As he fumbled to zip up his new Pirates shirt, Cole Tucker made the press corps laugh from the first sentence.
Tucker said, “You always say you don’t want to be the guy up there fumbling with his button in front of the entire press conference.”
None of the traits of a first-round draftee that you can glean from his initial news conference are baseball-related, except how he looks in that uniform.
With the media, you can discern maturity and individuality. Tucker, who is 17 years old, exuded maturity, ease, and humility in this regard.
“I feel like I have to develop in every element of my game if I want to be a major leaguer,” Tucker said. “Right now, nothing I’m doing is good enough for me to go out on that field.”
Tucker signs with the Pirates, beginning his career with the Gulf Coast League Pirates in Bradenton, after agreeing to a $1.8 million signing bonus that is below slot.
He believed the Pirates would take him with the 24th overall pick roughly two choices before it happened, and going that early meant forgoing his commitment to Arizona.
Tucker recalled that after he was chosen, he was “jumping up and down, yelling, shouting.” “I was numb for a while.” “It had been a fantastic day.”
Tucker’s “now” defensive talents were commended by Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, who added that evaluators saw a shortstop who was growing and improving.
“They saw a 17-year-old who is a year ahead of his peers,” Huntington added. “They believed that if he were drafted next year, he would be among the top 5 or 10 picks in the country in his 18th year.”
How Tall Is Cole Tucker?
Cole Tucker stands at a height of 1.91 m.