2021 Draft Odds & Ends
The 2021 MLB Draft is now in the books and here are our thoughts on each teams’ draft. We will have another draft-related podcast up soon and begin to migrate newly-selected players to the pro side of The Board next week. Thanks to the scouts and executives who help make our draft coverage so thorough, and good luck to the players who were selected this week.
American League East (Kevin)
Baltimore Orioles
Many think that the Orioles were looking to make a splash with some money following what is believed to be a cost-cutting deal with Colton Cowser at number five, but that splash never really presented itself, as Baltimore went with an old school, Moneyball-style draft by using their first five picks and nine of their first 11 on college bats. Third-rounder John Rhodes, an outfielder from Kentucky, is an interesting player who had a disappointing spring but rebounded a bit in the pre-draft summer leagues. The Orioles finished Day Two with a pair of big performing third baseman from California, as both ninth-rounder Ryan Higgins (Fresno State) and 10th-rounder Billy Cook (Pepperdine) had an OPS over 1.100 this spring.
Boston Red Sox
As if getting the best player in the draft with the fourth overall pick wasn’t enough, the Red Sox decided to shoot the moon in the second round by taking the king of this year’s high-risk/high-upside group, Jud Fabian. The Florida outfielder has tools that belonged in the first 10 picks but they came with a nearly 30% strikeout rate this year, which scared teams off. There has been some talk of him returning to school, but that feels unlikely at this point. Third-rounder Tyler McDonough and fifth-rounder Nathan Hickey are both classic big college conference performers, but Boston went for some players to dream on as well, especially fourth-rounder Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, a lanky, long-levered right-handed pitcher from Puerto Rico who oozes projection. Tenth-rounder Matt Litwicki is an interesting but highly risky sleeper, as the Indiana reliever flashes big league-quality stuff but also threw just over 30 innings in his college career due to a variety of injuries.
New York Yankees
The Yankees don’t take the flashiest approach to the draft, but that has become part of their approach to amateur acquisition. They diversify their portfolio, as it were, by treating draft picks like savings bonds and international players like tech stocks. For the most part, New York’s draft was loaded with college performers, with the only high school selection third-rounder Brock Selvidge, who will likely get an over-slot bonus in order to steer the southpaw away from his LSU commitment. Fifth-round pick Tyler Hardman is a classic three true outcomes, bat-only college first baseman. Their most interesting selection was arguably sixth-round pick Richard Fitts; the Auburn righty entered the year with a chance to land in the first-round but was plagued by non-arm injuries.
Tampa Bay Rays
First-round pick Carson Williams will probably require an over-slot bonus, so the Rays likely cut a bit with their next two picks. Cooper Kinney, the 34th overall pick, was seen as more of a second-round talent, while second-round pick Kyle Manzardo is a slugging college first baseman who also went about a round higher than expected. Overall, the Rays had no real pattern so much as they just took players they liked. Keep an eye on fifth-round pick Mason Auer. Junior college stats always have to be taken with a grain of salt, but Auer hit .373/.525/.627 with 11 home runs, 66 walks and 34 stolen bases in 64 games. After taking bats with their first six picks, the Rays finished Monday with five straight arms, the most interesting of whom is arguably ninth-rounder Patrick Wicklander, a lefty out of Arkansas with all sorts of funk and deception who pitched very well in the SEC despite lacking big stuff.
Toronto Blue Jays
The major league club’s bullpen struggles might have leaked into the draft room as the Jays used their first five picks (and nine of their first 10) on pitchers, with their focus seemingly more on command that pure stuff on Day Two. Third-rounder Ricky Tiedemann was seen as the best junior college arm in the draft, but scouts were frustrated at times by his inability to perform with his stuff against not-so-great competition. Irv Carter is the only prep arm of the group. Scouts who stayed an extra day at Calvary Christian after seeing Phillies first-round pick Andrew Painter throw warmed to Carter as the spring developed thanks to his size and plus slider.
American League Central (Kevin)
Chicago White Sox
The White Sox were seen as being big on the high school infield class this year and after getting the player they wanted all along in the first with Colson Montgomery, they had to be head-over-heels to see Wes Kath still on the board at 57. He was projected as a possible Day One selection heading into Sunday evening and will require an over-slot bonus to sign. Chicago then finished the day with eight straight pitchers, beginning with Sean Burke in the third round. The Maryland righty has a special fastball in terms of spin and shape, but the rest of his repertoire and command need work. The White Sox selected plenty of money-savers late to help pay for Kath, the most interesting of whom might be Gil Luna, a little lefty reliever from Arizona who doesn’t have much in the way of pure stuff but gives left-handed hitters fits.
Cleveland
Of Cleveland’s first 11 picks, all but one was a college pitcher. That one was third-rounder Jake Fox, who isn’t quite a third-round talent but needed third-round money to lure him away from Florida, although some scouts see him as a better college prospect than a pro one. Taken with picks 58 and 69 respectively, Doug Nikhazy and Tommy Mace are both proven commodities from big schools who are likely to reach the big leagues but unlikely to make an impact once there, which defines many of the picks later on, as the team seemed to focus on strike throwers.
Detroit Tigers
After not taking a pitcher in the severely shortened 2020 draft, the Tigers made up for it by using eight of their first 11 picks on arms. They took a pause on mound pieces in the second round by nabbing Texas prep third baseman Izaac Pachecho, whose big-time power earned some first-round consideration heading into the draft. Fifth-round pick Tanner Kohlhepp is one of the more interesting picks under the hood, as the Notre Dame reliever has some of the most interesting pitch data around, including a two-seam fastball with incredible spin, but his delivery and therefore control both need considerable refinement.
