Just when you thought the Seattle Pilots might settle down and make a sensible selection, they remind everyone that “sensible” appears nowhere in their organizational mission statement.
This is already the franchise responsible for one of the biggest moves of the offseason, shipping away the first overall pick and walking away with Vladimir Guerrero. At the time, I described Seattle’s strategy as a simple one:
Best player available.
Every pick.
Every round.
Consequences to be determined later.
And twelve selections into this draft, they’re sticking to that philosophy.
The obvious choice here is Paul Lo Duca.
Which immediately raises an uncomfortable question:
Why is Paul Lo Duca still available?
On talent alone, he probably shouldn’t be.
A potential 3.5-star catcher with elite contact skills, legitimate defensive value behind the plate, and a ceiling that compares favorably to almost every hitter still available should not be hanging around at Pick #12.
And yet here we are.
The answer is simple: age.
Lo Duca is 25 and knocking on the door of 26. Unlike the teenagers and early-20s prospects littering the top of the draft board, he doesn’t come with a decade of projection remaining. There’s still development left to unlock, but teams naturally become nervous when that development has to happen later in a player’s career arc.
Will he fill out completely?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
That’s the gamble.
But here’s the thing: Seattle is uniquely positioned to make that gamble.
This franchise isn’t drafting around a narrow competitive window. They’re not one piece away from contention. They aren’t worried about maximizing value around an aging core.
They’re trying to build something from scratch.
And if you’re rebuilding from scratch, upside matters.
The Pilots already landed Vladimir Guerrero, a hitter whose contact ability gives opposing pitchers nightmares. Now they potentially add another impact bat with elite contact skills, creating the foundation of an offense that could become incredibly difficult to pitch against.
Suddenly the lineup starts looking interesting.
Very interesting.
The rotation? Well… let’s call it a work in progress.
And by “work in progress,” I mean there will probably be games where Seattle scores eight runs and loses by four.
But that’s tomorrow’s problem.
Today is about accumulating talent.
Among the players still available, Lo Duca offers more offensive upside than any pitcher on the board. The risk is real. The age concerns are legitimate. The possibility that he never fully reaches the ceiling exists.
Seattle doesn’t care.
This is a franchise embracing volatility.
This is a franchise betting on talent.
This is a franchise looking at a risky player and saying, “Good. Give us another one.”
The Pilots continue to swing for the fences.
PICK #12
Seattle Pilots select C Paul Lo Duca