The Pirates signed fourth overall pick Termarr Johnson this afternoon, the club announced. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link) he’ll receive a $7.219MM signing bonus that’s a bit above the $7.01MM accompanying slot value.
Top two selections Jackson Holliday and Druw Jones were the only players in the class to beat Johnson’s bonus. That’s no surprise, as the left-handed hitting infielder was a consensus top five talent available. FanGraphs and The Athletic each placed Johnson third on their pre-draft rankings. He placed fourth at Baseball America and second at ESPN.
Just as there’s little disagreement about the 18-year-old’s pedigree, reports of his skillset are similar across the board. All four outlets call Johnson a future plus or better hitter, praising both his bat-to-ball skills and surprising bat speed for a 5’8″ player. Keith Law of the Athletic notes that some scouts believe Johnson is the best high school hitter they’ve seen in more than a decade, while ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel indicated his profile is broadly reminiscent to that of José Ramírez or Rafael Devers.
It’d be unfair to expect any high school player to become a superstar of that caliber, but evaluators have been effusive in their praise of his offensive upside. Johnson doesn’t have a traditionally projectable frame given his stature, and all four outlets indicate he’s unlikely to stick at shortstop. There’s a general agreement the Atlanta native could be an impactful bat-first second baseman at his peak, with Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs pointing to Brandon Lowe as a general comp for this style of player.
With Johnson signed, each of the top ten overall selections have agreed to terms. It’s expected that everyone selected on the first day of the draft will sign before Monday’s deadline. Jim Callis of MLB.com wrote this morning that Mets third-round pick Brandon Sproat, a right-hander out of the University of Florida, looks to be the highest selection leaning towards foregoing pro ball this summer.
Great job Pirates. All of you Pirates fans have had to sit through some dreadful summers for the last half decade but the immediate future is looking bright as they are putting together quite the collection of talent in Pittsburgh. You might be a divisional rival for me since I’m a Reds fan but as a a long suffering Reds and Bengals fan I know what it’s like to root for a horrible team so I’m happy for you all that better days are ahead. We have seen how quickly the Bengals turned it around so there is hope for any team in sports.
We aren’t winning without pitching. Something I begin to question Ben Cherington can muster through a draft. Outside of Priester, most of the pitching has been added by trades. Their depth for solid starters is fairly weak. Nothing like Neal Huntington built prior to their success with Gerrit Cole, Jameson Tallion, Charlie Morton, Tyler Glasnow, and many others through trades and drafting. Pirates also have a loaded middle infield from rookie ball to AAA. Not much at either infield corners, outfield, and nothing behind Henry Davis at catcher. I guess you can say they are loaded with talent though
Contreras, Keller, Brubaker, Burrows, Priester… that’s a pretty solid collection. Not to mention, I’m fairly confident Cherington will acquire a solid veteran or 2 when the time comes. Also, if those middle infielders hit, they’ll find a spot in the field or they can trade them for a position of need.
If you can sift thru the stats and find the 2nd worst rotation in baseball, Brubaker would not crack that rotation.
Brubaker’s ERA over the last 2 1/2 months has to be around 3.00.
I think that a lot of teams would want him on their staff.
True, he’s maybe a 4 or 5 at best.
He’s maybe a 4 or 5…
Some of these hitters will go towards trading for pitching.
Just hope it’s not Bae. Get that man up, give him the second base job and just get the hell out of the way.
Endy Rodriguez very well may be the Pirates future starting Catcher. Much better defensively than Davis and sporting an OPS north of .900 in High A. Could be promoted to AA before long.
Pirates have more catching depth than you think.
Joe It All: Except for those miserable Cleveland Browns
Well that is a team that I enjoy seeing suffer so that is a completely different story.. haha
Joe- This Pirate fan appreciates your good review.But baseball is not football where turnarounds can be quick.Others may mention the pitching but the Pirates young hitters do not look so good right now.As for football,the team abilities are much closer now for all four teams in the division.As for baseball,the Reds seemed to have been on an upward take but management seems to have stopped the progress.Small market teams in baseball will periodically fight the good fight but the odds are severely stacked against them.
