LSU outfielder Dylan Crews is, according to Tigers coach Jay Johnson, “the perfectly built baseball player.”

Power. Speed. Defense. Smarts. There is little Johnson believes Crews can’t do.

“He’s the best college hitter I’ve ever seen,” Johnson said.

Such are the riches Johnson and LSU enjoyed this year on the way to the national title that for all of Crews’ singular talent, depending on who you ask Crews might not even be the best major league prospect on his team.

Having a pitcher who hits triple digits with alarming regularity and remarkable ease will do that. Paul Skenes spent the last six months lighting radar guns with impressive fastballs, making a compelling case that he’s the most major-league-ready college pitcher since Stephen Strasburg more than a decade ago.

Crews and Skenes have been the consensus top two picks for months.

Yet the consensus won’t matter when the Pirates are on the clock Sunday night in Seattle with the first overall selection in the MLB Draft for the second time in three years. While Pirates general manager Ben Cherington has a healthy respect for Crews and Skenes, he doesn’t sound like someone in a hurry to send MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to the podium to change the arc of a player’s life and — Pittsburgh hopes — the trajectory of the franchise.

Maybe it’s simple gamesmanship. Maybe it’s Cherington’s inherent pragmatism. Maybe it’s sincerity. Whatever it is, Cherington has made it a point in recent weeks to stress who is going at the very top end of the draft isn’t a given. At least not in Pittsburgh.

“We think it’s a strong group,” Cherington said. “By group, I really do mean that it goes much deeper than two players.”

Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford put together a season nearly as impressive as Crews’. High schoolers Max Clark and Walker Jenkins are short on experience but long on potential.

The Pirates went off-script in 2021 when they chose catcher Henry Davis at “1-1.” Davis, who made his MLB debut last month, signed for under slot value, giving Cherington more money to spend later.

The pick came with the Pirates still in the early stages of a top-to-bottom overhaul Cherington began when he took over in the fall of 2019, an overhaul predicated on accumulating as many quality prospects as possible. The Pirates are in a slightly different position now, with the window to contention far closer now than it was two years ago.

Not that Cherington thinks his team’s modest step forward in 2023 after consecutive 100-loss seasons will lead him into taking a player that could be in the majors sooner rather than later.

“Even if you’re talking about a college player that might be a little closer (to the majors) than a high school player, a lot can happen in this game, even between this year and 12 months from now, a lot can happen to our team and what the needs might be and what the fit might be.”

Cherington vowed the Pirates will spend their full draft allotment but sidestepped when asked if Pittsburgh would go over slot value to lock down the first pick, saying “we’re just focused on getting the board set up and getting the order right or, at least in our opinion right. I believe that needs to come first.”

Crews and Skenes insist they are up for whatever no matter when they hear their name called on Sunday. They can control their preparation and their effort. The rest — particularly the constantly-shifting dynamics that shape the top of the draft and all the noise that comes with it — is out of their control. AP Sports Writers Dave Campbell, Stephen Hawkins and Brett Martel contributed to this report.