Bucs take 17-year-old high school lefty in 2nd round

CHICAGO -- The Pirates completed the opening night of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft by making high school left-hander Blake Taylor their second-round selection, the overall No. 51 pick.

The epitome of a high-ceiling prospect as someone who will not turn 18 for 10 more weeks, Taylor is a growing 6-foot-3, 220-pounder with a fastball already in the 92-93 mph range.

Splitting mound time with other positions for Dana Hills High School in Southern California, Taylor had 59 strikeouts in 49 innings and allowed opponents to hit .222 against him -- neither statistic is the overwhelming kind usually seen from dominant prep pitchers.

But he is all about projections and harnessing his growing frame. He can be expected to add at least a couple of mph and more movement to his fastball, and gradually develop secondary pitches such as the curve and changeup.

Taylor has a scholarship to the University of Hawaii. His slice of the Pirates' bonus pool is slotted at $1,065,400.

Day 2 of the Draft continues with Rounds 3-10, streamed live on MLB.com on Friday, beginning with a preview show at 12:30 p.m. And Rounds 11-40 will be streamed live on MLB.com on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.

MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 100 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of Draft-eligible players. You can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft on Twitter. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.