Former 1st round players Jason Kendall and Neil Walker congratulate Pirates on picking No. 1 receiver Henry Davis overall

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After the Pittsburgh Pirates made Henry Davis the first overall pick in the MLB Draft on Sunday night, the Louisville wide receiver came to the table where another former Pirates first-round pick in that position was sitting.

Neil Walker handed Davis his phone. From a PNC Park draft room, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington praised the franchise’s new face.

Walker then joined Davis in a private room at the back of the Bellco Theater in Denver, where they recorded a brief video together for the official Pirates Twitter account and where Walker visited Davis, his parents, Chris and Andrea, and her brother and sister, Morgane and Olivia.

“I had the opportunity to go back and chat with him and say, ‘Welcome to the organization. You’re going to love this town and this organization, ”said Walker, a Pine-Richland graduate who was drafted 11th overall in 2004, played for the Pirates from 2009 to 2015 and will be working on their radio and TV shows in August and September. “At the end of the program, I was able to meet his family. They were wonderful people, down to earth and really excited about what was to come.

So was Jason Kendall, who watched the draft from his home in Kansas City, the final leg of his 15-year big-league career. Twenty-nine years earlier, the Pirates drafted Kendall, a receiver for Torrance, Calif., With the 23rd pick in the first round.

While some analysts questioned the Pirates for passing on preparation shortstops Marcelo Mayer and Jordan Lawlar or Vanderbilt right-hander Jack Leiter, Kendall was impressed that the Pirates prioritized position by picking Davis.

“Maybe I’m a little biased because of the position, but I think it’s amazing,” said Kendall, a three-time all-star catcher in nine seasons with the Pirates from 1996 to 2004. “Just the way he did. behaved. If you are going to participate in the first round, you obviously have the capacity. You must have all intangibles, not just athletic ability.

“I’m actually really excited for the Pirates. I think this is a start in the right direction. … I’m excited for Pittsburgh because I’ve been there 10 years, and there’s no catch anywhere. Few people want to go this route. I think it was a very wise choice. I don’t think it’s a surprising choice at all. I think it’s a brilliant choice. Hopefully he works there and can be there longer than me and bring home a championship in Pittsburgh. I love the choice.

Davis is the seventh wide receiver the Pirates picked in the first round, and Kendall and Walker represent their most successful selections there. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Davis appears to be a combination of the two, with Walker’s height and bat and Kendall’s chiseled physique and jawline.

The Pirates had mixed results in the first round receiver draft. Steve Nicosia, chosen No.24 in 1973, started four of the seven games in the 1979 World Series, including winning Game 7, but he has only played 358 career games. Jon Farrell was drafted 24th in 1991 but moved to the outfield and never advanced over Double-A. Tony Sanchez was ranked fourth at Boston College in 2009, but he only played 51 games in three seasons as a substitute. Reese McGuire, the 14th pick in 2013, was one of the two infamous top 10 prospects in the trade deal when the Pirates gave up Francisco Liriano’s salary in a trade deal with Toronto. in 2016.

From Cherington to assistant general manager Steve Sanders to senior amateur scouting director Joe DelliCarri, the Pirates have insisted they picked Davis because he was the top player on their draft, not to suit their most. great organizational need.

Then again, the selection should come as no surprise given that Pirates manager Derek Shelton is a former minor league wide receiver and new farm manager John Baker has spent seven seasons catching in the majors.

“It’s an important job. There’s no question about it, ”Sanders said. “I’ll say you’ve probably heard Joe, Ben and I repeat that, probably to the point of nausea, but our goal wasn’t to draft a catcher or really make sure we got a certain number of receivers.

“There is no denying the importance of this. I think this year things turned out for us to take a receiver from Henry Davis at 1: 1. Being a catcher was secondary to a lot of it. I think you know we focused on having the best player possible. We thought Henry Davis was the best player we could add to the organization. I think the fact that we’re confident he’s going to be a hard-hitting receiver in the big leagues for a long time is really an added bonus in that regard.

Not only was Davis considered the best hitter in college baseball this season, slicing .370 / .482 / .663 with 15 home runs and 48 RBIs in 50 games, he has a rocket arm that got a score of 70 out of the 20 scouts. -80 and rejected 46% (13 of 28) of basic theft attempts in 2021 and 40% (25 of 63) during his three-year college career.

Despite being considered athletic enough to play a corner position in the infield or outfield, Davis has stressed that he wants to stay behind the plate. All-Star receivers Buster Posey and Yadier Molina are his favorite players, as much for their leadership as for their sense of the game and their strikes.

“It’s very important to me,” Davis said. “I like to catch, I like to be able to contribute with every throw, so for me, doing everything I can off the pitch and on the pitch during training – which I do every day to be the best player in the game. baseball and the best catcher I can be – is my goal every day.

Kendall thinks the best thing for Davis is to “just go out and play.” When the Pirates pulled Kendall out of high school in Torrance, Calif. In June 1992, he remembers graduating the next day. Where his friends went on a senior trip to Mazatlan, Mexico, Kendall signed on and traveled to Pirate City in Bradenton, Fla. To begin his professional baseball career.

Kendall and Walker were drafted out of high school, so they believe Davis has an advantage playing three seasons in a major college program that also produced a first-round pick at Dodgers World Series champion Will Smith receiver. of Los Angeles.

“The first question I would ask him is, were you allowed to call your own game? Did he call his own locations? Kendall said. “Calling a game is the main thing when you get into professional baseball. It took me four or five years to figure out what to call a game, and I had a dad (Fred) who played 12 years in the big leagues.

Where Kendall has stayed behind the plate through the minors and for 2,013 career MLB games – where he had 2,195 hits – Walker spent a full season catching minors before advancing to third base and then in the second, where he played 1,031 career games in the majors. .

Both focused on the extra tasks required to be a catcher, from showing up early at the stadium to catch first batting practice, spending time spending time reviewing scout reports and game plans with pitching and coaching teams to learn what the referees call the games. It is an exhaustive process that can be physically and mentally taxing.

“For me, as a high school receiver, I had no basis of comparison to get into the pro ball because it was basically just sitting behind the plate and catching the ball and trying not to. not let him get away from you and frame him well, ”Walker said. “He’s arguably the most demanding job in baseball. He did it in a major college program as a catcher, and he handled the bat very, very well. These are not easy things to do.

A self-proclaimed bat catcher, Walker remembers being behind the plate for 120 games for Single-A Hickory in the South Atlantic League and sweating through his jersey in the 85-degree heat at the age of 19 years old. By his fourth at-bat, Walker was exhausted and didn’t even want to strike. From what Walker saw of Davis swinging the bat, he has proven his pedigree as a hitter in more than two seasons at Louisville.

“You don’t want to go into professional baseball thinking I might have to switch positions,” Walker said. “In my opinion, if this guy can be a catcher and hit somewhere in the middle of the range, between 4-5-6, you’re looking at a guy who can really, really make an impact on the game, especially in the league. national. . If he’s a catch-first guy who can just bat handle and he’s stuck in sixth in the National League roster, in my opinion that’s still a win.

Kendall and Walker have expressed interest in working with Davis, knowing how important a mentor can be to a catcher in minors. They are also aware that they will be the standards as the Pirates’ first-round draft pick at the position Davis will be compared against.

Kendall offered Davis the same advice as her son Kuyper’s baseball team: just be yourself. Go be you. Do what you did to get yourself into the position you are in.

“I hope he doesn’t compare to me or someone else,” Kendall said of Davis. “Looks like this kid is the type of player Pittsburgh is going to fall in love with. I will definitely follow him and support him.

Kevin Gorman is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Kevin by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .



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