As Sunday’s Major League Baseball draft approaches, all signs continue to indicate that the Pittsburgh Pirates will choose Eastlake High School (Chula Vista, Cali.) shortstop Marcelo Mayer with the No.1 overall pick.
For some people (yours truly included) who believe that drafting Vanderbilt pitcher Jack Leiter is a better route to go, that’s disappointing news.
That doesn’t mean Mayer is a bad choice. He’s just a younger player, with a shorter track record and a much longer path to the big leagues.
Once Mayer gets to Pittsburgh, he could be great. Based on the comparison made by his high school coach, David Gallegos, he certainly should be.
Gallegos’ Titans churned out a No. 1 overall selection in the 2000 draft as well. That was five-time Major League Baseball All-Star Adrián González.
“Marcelo had more power and pop in the bat,” Gallegos said to Fox 5 San Diego last week. “The athleticism goes to Marcelo. Other than that, they’re both smart baseball players. The only thing I’d give about Marcelo is, in high school, he had a bit more pop than Adrián did, but Adrián was special.”
That’s high praise considering González totaled 317 homers during a 15-year MLB career. It’s also interesting that Gallegos thinks that Mayer already has González’s type of power, even though Mayer is only 185 pounds at 6-foot-3. González filled out to 215 by the time he was starring in the big leagues at 6-foot-2. So if Mayer can bulk up a little bit once he gets into professional baseball, his power may have an even higher ceiling than what is expected right now.
Troy Hirsch joined us for Friday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. He’s the anchor who put that piece together for Fox 5. In the video, Mayer’s swing is reminiscent of González’s.
“I thought, ‘Wow! There are a lot of similarities between these two players in the way that they swing the bat,’” Hirsch said. “Very sweet. Very smooth. Very powerful. Almost effortlessly powerful.”
While Mayer has a scholarship lined up at USC — his “dream college” — Hirsch believes so long as he is drafted in the top 5 he’ll likely turn pro. Hirsch said the first time his station covered Mayer this year, it was pretty clear that he was about to do special things after developing through an elite baseball pipeline.
“In his first three at-bats, he hit three home runs,” Hirsch said.
“He really does look like a man among boys down there. And Eastlake High School has churned out a lot of really good baseball players. It starts at a young age. We’ve had some Little Leagues out of that area that went on to the Little League World Series. So not really a surprise that he has come out of Eastlake and has ascended this high.”
Another Eastlake Titan, Keoni Cavaco, was selected at No. 13 in 2019 by the Minnesota Twins.
Hirsch also insists that Mayer has the off-field makeup worthy of being a No. 1 overall pick.
“Maturity is the key word. His teammates and his coaches talk about his maturity. They all say he is destined for the big time,” Hirsch said.
Also in the podcast, Hirsch talks about the recent San Diego-to-Pittsburgh baseball pipeline. We wonder if a position change may be in the long-term plans for Mayer. And we dive into some draft-pool signing strategies.
Listen: Tim Benz and Troy Hirsch discuss the Pirates’ likely No. 1 draft pick, shortstop Marcelo Mayer
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
