Pirates Get Top Six Lottery Draft Pick
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates had a good night at the MLB Draft Lottery at the MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas, as they landed the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft.
This marked the third straight MLB Draft Lottery, which has the 18 non-playoff teams competing for the No. 1 overall pick. The MLB Draft previously went based off of record in the regular season.
16 of the 18 teams were eligible for the lottery. The Chicago White Sox, who finished with the worst MLB record ever at 41-121 (.253) were not eligible as give and don't receive revenue sharing dollars.
The Athletics who were 69-93 (.426), the fifth worst record, were also ineligible for the lottery, as while they receive revenue sharing dollars, they had lottery picks in 2023 and 2024, and a team can't have a lottery pick three years straight. They couldn't finish higher than No. 10 and No. 11
This allowed the Pirates to have a 5.3% chance at the No. 1 overall pick, the sixth highest chance of any team, with the No. 6 overall pick a suitable finish for them.
The Pirates finished with a 76-86 record (.469), the eighth worst record. They were in contention in the National League Wild Card Race in late July, but an 8-19 record in August doomed them to their sixth straight losing season since 2019.
Pittsburgh had the eighth-best odds to get the first overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft and ended up with the ninth pick and took shortstop Konnor Griffin out of Jackson Prep High School in Mississippi. Griffin is the Pirates' No. 2 ranked prospect and No. 50 in baseball by MLB Pipeline.
The Pirates won the inaugural MLB Draft Lottery in 2022 after being tied for the best odds with the Nationals. They used it well, as they took right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes out of LSU with the first pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.
Skenes dominated in the minor leagues and soon made it up to the majors on May 11 of the 2024 season.
He started 23 games, had a 1.96 ERA in 133.0 innings pitched, allowed just 29 earned runs, 94 hits, six home runs and 32 walks, while making 170 strikeouts and holding opposing hitting to a .198 batting average. He also had a 11.50 K/9 and a WHIP of 0.95.
He was also the first member of the Pirates to start for the National League in the All-Star Game since Jerry Reuss did it in 1975, 49 years ago. He is also just the fifth rookie to start an All-Star game, with Hideo Nomo of the Los Angeles Dodgers doing so in 1995, en route to winning NL Rookie of the Year.
Skenes would win NL Rookie of the Year Award and finished third in the NL Cy Young Award. He was just the sixth player in MLB history to finish in the top three for both awards and the first pitcher inPirates history to win the NL Rookie of the Year.
2025 MLB Draft Order
No. 1: Washington Nationals
No. 2: Los Angeles Angels
No. 3: Seattle Mariners
No. 4: Colorado Rockies
No. 5: St. Louis Cardinals
No. 6: Pittsburgh Pirates
No. 7: Miami Marlins
No. 8: Toronto Blue Jays
No. 9: Cincinnati Reds
No. 10: Chicago White Sox
No. 11: Athletics
No. 12: Texas Rangers
No. 13: San Francisco Giants
No. 14: Tampa Bay Rays
No. 15: Boston Red Sox
No. 16: Minnesota Twins
No. 17: Chicago Cubs
No. 18: Arizona Diamondbacks
No. 19: Baltimore Orioles
No. 20: Milwaukee Brewers
No. 21: Houston Astros
No. 22: Atlanta Braves
No. 23 : Kansas City Royals
No. 24: Detroit Tigers
No. 25: San Diego Padres
No. 26: Philadelphia Phillies
No. 27: Cleveland Guardians.
