PITTSBURGH -- The Pirates have one of their best shots in the past few seasons of acquiring a franchise-altering player, as they hold the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft.

There is a lot of pressure, but general manager Ben Cherington knows that putting incredibly lofty expectations on any one player isn’t beneficial.

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“I don’t feel like there’s any more pressure this year. We all feel pressure every year to get it right, but that’s an opportunity, too,” Cherington said. “We also talk about that. We get the chance to make that selection. It’s pressure, yes. But it’s exciting pressure, and it’s an opportunity. It doesn’t feel like a burden at all.”

Lofty projections aren’t useful here -- such as “multi-time All-Star” or “potential Hall of Famer” -- and they also don’t fit with Cherington’s overall strategy in talent acquisition, whether in trades or in the Draft, of creating an overall talent base through as many avenues and selections as possible vs. relying on big hits/premium prospects to define the system.

The Draft will begin on Sunday, when former Pirates first-rounder Neil Walker will announce the first selection.

Day 1 of the 2021 Draft will take place live from Denver’s Bellco Theatre on Sunday. It will feature the first 36 picks and will air on MLB Network and ESPN at 7 p.m. ET. Day 2, which will span Rounds 2-10, begins at 1 p.m. on Monday. The Draft will conclude with Rounds 11-20 on Tuesday, starting at noon. MLB.com will simulcast MLB Network’s broadcast and provide live coverage on all three days.

To view when teams pick, the Top 250 Prospects list, mock drafts from analysts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, scouting video and more, visit MLB.com/Draft. Follow @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying and to get each pick as it’s made.

“We've got to get that right,” Cherington said of the No. 1 overall pick, “but it's less about 1-1 and more just we need great players here and we need lots of them. And we need to put ourselves in a position to get as many as we can."

The Pirates have 21 selections to work with in this year’s Draft, with 20 rounds and one competitive balance round pick (No. 64 overall). Let’s preview how they’ll approach this critical part of their rebuild.

Names to know

The consensus seems to be that this year’s Draft has no player who stands out markedly over the rest of the competition, so there will be a few names in consideration for the first overall pick.

The player who has been connected with the Pirates the most is Marcelo Mayer, a left-handed-hitting shortstop out of California preps, who is MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall Draft prospect. He’s seen as the best hitter and defender in the Draft with decent speed as well. Other potential selections if the Pirates go the hitting route include Texas prep shortstop Jordan Lawlar (No. 3), Louisville catcher Henry Davis (No. 5), North Carolina prep shortstop Kahlil Watson (No. 4) and Georgia prep shortstop Brady House (No. 8).

On the pitching side, Vanderbilt right-hander Jack Leiter has drawn interest all season long, with exceptional command, high velocity and pro roots. The No. 2 prospect is seen as the best pitcher in the Draft, but Vanderbilt right-hander Kumar Rocker (No. 6) and Oklahoma prep right-hander Jackson Jobe (No. 7) are also in the picture.

Money matters

Each team in MLB is allotted a bonus pool they can use to sign players. The Pirates have the highest assigned bonus pool at $14,394,000, most of which stems from the $8,415,300 slot value for the No. 1 overall pick.

There are different philosophies the Pirates can employ to spend that money. One such strategy which may make more sense in this Draft vs. others is to seek slight savings at the No. 1 pick. I know, I know -- it sounds blasphemous. But with no clear frontrunner head and heels ahead of the rest of the competition, it’s worth at least inquiring, which Cherington made it sound like is routine procedure.

“It’s permissible to ask a player if they would consider signing for X,” Cherington said. “It’s not permissible to agree. It’s permissible to ask. So every team is going to do that, and they’re going to get that information.”

More likely, the savings will come from college seniors and potentially juniors drafted in the first 10 rounds who have little to no leverage and can be signed for tens of thousands vs. hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Pirates are taking all the time available to lay out that plan as much as they can, but the day of the Draft will also dictate how monetary considerations play out.

“We have full intent to use that entire pool in a way that we feel gives us the best chance to get as much talent as we possibly can,” Cherington said. “There are going to be different strategies to doing that, and we won’t know how that executes out probably until the Draft starts. What we need to do is be really, really well prepared for all of the possibilities, and then be able to adjust and react.”

Window watchers

For smaller-market teams, windows of contention tend to matter. Having the best team possible is both a matter of personnel and timing, and sometimes, that means acquiring players who appear to fit that certain timeframe.

If that were the case in this Draft, with the Pirates having a strong base of top prospects across High-A and Double-A, it could make sense to draft one of the top college players on the board like Leiter or Davis.

However, with Cherington’s focus on finding as many good players as possible, the focus is more on the personnel than the timing, and he believes that having a large number of talented players will allow the Pirates to be successful in the long term, both in terms of future on-field stars in the big leagues or valuable trade assets for established Major Leaguers.

“Finding the right player in the Draft is really hard,” Cherington said. “I don't want to make it any harder for the group by saying we've got to take this or that kind of player because it lines up with some timeline. I'd rather us just focus on who's the best player for the Pirates and how can we get 20 more of them?”

Trending topics

There hasn’t been a clear trend at the top of the table for the Pirates in the past few Drafts, as they’ve alternated between a college player and a high school player every year since 2016. The first overall selection for the past three years has been a college player: Third baseman Spencer Torkelson (Tigers, ‘20), catcher Adley Rutschman (Orioles, ‘19) and right-hander Casey Mize (Tigers, ‘18).

Pirates recent top picks

2020: New Mexico State second baseman Nick Gonzales (High-A)
2019: Illinois prep right-hander Quinn Priester (High-A)
2018: South Alabama outfielder Travis Swaggerty (Triple-A)
2017: Texas prep right-hander Shane Baz (traded to the Rays)
2016: North Carolina first baseman Will Craig (Triple-A)