BackDraft: 1992 Draft

From time to time at the HQ, we like to look back at a few of the Pirates’ old drafts just to see who they’ve taken and what they’ve done. It can be quite interesting to see who else they could have taken in the draft and who ended up being a steal. So, without further adieu, we bring you the Pirates draft of 1992.

RD	Player	POS	School
1	Jason Kendall	C	Torrance HS (CA)
1*	Shon Walker	OF	Harrison County HS, Cynthiana, KY
2*	Danny Clyburn	OF	Lancaster HS, (CA)
2	Trey Beamon	OF	W.T. White HS, Dallas, TX
3	Jamie Keefe	SS	Spaulding HS, Rochester, NH
4	Tim Leger	OF	Acadiana HS, Lafayette, LA
5	Brett Backlund	RHP	University of Iowa
6	Sean Lawrence	LHP	College of St. Francis, (IL)
7	Dennis Konuszewski	RHP	University of Michigan
8	Aaron Cannday	C	Elon College
9	Rob Davidson	LHP	Rustburg HS (VA)
10	John Turlais	C	Illinois Math and Science Academy
20	John Dillinger	RHP	Manatee (FL) JC
27	Chance Sanford	SS	San Jacinto JC (TX)
30	Kevin Polcovich	SS	University of Florida
31	Lou Collier	SS	Kishwaukee JC, (IL)
47	Marc Wilkins	RHP	University of Toledo
48	Adrian Brown	OF	McComb HS, (MS)

* Supplemental Pick for losing Free Agent Bobby Bonilla

As you can see from my short list, I didn’t want to go into detail on each and every pick of the draft.What I was looking for were the all important Top 10 and anyone else who may have been of significance. I remember reading in a 1993 USA Today’s Baseball Weekly, I believe an article about some of the talented players that were on the roster of the Augusta Pirates. Many of those talented players were taken in this draft. One thing that really stands out is how much prep-talent they invested in early on in the draft. We all know the story of Jason Kendall and what he did with the Pirates, possibly one of the best catchers in the history of the team, but does anyone remember Danny Clyburn?

Clyburn was perhaps the most talented player they drafted that year next to Kendall. He was supposed to be a talented athlete with a ton of raw power but unfortunately the Pirates felt the need to trade him in 1994 for Jacob Brumfield. He was traded a few more times after that and even managed to get a few cups of coffee in the majors, his most recent in 1999 with Tampa Bay.

Polcovich, Collier, Wilkins, Sanford, Beamon and Adrian Brown all saw time at some point with the Pirates. Some of them we hardly knew like Beamon who was traded with former catcher Angelo Encarnacion to the Padres for get Mark Smith and Hal Garrett. Some of them stuck around much longer then we would’ve liked, such as Adrian Brown and Marc Wilkins.

All in all, this draft didn’t produce anywhere near the results that any of us would’ve liked to have seen. Considering that the Pirates had two extra draft picks that they received for the loss of Bonilla, you would have thought that it would have increased their chances of hitting the jackpot with someone. It looks as though having invested in so many talented young prep players early in the draft may have been their downfall. Besides Kendall, Walker was never able to get out of High A, Beamon and Clyburn were only able to combine for a total of 267 major league at bats. To put that in perspective, Kevin Polcovich had 457 in his 2 total seasons with the team. The Pirates received a lot of contribution out of numerous players drafted in ‘92, but with the exception of Jason Kendall, unfortunately none of the major talents managed to pan out.