Kansas City Royals
Where some teams zigged, the Royals most definitely zagged by using four of their first five picks on high school players. The whole world knew that they had something up their sleeves after stunning the industry by taking Frank Mozzicato with the seventh overall selection, and their reasoning became readily apparent when they used their second round pick on Kansas high school righty Ben Kudrna, who seemed to get better with every outing this spring and reportedly threw out a bonus demand in the $3 million neighborhood to forego his LSU commitment. In terms of their college-based selections, comp pick Peyton Wilson is the safety version as a little, second-base only player who can really hit, but one of the most fascinating selection on Day Two came in round-five selection Eric Cerantola. The Canadian product from Mississippi State has some of the best stuff in the draft, including upper 90s heat and insane spin on his breaking ball, but he hasn’t stayed healthy or harnessed his stuff into performance.
Minnesota Twins
There wasn’t really anything funky here, as the Twins pretty much played the board with every pick. Fourth-round selection Chris Encarnacion-Strand is a clear model-based pick; scouts have never warmed to him despite consistently putting up massive numbers, including an 1.103 OPS at Oklahoma State this spring. Noah Cardenas out of UCLA might be the most likely eighth-round selection to reach the majors, as his defense is presently of big league quality, but it’s unlikely he’ll ever hit enough to be any more than a player in the Quad-A/backup range.
American League West (Eric)
Houston Astros
The Astros’ limited picks and bonus pool meant that after taking two prominent, likely over-slot high schoolers early, they were forced to take several seniors. But because they pivoted to seniors earlier than most teams, they ended up with a couple of my favorites. Let’s start with the high schoolers. Bishop Gorman’s (NV) Tyler Whitaker (third round) is a traditional right field prospect with power, a projectable frame, and some swing-and-miss risk (he has a big hole down and in). Calvary Christian shortstop Alex Ulloa (fourth) is similarly a power-over-hit type who is likely to end up at third base long-term. At 5-foot-11, he’s less projectable than the 6-foot-4 Whitaker, but Ulloa’s swing is much more athletic.
Wright State center fielder Quincy Hamilton (fifth) and Duke center fielder Joey Loperfido (7) are toolsy seniors. Hamilton had a huge statistical breakout in 2021 with 15 homers and 20 steals after he never had more than two homers and three steals in any previous season. He’s definitely a pull-heavy hitter but he has the pop to take balls out to the opposite field, he walked more than he struck out this year, and just generally checks lots of scouty boxes. Loperfido has a great baseball frame and an interesting power/speed blend, but his approach can be an issue. Fourth rounder Chayce McDermott out of Ball State has a relief look. His arm action is long but loose, he gets down the mound well, his fastball has carry, and his curveball has depth and bite. If he enjoys a velo spike out of the bullpen, he’s a high-probability bullpen piece.
Los Angeles Angels
The Angels approach to this year’s draft was a little extreme. They took only pitchers, and all but one of them was a college prospect. Is this because the Angels seem to take a model-heavy approach and the lack of 2020 data for hitters reduced confidence in them? Is this driven by the club’s need to run pitching up the minor league ladder quickly to bolster the staff during their current window? Is it because college pitchers are most likely to be shut down after the draft (the Angels typically shut down college arms post-draft) due to innings increases between 2020-21, and this allows the Angels to retain all of their current minor leaguers rather than release some like other teams seem likely to do? All of these are plausible explanations.
If Sam Bachman (first round) can stay healthy, then he will help the team out of the bullpen within the next 18 months, probably in high-leverage innings. The same might be true of many of the college pitchers drafted here, though perhaps without that level of impact. Ky Bush (second) out of St. Mary’s has the best chance to work late-innings if he can sustain mid-90s velo out of the bullpen, to pair with his fastball’s carry, his mechanical deception, and a plus slider. Vanderbilt’s Luke Murphy (fourth) brings huge velo and fringe secondary stuff, but he has four pitches and it makes sense to run him out as a starter to give those secondaries more developmental oxygen. Jake Smith (sixth) out of Miami sits 93-95, will touch 98, and flash a plus slider, but he’s very erratic. Arkansas righty Ryan Costeiu (seventh) sits 92-94 and has as good changeup. Ninth round Tulane righty Braden Olthoff’s slider makes hitters look ridiculous. He has a 10:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio throughout his career but he’s a 30 athlete with a really weird delivery, though that’s part of why he’s so hard for hitters to pick up. Third rounder Landon Marceaux out of LSU has the best chance to start because of his breaking ball command. South Carolina leaned on righty Andrew Peters (10th) in big spots. He’s well-built and throws hard (up to 98), but needs to find a better slider. Chase Silseth (11th) out of Arizona threw about as hard as any Division-I starter and would routinely touch 96-97 when he wanted to, but he still got hit around. Some of that may have bene due to the hitting environment in Tucson. I’d like to see him return to the splitter grip he had in junior college. He could lean on his secondaries more to mitigate how hittable his fastball is despite its velo. Mo Hanley (13th) looked like an interesting small school, cold weather pop-up arm at tiny Adrian College in Michigan early in the year, but blew out and needed Tommy John. The lone prepster taken here was IMG Academy’s Mason Albright (12th), a low three-quarters lefty with a long arm action and changeup feel. He sits about 90.
