PITTSBURGH -- Carmen Mlodzinski doesn¡¯t tweet. He doesn¡¯t have any social media accounts, actually. He doesn¡¯t play video games, and he intends to stick with his iPhone 5 until it gives him a reason not to.

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So how does the 21-year-old, who described himself as ¡°just kind of an old-timer,¡± pass the time? He plays the guitar and piano. He golfs on Hilton Head Island. And he pitches with the kind of competitive nature that turned washing the dishes -- yes, washing the dishes -- into a kind of sport in his house.

Impressed by his intensity and his feel for pitching, the Pirates made Mlodzinski (pronounced ¡°ma-JINSK-ee¡±) the 31st overall pick in the MLB Draft on Wednesday night.

¡°I¡¯ve definitely learned to harness that the past couple years and have the right moments for it and how to control it,¡± Mlodzinski said during a Zoom call on Thursday afternoon. ¡°That¡¯s something that¡¯s always helped me be successful.¡±

Mlodzinski didn¡¯t follow the most traditional path to becoming a Day 1 Draft pick. He was a shortstop during his first two high school seasons, although South Carolina¡¯s coaches recognized his arm strength and told him he¡¯d wind up pitching for the Gamecocks when he committed to play there. He figured he¡¯d pitched fewer than 10 innings before his senior season, but when he reported to Columbia, S.C., South Carolina¡¯s staff told him: ¡°Hey, we just want you to be a pitcher.¡±

Unpolished on the mound, Mlodzinski called his freshman season an ¡°experiment year.¡± He learned a slider, which turned into more of a cutter, and ditched his four-seam fastball in favor of a power sinker. He knew he¡¯d have a chance to be South Carolina¡¯s No. 1 starter as a sophomore, but that opportunity wasn¡¯t necessarily good for him mentally or physically.

Mlodzinski felt like his self-centered efforts to improve ¡°probably burned some relationships that I had.¡± In his third start as a sophomore, he fractured his foot. Always one to work as hard as possible -- again, his siblings used to set kitchen timers and compete to see who could wash dishes the fastest -- he had to take a step back due to the injury.

¡°That was one of those moments when I had to look back on what I was doing at the time and really try to better it from there,¡± Mlodzinski said. ¡°I want to have that downtime where I can get away a little bit, I¡¯m not consistently putting pressure on myself to compete. I can get away from the game a little bit.¡±

Like seventh overall pick Nick Gonzales, who sought to prove himself in the Cape Cod League, Mlodzinski boosted his stock last summer. The Pirates wanted to see Gonzales hit with a wood bat in the Cape Cod League. They just wanted to see Mlodzinski pitch, period.

¡°Carmen had missed some time, so we just started seeing him get a chance to get on the field and get a chance to do the things we had thought before he missed some time with a foot the previous spring,¡± Pirates amateur scouting director Joe DelliCarri said. ¡°So the Cape was a nice platform to see him compete coming off of the downtime, then we got a chance to see him early this spring.

¡°In both cases, the Cape actually was an important part of the process.¡±

? Things to know about Pirates pick Mlodzinski

Mlodzinski¡¯s performance last summer helped solidify his status as a Day 1 MLB Draft pick. The 6-foot-2 right-hander, MLB Pipeline¡¯s No. 21 Draft prospect, emerged as the best pitching prospect in the Cape Cod League as he went 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 29 1/3 innings over six starts.

¡°That was obviously the best I had pitched yet in my career,¡± Mlodzinski said. ¡°It was one of those things where I felt it was coming.¡±

Mlodzinski returned to the mound for South Carolina this spring and showed more of the same stuff, going 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings over four starts, before his redshirt sophomore season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mlodzinski has a power sinker that touched 99 mph last fall and sat around 92-96 mph in the Cape Cod League, and he can mix in a four-seam fastball. He¡¯s working on making his cutter/slider more of a power slider. He throws a curveball and a changeup, and he believes he can carry a starter¡¯s four-pitch mix. DelliCarri noted that Mlodzinski¡¯s vast arsenal proves his ability to manipulate the ball, an intriguing trait when combined with his competitive nature.

¡°Very strong competitor. We really like the way, simply put, he can make the ball move,¡± DelliCarri said. ¡°He throws different pitches. He¡¯s worked on different pitches. He has a variety of pitches that can move in different directions.¡±

DelliCarri described Mlodzinski¡¯s mound presence as ¡°fierce¡± and noted that ¡°with fierce comes intensity.¡± But Pirates scouts and executives were impressed with the way Mlodzinski said he¡¯s been able to harness that energy.

The excitement he felt Wednesday night? That¡¯s been a little harder to control.

¡°It still doesn¡¯t feel real to me yet, with how excited me and my family were,¡± Mlodzinski said. ¡°We¡¯re getting there, slowly.¡±