PITTSBURGH -- Derek Curiel teared up when he walked on the PNC Park field on Thursday. He saw the Pittsburgh skyline off in the distance and envisioned contributing on that field in the near future with the Pirates.
Pittsburgh struck a deal with No. 5 overall pick Derek Curiel late Saturday night, signing the LSU outfielder for $6,200,000, per MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis. Curiel’s deal is well under the $8,336,500 slot value allocated for the fifth overall selection.
Curiel’s signing was formally announced at a press conference Sunday morning at PNC Park with his family, agent Scott Boras and the Pirates' front office. He’ll take batting practice on the field on Monday before heading down to Pirates City Tuesday.
“It's been a dream come true,” Curiel said. “Been a lot of years of hard work since I was three years old. A lot of time in the field, working hard, making the decision to go to college, choosing to get better, develop. It's been great. It's kind of just sown in some great things, and now we get to reap the reward. And then now we got to go sow some more, and then reap rewards later. So just definitely enjoying it, and excited to get to work.”
Curiel has been in Pittsburgh for five days now, waiting for the contract to be finalized and for Boras to be available for the press conference. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington described the negotiations as “smooth,” just needing to work out a few details.
He’s a good friend of Pittsburgh’s 2024 top selection and current starting shortstop Konnor Griffin. The pair played together for U-18 Team USA, and even visited the Roberto Clemente Museum on Thursday. Curiel said he went to restaurants around the city and watched a few games in the stands with the casual fans, taking in their “blue-collar” mentality.
To get to this point, Curiel has been playing baseball since he was three years old and in diapers. His father, Rick, said he even had to sign a waiver to allow Curiel to play with the five years old. When Curiel was younger, the family built a 55-foot batting cage in their backyard, where Curiel trained with his older brother constantly.
Rick grew up a huge Pete Rose fan, and instilled his favorite player’s style of play into his son at an early age. He saw Rose say he took 200 swings a day, and built the cage so Curiel could do the same.
“Ever since he was a little guy, I just wanted him to play the game right and play hard, and as he got older, he did that,” Rick said. “And you guys will see between the lines he gets after it and competes. So I just instilled that in his head, and I would show him a lot of videos through YouTube and show him how Pete Rose played baseball. Even in All-Star Games, when Pete Rose would play in All-Star Games, he got after it, so I think Derek did learn that, and I'm glad he does that.”
At 20 years old, Curiel was a draft-eligible sophomore out of LSU. He won a national title with the Tigers in 2025 and became the first college bat to be selected in the first round by the Pirates since Henry Davis at No. 1 overall in 2021.
Curiel was a highly touted high school recruit but withdrew his name from the 2024 MLB Draft to join the Tigers and increase his size. He added 20 pounds of muscle, said LSU strength coach Chris Martin, and increased his bench press maximum from 135 to 250 pounds in two years.
“Changed my career for sure,” Curiel said. “I got to see baseball in a different perspective. I played baseball one way my whole life, California baseball. Played for a lot of the same coaches my whole life. Went to the SEC, played with a different group of guys, different coaching styles, and it really clicked with me. I went to college with an open mind, sponge-like. I wanted to absorb everything in, and made a few adjustments early, moved my hands out in front of me, set my sights, just things like that, and learned a lot of cool things that I'm going to carry with me the rest of my career.”
With Curiel signed and the deadline on Monday evening, Cherington said the Pirates will hopefully have more news to share of a few more signings. Here’s where the Pirates draft class currently stands as of Sunday morning:
- Round 1: OF Derek Curiel: $6,200,000
- Round 2: INF Aiden Ruiz: $3,500,000
- Round 2 SUP: INF Chris Rembert: $2,397,500
- Round 3: RHP Jason DeCaro: $1,297,500
- Round 4: OF Andruw Giles: $1,000,000
- Round 5: LHP Ryan Marohn: $532,000
- Round 6: RHP Tyler Fay: $342,500
- Round 7: RHP Bryson Moore: $305,000
- Round 8: RHP Alex Overbay: $222,500
- Round 9: INF Tre Phelps III: $202,500
- Round 10: RHP Michael Gibson: $17,500
- Round 11: LHP Spencer Evans: $300,000
- Round 12: RHP Rohan Lettow: Unsigned
- Round 13: RHP Griffin Stieg: $150,000
- Round 14: RHP Damarcus Rideout-Carter: Unsigned
- Round 15: RHP Liam O'Leary: $150,000
- Round 16: RHP Grant Govel: Unsigned
- Round 17: RHP Nathan Helman: $25,000
- Round 18: OF Malachi Washington: Unsigned
- Round 19: OF Andrew Duncan: Unsigned
- Round 20: LHP Dakota Stone: $100,000