The Pittsburgh Pirates today signed the following players from the 2018 First-Year Player Draft. The announcement was made by Joe DelliCarri, Pirates Senior Director of Amateur Scouting.
14th Round - Daniel Amaral, OF, 5-11/180, UCLA, assigned to West Virginia Black Bears ... Hit .289 with 16 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 38 RBI in 55 games as a junior in 2018 at UCLA ... Was named to the Northwoods League post-season All-Star team in the summer of 2017 while playing for Mankato ... Was a 2017 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention ... His dad, Rich Amaral, played for nine years in the big leagues with Seattle (1991-98) and Baltimore (1999-00).
27th Round - Ryan Haug, C, 6-0/165, University of Arizona, assigned to GCL Pirates ... Hit .235 with three doubles and 15 RBI in 45 games played in 2018 with the University of Arizona ... Was named to the Alaska Baseball League All-Star team in the summer of 2017 while playing for the Matsu Minors.
28th Round - Nick Patten, INF, 6-4/205, University of Delaware, assigned to GCL Pirates ... Was voted the D1 Baseball Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) pre-season Player-of-the-Year in 2018 ... Was also a first-team All-CAA selection in 2018 ... Hit .241 with 14 doubles, one triple, nine home runs and 30 RBI in 58 games in 2018...Played for former Major League All-Star Chris Sabo during his senior season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, but began his high school career at Butler High School, located north of Pittsburgh playing under coach Todd Erdos.
35th Round - Justin Harrer, INF, 6-2/195, Washington State University, assigned to GCL Pirates ... Hit .253 with six doubles, one triple, 11 home runs and 30 RBI in 49 games in 2018 with Washington State ... Earned 2017 Pac-12 Conference Honorable Mention accolades ... His parents, Thomas and Janice, played professional beach volleyball.
The Pirates have now signed 23 players from the 2018 draft.