{"id":241246,"date":"2026-07-11T22:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/241246\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T22:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:19:20","slug":"pirates-draft-lsu-outfielder-derek-curiel-with-5th-overall-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/241246\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirates Draft LSU Outfielder Derek Curiel With 5th Overall Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"DerekPhoto from LSU Baseball\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

PITTSBURGH \u2014 With the fifth overall pick in the first round of the MLB Draft, the Pirates selected LSU outfielder Derek Curiel. <\/p>\n

\u201cDerek is an exciting addition to our organization and someone who we believe has the talent, character and work ethic to make a meaningful impact,\u201d said Pirates Senior Vice President, Assistant General Manager Kevan Graves. \u201cHe is a well-rounded, athletic player with an advanced approach at the plate, exceptional bat-to-ball skills and the ability to impact the game in all facets.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Third-Team All-America and Second-Team All-SEC selection, the 21-year-old Curiel slashed .353\/.431\/.526 with 18 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 46 RBIs and 13 steals in 58 games as a sophomore this past season for the Tigers.<\/p>\n

Curiel, ranked as MLB Pipeline\u2019s 12th-best prospect available in this year\u2019s draft class, was named the 2025 National Freshman of the Year after batting .345\/.470\/.519 with 20 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 55 RBIs and three stolen bases. He batted .390 during the NCAA tournament and led the Tigers to a College World Series championship.<\/p>\n

Curiel, who is listed at 6-2 and 192 pounds, was one of three outfielders on the 2026 American Baseball Coaches Association Gold Glove team for NCAA Division I as a sophomore. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis accomplishments in the SEC speak for themselves, but what stood out just as much throughout the evaluation process was the person,\u201d Graves said. \u201cDerek is also an outstanding teammate, relentlessly driven to improve and a fierce competitor who is committed to being the best version of himself every day. We are thrilled to welcome him to the Pirates organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

A native of West Covina, Calif., Curiel was a standout player for Orange Lutheran, the same high school that produced Gerrit Cole, who was selected by the Pirates with the first pick out of UCLA in the 2011 draft.<\/p>\n

The slot value for the fifth pick is $8,336,500.<\/p>\n

This marks the third time the Pirates have taken a college hitter Ben Cherington, joining Nick Gonzales (7th overall, 2020) and Henry Davis (1st overall, 2021). <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the first five picks of the draft unfolded:<\/p>\n

White Sox: Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA<\/p>\n

Rays: Grady Emerson, SS, Texas (High School)<\/p>\n

Twins: Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech<\/p>\n

Giants: Jackson Flora, RHP, UC Santa Barbara <\/p>\n

Pirates: Derek Curiel, OF, LSU<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned in this article: Derek Curiel<\/a> MLB Draft<\/a> Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> <\/p>\n

More about:MLB Draft<\/a> Pirates<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo from LSU Baseball PITTSBURGH \u2014 With the fifth overall pick in the first round of the MLB…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[103555,31271,73,75,74,10997],"class_list":["post-241246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-derek-curiel","tag-mlb-draft","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-pirates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}