Oakland Athletics
Oakland ended up drafting a nice mix of perceived floor and upside. First rounder Max Muncy is a hit-tool-driven high school middle infielder, second round Virginia third baseman Zack Gelof is a well-rounded offensive player with a plus glove at third, and fourth round Cal State Northridge outfielder Denzel Clarke has gargantuan tools. The selection of Garder-Webb senior Mason Miller in the third round is an indication Muncy might be over-slot. He’s a prospect in his own right, a relief-only look up to 98.
Then came some high-floored role player types. CJ Rodriguez and Drew Swift are two of my favorite, no-doubt, up-the-middle defenders in this draft. Rodriguez (fifth round) has more experience catching pro stuff than anyone in this draft class because he’s been at Vanderbilt. He’s a high-probability backup catcher because of his glove and feel for contact. Swift (eighth) can really pick it at shortstop but needs to get stronger. I’ve had the pleasure of watching him play defense for half a decade already, and now he’ll take spring training infield 10 minutes from my house. Cal two-way player Grant Holman (sixth) is a very physical arm strength/power prospect who might find better breaking ball feel with focus on pitching. A Day Three sleeper to watch here is 11th rounder Eduardo Rivera, an 18-year-old lefty out of Puerto Rico who stands in at 6-foot-7, 237 pounds. He was up to 97 in the MLB Draft League and has a big, vertical curveball. He looks like a nasty lefty power reliever.
Seattle Mariners
The Mariners Complex Level team became a must-watch with the additions of three high-upside high schoolers in catcher Henry Ford (first round), shortstop Edwin Arroyo (second), and righty Michael Morales (third). Ford is a tightly-wound athlete with rare speed for a prospective catcher, and there’s a chance he moves to center field eventually. Regardless of where he plays, he’s got a good chance to stay up the middle somewhere. Ford lacks physical projection as he’s already really strong, but there’s an exciting hit/power combination in place here.
Arroyo, from Puerto Rico, is a unique prospect. He’s a switch-hitting two-way player (just a shortstop in pro ball, though) who pitches left-handed but plays infield defense righty. A fluid and athletic defender with great defensive actions, Arroyo is likely to stay at short and could be above-average there in time. His lefty cut is better than the right, and has big, pull-side lift. We don’t have great feel for his approach quality yet, but even if he has an aggressive one, he looks like a potential role 45 type in the Freddy Galvis mold, where there’s some pop and good shortstop defense, but a low OBP.
Morales is your central casting high school pitcher: a low-90s fastball, feel for landing an average curveball that comes and goes, and the frame and athleticism to dream on more. His breaking ball needs more power. Based on how this org has operated lately, I’d expect him to throw harder and add an average breaking ball at some point in the minors.
Texas A&M fourth rounder Bryce Miller already throws really hard, up to 98, sitting in the 92-96 range as a starter. He has a pure relief look, with lots of effort and a very long arm action. If his breaking ball location consistency improves, then Miller will at least be a good reliever.
I dig sixth round Cal Poly right Bryan Woo, who has a very efficient arm action and takes a gargantuan, but balanced stride down the mound. He’s almost exclusively a fastball/slider guy right now (he locates the slider, though stuff-wise it’s a 30), but I think his arm action portends significant changeup development.
Texas Rangers
Jack Leiter is very good. He joins the deepest farm system in baseball and will soon be part of the young wave of reinforcements likely to comprise the next competitive Rangers club. Oregon 3B/OF Aaron Zavala (second round) had one of the best statistical seasons in college baseball, slashing .392/.525/.628 with nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts. He has fantastic plate coverage and feel for the zone, but only has doubles power right now. Because Zavala is relatively positionless and lacks big pop, he has doubters. He’s also barely 21, has an athletic cut, and is a well-made athlete. I think he’ll retain the context-oriented approach that has worked for him, especially with two strikes, but come into situational power as he continues to mature, physically.
Third round high school shortstop Cam Cauley from Barbers Hill, outside Houston, is a plus runner with plus-plus defensive hands and advanced feel for contact. He needs to get much stronger. Fourth round Iowa high school catcher Ian Moller has electric hitting hands that work in the same way as guys I’ve recently been too heavy on: Keston Hiura and Carter Kieboom. Those hitters have ended up having strikeout issues and Moller, who was one of the more prominent high schoolers entering last summer, has had similar problems. He’s an upside/risk, power-hitting catching prospect. Lefty high schooler Mitch Bratt (fifth) is a Canadian pitcher who played in Georgia during the spring. He currently sits in the high-80s with some carry, and has some reverse projection and feel for a loopy curveball. I didn’t know anything about Jojo Blackmon (11th) until I began writing this piece, but I’m excited to watch him in Arizona this summer. He’s a two-sport high schooler (wide receiver) who pitched and played center field for the baseball team. He’s tooled out — plus run, arm, above-average bat speed — and has a sweet, low-ball swing. The hit tool piece is a relative unknown. This is the second year in a row the Rangers have taken college performers early and mixed in several $1 million-ish sort of high schoolers later. Sixth rounder Chase Lee out of Alabama has rare velocity for a sidearmer, sitting 92-95 late in the year.
