Pirates players share their Draft day memories

PITTSBURGH -- A few minutes after 7 ET tonight, the Orioles will make the first selection of the MLB Draft. Tonight and the following two days will be full of life-changing moments for baseball players across the country, from the first overall pick to perhaps the last person selected in the 40th round.

It’s a special moment for any Major Leaguer to look back on, rivaled perhaps only by their big league debut. Everyone in the Pirates’ clubhouse, whether he was selected in the first round or a round that no longer exists, has a good Draft story.

The Pirates picked Jameson Taillon second overall in the 2010 Draft. Taillon, fresh out of high school, received word just before the Nationals selected Bryce Harper first that Pittsburgh was going to pick him. He kept it a secret from everyone except his parents while sitting at home amid a gathering of 60 or 70 people -- family, high school teammates, coaches, trainers, friends of siblings and others.

“I remember knowing I was getting picked when it was coming up, and nobody else did. That was really cool to share it with my family,” Taillon said. “It takes a village to raise a kid. It takes a village to create a Major Leaguer. It’s not just me; it’s not even just my family. A whole bunch of people played a part, and I got to share it with them.”

It was also a relief for Taillon, who had to handle everything that came along with being a touted prospect leading up to the Draft. The day after his homecoming, he pitched in a showcase for scouts. The day after his senior prom, he had an in-house visit with a scout.

“It’s a stressful process. I’m obviously blessed to get picked in the first round,” Taillon said. “At some point, it was just nice to know where I was going and have a little certainty.”

Setup man Kyle Crick jokes that he wasn’t a “true” first-rounder. The Giants selected second baseman Joe Panik with their “true” first-round pick in 2011 (29th overall) then took Crick, a Texas high school pitcher, 49th overall.

Crick knew that he would be picked in the first few rounds, but the company he kept had even more certainty. He watched the Draft at a party with Dylan Bundy (fourth overall), Archie Bradley (seventh), Michael Fulmer (44th -- two picks before the Blue Jays took a right-hander named Joe Musgrove) and Brewers pitcher Adrian Houser (second round).

It’s a little different when you don’t know where you’ll be picked. Ask reliever Geoff Hartlieb and catcher Jacob Stallings.

The Mets selected Hartlieb in the 37th round of the 2015 Draft, but he didn’t sign. He went in the 29th round, 885th overall, to the Pirates the following year.

“I was told [the first time] it could happen this day, it could happen the second day, so I was watching it the whole time. The first time [stunk],” Hartlieb said. “It was a long three days. I was not happy by the time it ended up happening. The second time, it was like, ‘If it happens, awesome. If not, we’ll see where it goes from here.’ I was pretty relaxed. It was fun. I was relieved when the call eventually did come. It was probably not like most guys’ experiences, if I had to guess.”

How relaxed was Hartlieb the second time around? Rather than following along pick-by-pick like he did the first year, he was hanging out with friends.

“I wasn’t by my phone when I got the call. Someone told me it was ringing, and I ran and grabbed it then it was just a big party afterward,” Hartlieb said. “It was very fun. Even though it was late, I wasn’t worried about it.”

The Pirates selected Stallings in the seventh round of the 2012 Draft as a senior out of the University of North Carolina. In 2011, the Reds picked him in the 42nd round -- a round that ceased to exist after that year, as the Draft was shortened to 40 rounds.

“We were in the NCAA Tournament, and I remember on the second day of the Draft coming back and having like 20 missed calls on my phone,” Stallings said. “It was in the 10th or 12th round. The Cardinals and Cubs wanted to see if I would sign for a certain amount of money. I was pretty much decided that I wanted to go back to school and told them that -- pretty much told everybody that.

“The Reds took me and said they knew I probably wanted to go back to school, but they just wanted to let me know they liked me, if there was any possibility of signing. It was still cool to be drafted. At that time, we had a really good team in college and went to Omaha [for the College World Series] that year. I knew I wanted to go back to school and get my degree. It was interesting. The next year, the round wasn’t there anymore.”