Pirates GM Neal Huntington had this assessment of the first draft class of his regime.
"Overall, we felt like we had a very productive draft. We had multiple looks on a strong number of players that we selected. We feel like we took a nice balance of guys with some upside, guys with some now tools. Obviously, we like the top end of the draft a lot."
The Pirates have to sign their draft choices by August 15.
"We don't really go into the signing process with a target," Huntington said. "We'll sign the players that we feel that are worth the value of money that they're looking for and that we're willing to come to an agreement on. We've taken a strategic approach to the draft and we've taken some guys later in the draft who are asking for maybe more money than we feel like they're worth at this point in time. If we get closer to signing deadline and we have some money left, we'll target those players as well."
Here is a complete list of the Pirates draft choices.
2008 DRAFT SELECTIONS
PICK NAME POS T/WT B/T SCHOOL
1 Pedro Alvarez 3B 6-2/22 L/R Vanderbilt University (TN)
2 Tanner Scheppers RHP 6-4/19 R/R Fresno State University (CA)
3 Jordy Mercer SS 6-3/190 R/R klahoma State University ( K)
4 Chase d’Arnaud SS 6-2/200 R/R Pepperdine University (CA)
Justin Wilson LHP 6-3/210 L/L Fresno State University (CA)
6 Robert Grossman F 6-0/200 S/L Cypress-Fairbanks HS (TX)
7 Benjamin Gonzalez SS -11/160 R/R Puerto Rico Baseball Academy HS
8 Jeremy Farrell 3B 6-3/200 R/R University of Virginia
9 Matthew Hague 3B 6-3/22 R/R klahoma State University ( K)
10 Andrew Gagnon RHP 6-3/180 R/R Liberty Union High School (CA)
11 David Rubinstein F 6-2/190 R/R Appalachian State Univ. (NC)
12 Calvin Anderson 1B 6-7/240 R/R Southern University A&M (WA)
13 Robert Gardner F 6-3/18 R/R Highland Park High School (TX)
14 Michael Colla RHP 6-2/220 R/R University of Arizona
1 Christopher Aure LHP 6-0/180 L/L North Pole High School (AK)
16 Wesley Freeman F 6-4/21 R/R All Saints Academy HS (FL)
17 Jaron Shepherd F 6-1/17 L/R Navarro College (TX)
18 Jarek Cunningham SS 6-1/18 R/R Mount Spokane High School (WA)
19 Jason Haniger C 6-2/21 R/R Georgia Tech University (GA)
20 Robert Miller RHP 6-1/18 R/R Shawnee High School (NJ)
21 Brent Klinger RHP 6-4/18 R/R Glendale Community College (AZ)
22 Patrick Palmeiro 3B 6-3/210 R/R Heritage High School (TX)
23 Austin Wright LHP 6-3/220 L/L James B Conant HS (IL)
24 Brian Litwin 3B 6-3/19 R/R St. Stephens High School (NC)
2 Brian Leach RHP 6-3/19 R/R Univ. Southern Mississippi (MS)
26 Zachary Wilson 3B 6-1/190 R/R Woodrow Wilson High School (CA)
27 Edwin Roman F -10/160 R/R Puerto Rico Baseball Acad. HS (PR)
28 Kyle Saukko F -11/17 L/R Sierra Junior College (CA)
29 Kevin Komstadius 1B 6-4/20 L/L East Valley High School (WA)
30 Daniel Martin RHP 6-9/26 R/R Panola Junior College (TX)
31 Ryan Hinson LHP 6-3/220 L/L Clemson University (SC)
32 Anthony Forrest RHP 6- /17 R/R Bossier Parrish Comm. College (LA)
33 Mark Carver C 6-2/19 R/R Univ. North Carolina-Wilmington (NC)
34 Matthew Payne 3B 6-1/200 R/R North Carolina State University (NC)
35 Tyler Cox LHP 6-3/200 R/L Illinois State University (IL)
36 Kyle Morgan F 6-1/220 L/L University of San Francisco (CA)
37 Matthew Curry 1B 6-2/23 L/R Howard College (TX)
38 Allan Knotts RHP 6-4/210 R/R Louisiana Tech University (LA)
39 Albert Fagan RHP 6-4/20 R/R Rockland Comm. College (NY)
40 Beau Didier 3B 6-2/18 L/R Bellarmine Prep (WA)
41 Christopher Simmons C -11/20 R/R United States Military (NY)
42 Cole White F 6-2/200 R/R United States Military (NY)
43 Johnny Gunter RHP 6-3/230 R/R Chattahoochee Valley CC (AL)
44 Michael Williams LHP 6- /23 L/L Mt. Olive College (NC)
4 Allen Ponder RHP 6-4/230 R/R Auburn University-Montgomery (AL)
46 Scott McGough SS 6-0/1 0 R/R Plum Senior High School (PA)
47 Jordan Craft F 6-1/182 R/R Kennesaw Mountain HS (GA)
48 wen Brolsma RHP 6-1/210 R/R Texas Tech University (TX)
49 Zachary Foster RHP 6-4/220 R/R Univ. of Pittsburgh-Bradford (PA)
50 Craig Parry F 6-1/19 L/R South Dakota State University (SD)