National League East (Eric)
Atlanta Braves
Ryan Cusick (first round) brings elite velocity and a plus breaking ball out of Wake Forest. He might move really quickly as a reliever, but otherwise needs a lot of seasoning if he’s to start. Two-way Nebraska prospect Spencer Schwellenbach (second) has a relief look on the mound. The delivery comp here is JB Bukauskas, and like Bukauskas, Schwellenbach will show you mid-90s with a plus slider. As a position player, he’s pretty generic tools-wise, but has great breaking ball recognition. He can make routine plays at short and has good actions around the bag, but struggles to make plays in the hole despite his arm. Third round senior Dylan Dodd began his career at a junior college, then transferred to Southeast Missouri State. His fastball generates a ton of whiffs in the zone. He locates his secondary stuff pretty consistently but they are of mixed quality.
The Braves are sticking to their guns and still prioritizing up-the-middle college players early, then scooping up a couple over slot high schoolers later. Fourth round shortstop Cal Conley out of Texas Tech originally attended Miami (but never played there) and transferred to Texas Tech, where he only played the 2020 and ’21 seasons. He slugged .600 during his career there. Conley is a switch-hitter with pull power from both sides of the plate. He looked rough on defense during the college postseason and may not have the hands for the infield. Luke Waddell (fifth) had a decorated college career at Georgia Tech as a short-levered MIF who makes a ton of contact, but with little impact. His teammate at Tech, Justin Henry-Malloy (sixth), had a power-hitting breakout after transferring from Vanderbilt.
The high school group began with two Texans. First was right-hander pitcher AJ Smith-Shawver (seventh), a two-sport star in high school whose frame (6-foot-3, 205), present arm strength (up to 95 last summer), and arm action make for an exciting developmental foundation. Next was center fielder Tyler Collins (eighth), a 70-grade runner with a slash-and-dash approach to contact. Canadian lefty Adam Shoemaker (11th) experienced a huge velo spike and was into the 93-95 range this spring after sitting about 87 during the 2020 summer. His delivery is pretty vilent but Shoemaker also has a ton of room on his frame.
Miami Marlins
Kahlil Watson (first round) is likely over-slot to an extent, as evidenced by Miami taking four seniors on Day Two. But because they were able to pick New York high school catcher Joe Mack (Comp A), Boston College middle infielder Cody Morissette (whose name was all over the second round rumors), and high school shortstop Jordan McCants, Watson’s deal was probably not extremely over-slot. There will be Jazz Chisholm Jr. comparisons made to Watson. He’s not that kind of defender but does have that kind of bat speed and power potential. Mack has rare power for a catcher. Morissette entered the spring in the first round mix, then really struggled out of the gate before rebounding late. He’s a good utility type. McCants is a frame-based developmental project. Senior Tanner Allen (fourth) is a little too aggressive, but he has plus bat speed and reminds me of Corey Dickerson.
New York Mets
The Mets drafted several pitchers who have arguably regressed. Kumar Rocker (first round) began the year second on our draft board but his stuff slipped. He still pitched well and even with diminished velocity his secondary stuff can carry him to a 2 WAR sort of starter outcome, and if the Mets can find his peak form again then look out. Carson Seymour (sixth) entered the year as a big velo relief prospect but he posted an ERA over 6.00. Virginia’s Mike Vasil could have made seven figures coming out of high school but went in the eighth round this year. Rocker’s reported deal was about $1.25 million over slot and the Mets probably cut little deals all over Day Two. Second rounder Calvin Ziegler, a Canadian high school righty, throws hard with big effort. He was passed over in 2020 and went to an athletics school in Florida this year. Dominic Hamel was one of Justin Choi’s sleepers.
Philadelphia Phillies
First round high schooler Andrew Painter came in under-slot and that’s part of why the Phillies were able to draft four more high schoolers on Day Two. He’s much like most high schoolers except he has an XXL frame at a hulking 6-foot-7. He’s typically sitting mid-90s with an absolute hammer curveball. South Alabama outfielder Ethan Wilson was great value in the second round. He’s performed for three years in an underrated conference and has a good hit/power combination. He actually ranked one slot higher than Painter on The Board and we thought he’d slide into the back of the first round due to the lack of college bats.
The high schoolers were: Jordan Viars (third round), a big-framed corner outfielder from Texas. He’s short to the ball with power toward both gaps. I got pre-draft feedback that Micah Ottenbreit (fourth) from Michigan should be on our Board. He’s a super-projectable righty with low-90s velo right now, and a more advanced curveball/changeup complement than is typical for cold weather high schoolers. Jose Pena (sixth) is a very physical righty from Tampa Prep who has been into the mid-90s with plus-flashing curveballs and the occasional average changeup. Gavin Tonkel (ninth) can really run and has a good baseball frame.
Among their college crop was Virginia right-handed pitcher Griff McGarry (fifth) who has three plus pitches and 20 control. I also like physical lefty-hitting 12th rounder T.J. Rumfield out of Virginia Tech. He has big league physicality and power.
Washington Nationals
Aside from Brady House, the Nationals picked Kentucky high school outfielder Daylen Lile (second round), who has one of the more advanced high school hit tools in the draft, and South Carolina high schooler T.J. White, a switch-hitter with a big frame and majestic power. Then they took several big school college performers. Arizona outfielder Branden Boissiere (third) entered the spring with less of a profile than other Wildcats and then had the best statistical season on the team and led Division-I in hits. He has a good shot to be the larger half of an outfield platoon, at least. Left-handed pitcher Dustin Saenz and DH Will Frizzell are two seniors out of Texas Tech. Frizzell has among the most present raw power in this class. Saenz has a slider-heavy approach to pitching.
