Belmont University. There isn't much on Coley, either, but the Mets drafted him in the late rounds last year, so there's at least some paper trail on him. In February, BA ranked Coley the second-best prospect in the Ohio Valley conference, praising both his "live fastball" and his offspeed stuff. He apparently throws in the low 90s.

9. C Kevin Krause, Stony Brook. BA ranks him the No. 298 prospect in the draft and thinks he could handle catcher or outfield, at least defensively. BA describes him as a potential "fringe-average hitter." He's a junior, but he has told scouts that he's "ready to play pro baseball," so he's probably signable.

10. RHP Alex McRae, Jacksonville University. He's a 6-foot-3 junior who posted really bad numbers this year, not that that necessarily means anything. He apparently throws 88-92 MPH.