ERIC WOOD
THIRD BASE
Born: November 22, 1992
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 195
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Drafted: 6th Round, 196th Overall, 2012
How Acquired: Draft
College: Blinn College (TX JC)
Agent: N/A

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES
The Pirates drafted aggressively in the first five rounds of the 2012 draft, so they may have been trying to save a little money with Wood, who wasn’t listed among Baseball America’s top 500 draft prospects.  He’s from Canada and was drafted by the Athletics out of high school in 2011, but didn’t sign.  He played third as well as pitching a little for Blinn.  He has some power potential due to good bat speed.  Judging from some comments by his coach, the team originally considered Wood more of a pitcher, but he won the team’s HR-hitting contest and ended up playing third regularly.  Wood signed right after the draft for $100,000, which was a little more than half the slot amount.

2012
R:  287/371/467, 122 AB, 8 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 14 BB, 25 K, 2-6 SB
A-:  200/190/350, 20 AB, 1 2B, 1 3B, 9 K

Wood started off in the GCL and hit well, showing good power.  He played well enough that the Pirates chose to play him at third and Edwin Espinal at first in the playoffs, which forced Stetson Allie to the bench.  The Pirates promoted him briefly to State College.  He struggled to make contact there, but it was only a small number of at-bats.

Wood will open as the thirdbaseman at West Virginia in 2013.  It’s an aggressive assignment, something the Pirates are doing a lot with players in low A, and it shows they think Wood has a good ceiling.
STATS
Baseball Reference–Minors
Fangraphs
MiLB.com
NJCAA
BA
OBP
SLG
AB
2B
3B
HR
SB
CS
2012 .318 .425 .462 173 13 0 4 9 2
CONTRACT INFORMATION
2013: Minor league contract.
PLAYER INFORMATION
Signing Bonus: $100,000
MiLB Debut: 2012
MLB Debut:
MiLB FA Eligible: 2018
MLB FA Eligible:
Rule 5 Eligible: 2015
Added to 40-Man:
Options Remaining: 3
MLB Service Time: 0.000
TRANSACTIONS
June 8, 2011: Drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 37th round, 1126th overall pick.
June 5, 2012: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 6th round, 196th overall pick; signed on June 13.