National League Central (Eric)
Chicago Cubs
In addition to adding Kansas State lefty Jordan Wicks in the first round, the Cubs scooped up Virginia high school hit tool prodigy James Triantos in the second round. Triantos has a full writeup here. He seemed to have homes as high as the comp round, so he was good value in the last third of round two. The Cubs third rounder, lanky, two-way lefty Drew Gray from IMG Academy in Florida, was announced as a pitcher. He’s an athletic, projectable lefty who gets way down the mound and is very balanced over his lead leg as he delivers home with big extension and flat angle. He also has feel for a loopy breaking ball that lefty hitters struggle with because of Gray’s length. With the Cubs newfound ability to develop velocity, this is a very exciting pickup. Gray sat 87-91 and touched 94 last summer.
Chicago then mixed in several high-profile college bats with those two high schoolers. Arkansas center fielder Christian Franklin (fourth round) has vanilla tools but performed for three years in the SEC. Tennessee shortstop Liam Spence (fifth) went from the college postseason to Cape Cod, where he played for Harwich for about a week leading up to the draft. He is of Aussie descent, spent two years at an Arizona JUCO, and walked more than he struck out as a 23-year-old senior with Tennessee. He might have more upside than most seniors because of his background.
Seventh rounder Parker Chavers was a high-profile 2020 draft prospect who had labrum surgery in December of 2019 and had no time to recover and play last season before the shutdown. He went undrafted in 2020 then had diminished pop in ’21. Arkansas catcher Casey Opitz (eighth) is a field general with a good shot to eventually end up on a 40-man since he’s a workmanlike, switch-hitting catcher who can play the position well.
Senior sign Riley Martin (sixth) is a lefty with a big curveball who struck out nearly two batters per inning at Division-II Quincy University. Ninth rounder Chase Watkins transferred from Cal Poly to Oregon State where he only sat about 88-92, but his curveball spins at about 2900 rpm, and he has good feel for slider location (he throws it more than the curve). Duke senior Peter Matt (10th) is a physical righty outfielder with some thump.
Cincinnati Reds
Aside from Jay Allen (Bauer comp pick), who was slated to go near where he was picked, the Reds drafted all college guys on the first two days, including an early senior in Matheu Nelson (comp A). They drafted more junior college prospects than any other team on Day Three. After Nelson, they picked Virginia lefty Andrew Abbott (second) who has a vertical fastball/curveball combo but doesn’t throw all that hard, which the new Reds dev group should be able to remedy. Hopefully the same is true of Oregon State College World Series hero Kevin Abel (seventh), who looked amazing the first week of the college season then fell off in a big way. When he’s right, he has two plus weapons in his curve and changeup, but he only sits about 87. South Carolina righty Thomas Farr (fifth) is the opposite. He’s been up to 98 but has inconsistent feel for release, which makes his slider quality pretty variable.
The Redlegs also scooped up two high-variance college hitters in NC State shortstop Jose Torres (third) and UNC center fielder Justice Thompson (sixth). Torres was a toolsy, but older high schooler from the Baltimore area who went to school and crushed non-conference play before the 2020 shutdown. His poor approach was exposed more during his sophomore-eligible 2021, but he’s a slick shortstop with pull power and those are hard to find. Thompson was a JUCO transfer to Chapel Hill who went bonkers during 2021 non-conference play then came back to Earth when he saw ACC pitching. He’s got that shooting guard build so he might still grow into power while staying in center. Florence-Darling Tech righty Hunter Parks (eighth) was scouted heavily in late-May at the JUCO World Series. He has a huge frame (6-foot-4, 190), low-90s velo, and a good changeup. The lone senior I have notes on here is 290-pound San Jose State masher Ruben Ibarra (fourth), who takes remarkably athletic cuts for someone his size.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers took a mono-college approach for the second straight year, mixing in two JUCO prospects among four-year guys. It’s possible selecting senior lefty Russell Smith (second round) out of TCU helped facilitate the selection of physical SoCal hitter Roc Riggio (11th) on Day Three. Smith creates really tough angle on his pitches (a Brewer pattern of acquisition), will show you 95, and he executes his changeup with remarkable consistency for a 40-grade athlete. I thought Lousiville 3B/1B Alex Binelas was great value in the third round. He’s reworked his body and added more raw power since his stellar freshman year, but his hit tool regressed. He has a good shot to be a corner platoon bat at least. Duke SS Ethan Murray (fifth) and Minnesota 2B Zack Raabe (eighth) are two well-rounded potential utility types. South Carolina C/DH Wes Clarke (10th) was among the NCAA home run leaders. Fourth round JUCO arm Logan Henderson has a plus changeup, while sixth round JUCO arm Carlos Rodriguez is a plus on-mound athlete with big time arm speed. He’s wild, but has more upside than Henderson.
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates ended up taking several seniors to help try to accommodate the big upside high schoolers they took in rounds two through four, including Dallas Baptist second baseman Jackson Glenn (fifth round), who I thought was one of the best seniors available. He hit 20 bombs in 2021. Pittsburgh ended up with four of our top 54 prospects — Henry Davis (first), Anthony Solometo (second), Lonnie White (comp B), and Bubba Chandler (third), who was announced as a pitcher. This was our third-ranked farm system but they may have pushed themselves past Toronto with this draft. Davis was our second-ranked prospect. He has big power, feel for contact, and a plus-plus arm. Solometo has a long, low arm action, very advanced east/west command, and his slider projects to plus at peak. He needs to find a better changeup but his chances seem pretty good, despite his long arm action, because he has such good feel to pitch already, and his changeup’s movement will mimic his fastball’s since he’s a lower slot guy.
