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Pirates sign top pick

By John Mehno

For the Mirror

PITTSBURGH — This should be a fabulous birthday for Shane Baz, the Texas high school pitcher the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted in the first round on Monday’s draft. He became a multi-millionaire by putting his signature on the contract.

“I might have the best 18th birthday of all-time,” Baz said.

Baz (pronounced “Boz”) ill start his pro career with the rookie level Gulf Coast League Pirates in Bradenton.

There was no immediate word on the size of Baz’s bonus. The slot value for a player drafted in his position is just over $4 million.

Baz had accepted a scholarship offer from Texas Christian University.

“It is a very exciting time as we welcome Shane into our Pirates family today,” said Joe DelliCarri, the Pirates Director of Amateur Scouting. “Shane’s foundation as a young man and his strong pitching abilities will serve him very well in working with our player development staff for years to come.”

During his senior year at Concordia Lutheran High School in Tomball, Texas, Baz went 6-2 with a 0.93 earned-run average and 96 strikeouts. According to Baseball America, he was tagged as having the second-best fastball among high school pitchers in this year’s draft. He was also touted as the 11th-best prospect available.

It might help

Andrew McCutchen finally found success when he moved to a lower spot in the Pirates’ batting order.

Could Gregory Polanco be headed for a similar fate?

Polanco batted third in Friday’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs. He has been one of the team’s biggest disappointments so far this season. Polanco entered the game batting .244 with three home runs, 14 runs batted in and a .669 OPS.

By comparison, Jose Osuna has 15 RBIs in a part-time role. Elias Diaz has driven in 10 runs with less than one-fourth the plate appearances Polanco has.

Polanco has hit .156 in the third spot in the batting order.

Manager Clint Hurdle and hitting coaches Jeff Branson and Jeff Livesey planned to work with Polanco on the field Friday afternoon. Because of threatening weather, the work session moved to the indoor cage.

“He hit one stretch of bout 10 days where the barrel (of the bat) was showing up,” Hurdle said. “He came back off the disabled list and fired off a few homers. Then he got hurt again.”

The staff has determined the problem is the quality of contact that Polanco is making.

“There’s just a little flaw in the swing that we think we’ve identified,” Hurdle said. “It’s just been off the barrel. Balls are being hit, but there’s not the exit velocity that we’ve seen from him. We’re working through it.”

Polanco has batted third or fourth all season. That could change, just as it did when McCutchen was dropped from third to sixth.

“Maybe we’ll figure some things out and take some of the routes that we used with Andrew to see if they can help (Polanco) re-ignite as well,” Hurdle said.

Hurdle seemed to indicate changes in the order could come fairly soon.

“They need to be talked about,” he said. “They’re being talked about right now.”

SUBHEAD: Three’s a crowd

Hurdle indicated the Pirates will probably continue to carry three catchers through the weekend, but not beyond that.

Francisco Cervelli, Diaz and Jacob Stallings are all currently on the active roster.

“Our goal is to get Francisco through the weekend and see where that takes us,” Hurdle said. “I’m not warm and fuzzy about carrying three catchers. I’ve said that all along. The bat plays, which helps with Elias being able to hit off the bench.

“However, it’s still another catcher who plays no other position and really challenges your versatility. We have a need for it this weekend, with two night games and a day game. I want to get Cervelli up and running. It’s important to play it through the weekend and see where we take it after that.”

SUBHEAD: Back home

Rookie Ian Happ played for the first time at PNC Park, a thrill for the Mt. Lebanon High School graduate who was the Cubs’ first-round pick in 2015.

“It’s pretty awesome,” he said. “I walked over from the hotel across the Clemente bridge. It’s just cool to be back in Pittsburgh and see a lot of people.”

Happ is of the generation that grew up during the Pirates’ 20-year losing streak. In fact, the first two players he recalled were outfielders Lastings Milledge and Nyjer Morgan.

Later he mentioned Freddy Sanchez and Brian Giles.

“That’s when tickets were $9 and you could sit anywhere you wanted,” Happ said. “The team was really bad.”

Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com

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