These guys aren’t panning out yet, prospects aren’t a guarantee. Cruz is inconsistent, as is Castillo and Suwinski. Gathering prospects is nice but I’m at the point where I want to see real progress on the field. Coaching and player development has to be prioritized because we can’t keep wasting talent.
Hole- I agree with you.I think that any real Pirate fan knows in a week there will be a major makeover in the ML roster.Unfortunately the young hitters have not shown any improvement in their time there.Granted,they are young,but I would say that by this time next year that any who do not show any improvement should be jettisoned for another round of young players,I have always said that they need to at least show at AAA that they have the potential to hit in the ML’s.I do think that some will pan out reasonably well,but at this point the majority have not shown progress in their cML career.Time will tell.But they needed to win 71 games this year in order to show clear progress and they are not going to do it with the veterans gone unless the young hitters come up to snuff and they get rid of the dead weight on the pitching staff.
My favorite player from this year draft is Termarr Johnson. I know he will be a terrific player.
How do you know??? Tell me how you know?!?!?!
Billy, is that you?
He’ll become a superstar after they trade him before his walk year. (If they don’t trade him before he makes his ML debut. Seems like that’s been the Pirates Forte for a long time. From Gerrit Cole to Joe Musgrove, Clay Holmes. They seems to sell low too.
Yawn
Double yawns.
Same troll, different day
Define sell low? Cole got them Musgrove. Musgrove got them David Bednar (all star), Hudson Head (mlb 19 prospect), Endy Rodriguez (mlb 6). They got Oneil Cruz for Tony Watson. Every team makes a bad trade here and there but the future is actually bright for the pirates.
They do seem to always trade the few stars they’ve had at their lowest value possible lol. Every single time.
I just don’t really see who they traded at a low value. The pieces they got back might not have worked out, but the value never really was ‘low’. McCutchen got Reynolds and people cried about it. Looking back now it was a great trade. The Cole return is the only one that turned out iffy in terms of trading their ‘stars’, and even that brought back Musgrove who then brought back Bednar.. The Archer trade was awful, but they didn’t trade any ‘stars’. Meadows was new on the ML roster and not lighting anyone on fire (barely sees the field now). Glasnow was struggling mightily (had a great start last year and hasn’t pitched since). Baz was an awful throw in but he hasn’t been amazing either. Marte brought back Liover Peguero who’s a top prospect for them. I just think that narrative is clearly false.
I don’t even remember writing that. I was blitzed last night.
Yawn yawn Yawn- Maybe Mousecop needs a new gig
I really like the rangers pick. Everyone says they draft top player on the board. I think the rangers had a multi round scheme in mind to recoup the seager and semien picks. Rocker fits the time line very well. Going to regret Johnson not being a ranger though. Not Elijah, drafted enough toolsy GA outfielders, but this guy we will regret. Bat to ball is a thing…
What does this have to do with Soto? PTBNL?
Wait, wasn’t it reported that he was being mocked up to them because he would save money at that slot?
Isn’t Nick Gonzalez a 2B only contact hitter as well?
Pretty much the same exact profile but hell its not like they’ll all make it. Bae is the best 2b prospect they have right now. Gonzales just can’t stay healthy. Both project for 20hr tho.
The pirates say that they believe Johnson can stay at SS which would be a miracle lol.
Maybe they’re planning a Phillies’ approach to defense.
Johnson projects as 60+ power. He’s not the same type of hitter as Gonzalez.
He’s more of a defense first second baseman. He’ll play a solid 2B and have some power. Probably a lower average hitter
.240 with .420 slugging and solid defense. Similar to Josh Harrison, but with less average and a little more slugging
*this scouting report brought to you by camden453 on mlbtradeumors
But the thing about these types of players, is that they usually develop and become solid, but not spectacular, regular major league starters and they don’t get injured
.240 with .420 slugging and solid, dependable defense at 2B
It’s a safe pick and nothing I’d choose to go with but there’s a greater chance you’ll at least get a regular major leaguer
Pirates are starting to accumulate some true difference makers the last couple years after years of going for quantity over quality.
Johnson, Davis, Chandler, Endy Rodriguez, and Solomento all look like 55 FV or higher prospects who can form a core of a true contender in a few years time.