Fourth-round high school pitcher Owen Kellington was a participant in the Draft League and combine. He has a delivery similar to Ubaldo Jiménez’s, where his front side flies way open and he tilts out, which helps Kellington get to a vertical arm slot. That creates backspin and carry on his fastball and big depth on his curve. He sits in the high-80s but has promising underlying traits.
St. Louis Cardinals
After Michael McGreevy (first round), the Cardinals took Massachusetts high school outfielder Josh Baez (second), who is similar to Jordan Walker in that he is young for the draft and already has gigantic power. We had Baez ranked ahead of McGreevy on The Board. Arizona outfielder Ryan Holgate (comp B) also has big power. His contact sounds different off the bat than the other U of A hitters, many of whom also slugged a ton because of the offensive environment in Tucson. Holgate put about a third of his balls in play over 95 mph this year. Third round UNC righty Austin Love has a reliever’s athleticism but he can bring it. His fastball runs up to 98 mph, and he has great slider command, so maybe I’m under-selling his chances to start, or at least work multiple innings out of the bullpen.
Zane Mills (fourth) of Washington State sits in the 90-91 area, has good slider command, and his delivery disrupts hitter timing. Alfredo Ruiz (sixth) of Long Beach State sits in the upper-80s and has a good changeup. Villanova righty Gordon Graceffo (fifth) also pitched on Cape Cod just before the draft. He was up to 95 with sink and tail, his changeup has a lot of action, and he has feel for a 40-grade breaking ball.
Colorado prep arm Alec Willis (seventh) will likely be for over-slot. Pre-draft rumors had him possibly coming off the board in the late third, early fourth round for about $1 million. He’s a classic projection arm: mostly 90-94 with a precocious breaking ball. Texas fifth-year senior center fielder Mike Antico (8) is a physical, short-levered, 70 runner. He spent four years at St. John’s, then transferred to Texas for 2021 and swiped 41 bags.
National League West (Kevin)
Arizona Diamondbacks
No other first-round pick is likely to create more drama between now and the signing deadline than Jordan Lawlar. He told teams he needed elite money or he’d go to Vanderbilt and re-emerge in 2023, and the Diamondbacks’ $5.74 million slot at pick six does not meet that demand. The D-backs took some money-savers from picks five to 10, but that still might not be enough, and industry sources have indicated that Arizona made the pick without have a concrete deal in place. Their most interesting (but not necessarily best) pick on Day Two came in the competitive balance round, when they selected Miami catcher Adrian Castillo, who entered the season as an upper first-round pick but then had a miserable spring campaign for the Hurricanes.
Colorado Rockies
Colorado’s draft room looked barren during MLB Network’s cut-ins and their front office seems to be held together by glue and string at this point, but with all of that said, I like this draft. They started Monday with a pair of power arms, and if second-round selection Jaden Hill signs and makes a successful return from Tommy John surgery, he’s a clear first-round talent. Comp pick Joe Rock is a six-foot-six lefty with power stuff, but questions about command and his future role is what kept him out of day one. Third-round pick McCade Brown showed flashes of impressive stuff during his career at Indiana, and while fourth-rounder Hunter Goodman is unlikely to catch as a pro, he’s got plenty of power and had one scout comparing him to a more compact version of current Colorado first baseman C.J. Cron. It’s not an amazing draft, but every pick certainly made sense.
Los Angeles Dodgers
While it’s hard to know whether or not this was the strategy before the magnets started coming off draft boards, the Dodgers showed plenty of faith in their well-regarded player development system by using their first nine picks on arms, starting with two prep players and finishing with seven consecutive college selections. While many teams focused, and at times overly so, on strike-throwers during Monday’s flurry of picks, the Dodgers often did the opposite, as any of Maddux Bruns (first round), Nick Nastrini (fourth), Emmet Sheehan (sixth), or Ben Harris (eighth) could end up looking like steals if the Dodgers’ system can get more strikes out of their already plus stuff. This is a fascinating draft class filled with risky dice rolls, but the potential payoff is quite significant.
San Diego Padres
Jackson Merrill is a nice high school bat but few saw him as a first-round pick. It’s didn’t take long to figure out San Diego’s master plan when they used their second-round selection on James Wood, who is rumored to have thrown out big bonus demands over the weekend. Wood has as much, if not more, raw power than anyone in the draft, and as a teenager already generates elite-level big league exit velocities from his downright gigantic 6-foot-7, 240 pound frame. He’s also an above-average runner and far more than just a one-dimensional player. There are questions (for some evaluators, massive ones) as to the quality of Wood’s hit tool, but the upside here is nothing short of tremendous.
The remainder of San Diego’s draft was more by the book, but there was a pair of interesting college picks. Fifth-rounder Max Ferguson had first-round dreams in January but really struggled at the plate for Tennessee this spring. In terms of immediacy, all eyes will be on third-rounder Kevin Kopps. The 24-year-old sixth-year senior put up PlayStation numbers at Arkansas this spring, with a 0.90 ERA and 131 strikeouts against just 18 walks in 89.2 innings out of the ‘pen, and some believe his cutter/slider combo could play in the big leagues tomorrow.
San Francisco Giants
It felt like the Giants saved money with both their third first and second round picks in Will Bednar and Fordham senior Matt Mikulski, but it’s tough to figure out where they are redistributing that extra cash, although fourth-rounder Eric Silva will likely need well over his slot to turn down UCLA. Their lottery ticket came in the form of sixth-round pick Seth Lonsway, as the Ohio State lefty has plus velocity and one of the best curveballs in the draft, but 30-grade (or worse) command. Tenth-round pick Vaun Brown is an old (23) five-year college player, but he had a crazy season at D-II Florida Southern, hitting .387/.462/.793 for the Water Moccasins. You heard that right, the Water Moccasins.
