Report: Perceived No. 1 MLB draft choice Dylan Crews may not be 'interested' in Pirates

According to ESPN.com, the long-perceived No. 1 pick in next month’s Major League Baseball draft may not want to play for the team that has the No. 1 pick.

That team happens to be the Pittsburgh Pirates.

ESPN writer Kiley McDaniel posted a mock draft Monday morning. In it, he suggests that Golden Spikes winner Dylan Crews is less than thrilled at the idea of playing in Pittsburgh — at least at the price it would take. And McDaniel is now of the opinion that the Pirates will draft Crews’ LSU teammate, pitcher Paul Skenes.

He also says that Pirates management may be “lying in the weeds” on Florida Gator slugger Wyatt Langford.

“There’s a belief from those plugged into the Pirates’ pick that the Crews camp will not be willing to take whatever is offered at the first pick,” McDaniel said. “Some describe it as ‘not interested,’ some as ‘maybe just a negotiation ploy.’”

By Crews’ camp, that means agent Scott Boras, who has had a rocky relationship with the Pirates and other low-budget teams in the past. Just look at how things went with Gerrit Cole and Mark Appel.

“I’m now under the impression that Crews would cost full slot or more if taken first, and I think that’s what Pittsburgh has generally believed all spring. There’s still a case from some in the industry to take Crews, because he’s clearly the best prospect, but there’s also a case that (the top) five guys are pretty close in talent level and a seven-figure savings of draft pool money on top of a near coin flip on talent is a compelling proposition,” McDaniel wrote.

That full slot value is at $9.72 million. As McDaniel points out, the Orioles’ bonus slot for the No. 1 pick last year was $8.84 million. The franchise gave Jackson Holliday a bonus of $8.19 million.

“Pittsburgh could take Crews and offer a bonus of $8.5 million, a precedent-setting tally — yet also more than $1.2 million under slot. It’s a fair offer by some measures, but it’s one with which I think the Crews camp wouldn’t be happy,” McDaniel speculated.

Crews had four hits Monday night and a highlight catch in centerfield, as the Tigers beat Florida 18-4 to win the College World Series.

This is why Dylan Crews is a Golden Spikes Award winner

ESPN | #MCWS pic.twitter.com/PXzq7Pqnca

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 27, 2023

Crews ended the season with a .426 batting average and a 1.280 OPS. But if the Pirates don’t want to pay what Boras wants, they still may go in another direction.

“I’ve been hearing since February that the Pirates have been aggressively looking into the non-Crews options, even after it became clear he was the consensus best prospect. Even when you’re planning to take the best player, those can be smart things to do,” McDaniel wrote.

That could mean the 6-foot-6 Skenes and his 209 strikeouts and 1.69 ERA this season. Or Langford and his 21 home runs and .373 batting average. Or Franklin Community High School (Indiana) outfielder Max Clark — a player McDaniel says is coveted by the Pirates more than some other clubs.

North Carolina high school outfielder Walker Jenkins is the other perceived top-five option, but McDaniel says he’s also a Boras guy. Meanwhile, he says Skenes is represented by the same group that represents former Pirates No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis, who just recently made his big-league debut.

McDaniel closes with this thought.

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“If the Pirates do draft him, and Crews isn’t happy with the figure — you might ask whether Crews would really scoff at going first. Does he want to go back to school and take on more personal risk, delay MLB free agency by a year and hope to get what would amount to less than $1 million more — and maybe get less — just on principle?

“I don’t think he wants to do that, and it wouldn’t be that bad — he wouldn’t fall out of the first few picks no matter what happens — but look at it from Pittsburgh’s perspective. If Pittsburgh doesn’t sign the top pick, it’s a huge, immediate PR hit. … Not signing the top pick in a loaded draft and getting the second-best player in a much lesser draft a year later just as the rebuild is showing fruit is an all-caps DISASTER for Pittsburgh. Would you want to take that risk or cut a sure-thing deal for a comparable player?”

Neither. I think they should just draft Bryan Bullington again.