What it means: First round pick Gunnar Hoglund turns down Pirates for Rebs

Gunnar Hoglund, a right-handed pitcher out of Florida, was taken with the 36th overall pick in the MLB Draft last month. At the time, Hoglund said a verbal deal with Pittsburgh was in place, but the Ole Miss signee never put ink to contract and will instead be a Rebels for at least three seasons.

He's the second-highest draft pick to ever make it to campus for Ole Miss -- behind Alan Horne (27th pick in 2001) -- and he anchors and incoming pitching class that should have three immediate contributors.

Hoglund is already in summer school in Oxford.

Ole Miss has to replace its entire weekend rotation, and Hoglund enters that competition from day one competing for one of the three spots. With Ryan Rolison, Brady Feigl and James McArthur all gone, the returning pitchers most likely to factor in are Will Ethridge, Jordan Fowler and Houston Roth. However, the Rebels are bringing in talented freshmen Hoglund and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, lefty Kaleb Hill -- as well as three-pitch junior college transfer Zackarie Phillips.

With the majority of the offense returning, the questions are mostly on the mound, but there are talented pieces to place in some order. With Hoglund and Hill, Ole Miss also has a couple anchors for the next three seasons if expectations are met.

Hoglund made national headlines by not walking a batter through the first 50 innings of the season, while accumulating 107 strikeouts. He told RebelGrove.com that he only had six three-ball counts during that stretch.

He's elevated his velocity to the mid 90s and the curve ball and changeup could play up at the college level. And, as mentioned above, unlike Ryan Rolison, it's a three-year minimum, as his birthday doesn't allow him to be eligible for the 2020 MLB Draft.

On the night of the draft things seemed to be 100 percent in Pittsburgh's favor.

Since teams lose the slot value of a pick if he doesn't sign, as soon as Hoglund came off the board all sides expected him to be a Pirate in short order. On the night of the draft, Hoglund gave this quote to the Tampa Times.

""It was a crazy process," Hoglund said. "They called to see if they could get something worked out and then we agreed to the deal. It was a long night."

He even went to say he would complete his physical and report to rookie camp in Bradenton, Florida, "in a few weeks."

But then nothing happened. Pittsburgh signed the majority of its other picks in the top 10 rounds, and as of last week there was approximately $2.48 million remaining in the bonus pool to offer to Hoglund. The slot value for the 36th pick is $1,967,900.

Hoglund attended orientation at Ole Miss for summer school and then enrolled in the second session in Oxford. On Thursday, the Pirates signed 11th round pick Michael Burrows with a $500,000 bonus -- $375,000 of which counted against the top-10 round pool.

As word gained strength that Hoglund would turn down the Pirates -- with MLB insider Jim Callis even calling him the most likely player in the top 10 rounds not to sign -- Pittsburgh added some meat to another bonus or two outside the top 10 rounds and lowered its ability to throw a last-day offer at Hoglund that would turn make an impact.

Since Pittsburgh offered a competitive bonus, it will be awarded a compensatory pick in next year's draft.

Perfect Game National Scouting Supervisor Brian Sakowski shared his thoughts on Hoglund with RebelGrove.com.

Hoglund has been on the national radar for awhile now, having committed to Ole Miss and being a legitimate two-way prospect at the collegiate level. To my knowledge, Ole Miss is planning on playing him both ways should he make it to Oxford.

He’s taking a large step forward this spring on the mound, and obviously his ridiculous K:BB ratio has drawn national attention. He’s a big kid with physicality and projection, and his delivery/overall mechanical profile are clean and have obviously shown that he has elite strike-throwing ability. The fastball, which was more in the 87-92 mph range last summer, has taken a step forward in velocity this spring and now sits more 90-94 mph with obviously tremendous command, which is more a result of just how clean his mechanics are.

He throws a curveball and changeup, both of which are in the average range right now from the professional scouting perspective, but are plenty good enough at this juncture. It’s within reason to project him to have a plus fastball in time given the mechanical profile, arm speed, and physical projection.