Hey Eric… The Braves did not select Schwellenbach as a SS… he was announced as a pitcher and Dana Brown said he’d be a pitcher in the system.
Nice writeup Eric and Kevin.
In the comment section of the last mock draft, I speculated that we might see Cleveland move away from drafting high school pitchers. After all, they drafted 3 pitchers in 2020 and all 3 were college pitchers. And this year has shown that they have a clear need for more pitching help sooner rather than later. But even I’m stunned that 18 or their 21 draft picks were college pitchers (plus one HS pitcher). Reportedly this wasn’t some part of a plan, it was just based on who was available when their picks came up. Still, for a team that has clear problems on offense, it was a bit strange to see them go so heavy on the pitching side.
Given their track record with pitchers and hitters they might as well just draft pitchers only and then trade some of them for hitters in AA.
This was also one of my top 3 favorite drafts too, so it’s not like the value wasn’t good. If Trey Sweeney was still on the board at 23, or Wes Kath was still on the board at 58 then I think it’s a different story since a lot of the good hitters that went right after these picks (like Wood, Trimble, and White) were overslots.
Sure that’s one way of looking at it. Though if they can’t develop hitters that they draft, why would we expect them to be able to do that with hitters that other teams drafted?
Well, by the time a guy is producing at AA he’s almost a finished product.
This is kind of what I meant. AA is the big test. If you get a hitter who has solved AA you start to feel pretty good about them. It’s not a guarantee by any means (see: Daniel Johnson) but below AA you can’t tell if you’re actually seeing something or you’re just wishcasting.
Of course, for most teams this idea would be lunacy but for Cleveland, which cannot seem to draft hitters to save their lives it would qualify as only somewhat eccentric.
Do you have any evidence for that? I found a 2019 article from Beyond the Box Score which shows a .40 correlation between AA wRC+ and major league wRC+. That’s better than the correlation between other levels and the majors but still pretty low. At the same time, I’m not that confident in the result since the article doesn’t give any information about how the correlation was constructed. So if you have other information, I’d love to see it.
(I’m not going to link to the article because that always sends my posts to comment moderation. But I’m sure you can find it if you Google it).
I don’t really have the links handy but both one thing I got out of both KATOH and ZiPs is that low-minors performance is way, way less useful than AA and AAA performance. And it’s worth noting that once you have most of a season of AA under your belt you also have the A and A+ track record to evaluate too.
Also, this evidence in any traditional sense of the word, but Kevin Goldstein, in his chat, noted that the jump from A+ to AA is dramatically harder than either the jump from A to A+ or AA to AAA. So it does at least align with Kevin’s experience.
That’s all interesting but I don’t think it really addresses the original comment from HappyFunBall: “Well, by the time a guy is producing at AA he’s almost a finished product.” Looking at the correlation that I posted above….that doesn’t seem to be even close to true.
And there’s a definite issue with that sort of strategy – i.e, trading your prospect pitchers for prospect hitters. An analysis from a few years ago in TheRinger showed that prospects that get traded do worse than those that don’t. Likely because the team trading a prospect away knows more about said player than the team acquiring them. So they know which of their prospects are likely to flop. In this case, Cleveland trades away their pitching prospects who are likely to flop in return for hitting prospects who are likely to flop. Not sure that’s a good way to build an offense.
The Indians Prospective twitter account also mentioned that the last couple international signing periods where very position players heavy, so this draft helps balance out the lower levels.
Grady Sizemore, Choo, Asdrubal Cabrera, Travis Hafner, Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes, Franmil Reyes … Cleveland has done just fine with hitters other teams started to develop.The success for their own draftees over the past 20 years is basically Lindor and Jason Kipnis. Chisenhall was ok.
Except that most of those guys were a long time ago and I doubt that anyone who is currently in the Cleveland organization had anything to do with those players. And Reyes was an established player when he was acquired.
If we look at more recent players we get guys like Bauers, Naylor, Luplow, Mercado, Rosario, Gimenez, Daniel Johnson, and Owen Miller. Granted the jury is still out on a lot of those players, but the early returns aren’t encouraging.
The guys at the top making the decisions have certainly been there since then, Antonetti’s been with them forever. And I forgot Carlos Santana. It’s way to early to judge any of those acquisitions, other than Bauers of course. I would say Naylor before his injury looked promising, ditto Luplow, and Mercado exceeded expectations .in that he ever did anything.. Gimenez looks promising, as does Gabriel Arias. But in any case, it goes to show there’s a difference between scouting other teams’ minor leagues, and scouting guys to draft. Cleveland always had a crazy imbalance where they’d make amazing trades for prospects but couldn’t ever draft and develop one of their own. And really until 2016 pitching was the same way, with Kluber, Carrasco, Clevinger, Bauer…. Masterson, Cliff Lee …
Is Drew Gray gonna be one of the more intriguing draft picks at instructs given the player profile and org fit?
The more I look at who got drafted where, I think that the three drafts I like the most here are the Pirates, Marlins, and Cleveland. The Marlins are obvious because they had big names with good scouting reports fall to them.
