There was a lot of confusion surrounding the selection of Will Craig by the Pittsburgh Pirates at No. 22 overall in the MLB Draft, but it turns out it was all an error.
Craig pitched and played third base in college for Wake Forest, but it was with his bat where he really stood out. For that reason, most viewed his path to the majors coming as a position player. That’s why the way his pick was announced by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was so surprising.
When Manfred announced that Craig was the Pirates’ pick, he referred to the youngster as a pitcher.
That announcement led to MLB Network, which was televising the draft, to freak out over the announcement. They began exclaiming how surprising it was to see the Pirates view Craig as a pitcher. Keep in mind that Craig challenged for the ACC triple crown by batting .379 with 16 home runs, 16 doubles and 66 RBIs this season. The year before, he batted .382 with 20 doubles and 13 home runs as a sophomore. He has posted an OPS of 1.097 during his college career. You don’t typically turn players with that kind of power into a pitcher.
Craig did 13.1 innings as a freshman. Last year he made seven starts and pitched 44.1 innings with a 6.09 ERA. This season he was 2-0 with a 3.54 ERA, 9 saves and 25 strikeouts, so you could see how that would appeal to some teams. But MLB Network quickly corrected the record that there was an error on the commissioner’s card, leading him to say Craig was being drafted as a pitcher, when in fact he was not.