I saw a lot of (non-Fangraphs readers, obviously) Pirates fans upset with them picking Davis over Mayer but they probably had the best draft of anyone, even if you account for them picking first. This is what having a big bonus pool should look like–you get a guy whose grade makes him virtually tied with two other guys as the top prospect, get him to take a lot less money, and then grab elite high schoolers with big bonus demands. Chandler and Solometo are risky because they’re high school pitchers they would have been reasonable in the 15-21 range of the draft. I’m not in on Lonnie White as a first rounder but he was great value where they got him. I was seeing people hang 55 raw power on him but that’s probably a conservative estimate for him today as a guy who just turned 18 a couple months ago; take a look at his exit velos.
Sadly, the case with many here in Pittsburgh is that while they’re consumed with sports they don’t actually put a lot of thought into them. I was certainly a little uneasy when Davis was announced over Mayer because it meant Cherington was going to try to pull something off and I didn’t breath a sigh of relief until I started seeing that succeed on Monday. It’s weird that the default position might be that the Pirates FO knows what it’s doing. Time will tell, I suppose.
Boy if that ain’t the truth. I don’t live in Pgh anymore, but I heard all of the local mouth breathing sports guys were clamoring for them to take Leiter. They’d bring on analysts who wouldn’t confirm to them that Leiter was the best pick (I think Law had Davis and Mayo had MM), and they’d keep braying about it anyway. They wanted Leiter because he’s a pitcher, because he’s a college guy, because the big club has no pitching. They wanted the pick for the wrong reasons, when the difference between many of the top five guys was miniscule. There just wasn’t a slam dunk #1, even though these guys insisted there was.
And if they took Leiter, there’s no way the rest of this draft goes the way it did. I’m not sure how you can’t love the draft if you’re a Bucs fan. It’s risky and ballsy, but that’s what that organization has to do to succeed.
Additionally there seems to be some gotcha nonsense going on because Cherington said Davis was the top player on their board and we all know that’s not strictly true from a talent perspective. Real weak shit.
Many of them also still seem convinced that a ‘Nutting won’t spend’ complaining crusade is the best fix when we know he doesn’t care what we think.
Meanwhile, the FO is just plugging away and avoiding mistakes. I can’t even really picture what a disaster yesterday would have been with Huntington in charge, but I know he’d be gloating like an idiot if he’d pulled this trick off. I mean we’d seriously never hear the end of it with him getting those first four picks like that.
Fortunately Steelers training camp starts soon and 93.7 The Fan can go back to forgetting there’s a baseball team here in a week or so. I hear Roethlisberger is in the best shape of anyone’s life this season.
Huntington implemented a similar strategy in 2009 but it failed, probably due to poor scouting (they made a number of changes after that draft). I think by 2017 the scouting was much better and that draft, along with the 2019 draft, looks like it went quite well.
As a Pirates fan, I’m very happy with this year’s draft (assuming we sign the top five picks and most of the others). But I don’t think the primary difference is between Cherington and Huntington but that we have a much better (and bigger) group of scouts than we used to have. Time will tell, though. If our high-upside HS picks don’t turn out better than Black, Pounders, Dodson, Von Rosenberg, and Cain, then…
Yes, although the further they got into NH’s tenure, I think development was a bigger issue than drafting. They had some whiffs (the recently decamped Will Craig being one), but I think their talent identification was fairly strong. They just had major issues transitioning guys who were strong in the minors into good MLB players.
Yes, they show a pretty poor understanding of how the MLB draft works and how prospects work as well. After the draft, they were downplaying it saying “it doesn’t matter unless they’re good major leaguers.” They’d just rather rip them because it will get clicks. Oh well. As a Bucs fan with little to root for on the immediate horizon save Reynolds/Hayes at bats, I feel this was a step in the right direction. Sign as many of these guys as possible, and maybe throw in ownership of a Primanti’s to entice Bishop as well.
And because even the more casual baseball fans have heard of Leiter.
Cleveland didn’t have nearly as much to work with but all these arms are big time performers. Gavin Williams, Doug Nikhazy, Tommy Mace, Ryan Webb, and Rodney Boone all struck out college batters at a really high rate. Williams is obviously the prize–he’s risky because of his injury past and short track record but he has as much upside as any college pitcher aside from Leiter / Rocker. Boone is actually my second favorite arm (Eric wrote him up earlier, it’s an excellent description of why I think he’s gonna be good). The book on Mace was that his fastball shape wasn’t good but he came back this year with a much better one. Webb and Nikhazy both have a lot going for them but the concern is lack of velocity. The curveballs are fantastic but just too slow; they add some velocity and suddenly they’re going to be nasty.
And if that wasn’t enough they got Hunter Stanley, a smaller school guy with tons of good strike throwing. Just great all around. Just remember this draft when in four years we marvel at Cleveland seeming to develop pitchers out of nothing. They set themselves up really well here.
Love your guys work but saying Schwellenbach was announced as a SS is a big pretty big whiff.
“I love to get college shortstops that end up on the mound because of their athleticism, their arm strength for the position, their body control. So we really started to talk about him last fall. We got him on our radar in the spring, but we finally saw him in a fall and early this year, we really scouted him a ton.”
“We think he could start. He’s been up to 99 and he has a really good changeup and a good breaking ball. We feel like he’s going to be a starter for us,” Brown added. “This is probably one of my favorite picks I could say of my career. I was so excited to get this guy.”
Pirates news: At this moment, Davis, Solometo and Chandler seem set to sign. There has been no indication from White about what he wants to do, but he and Chandler are friends and Chandler has been recruiting him for the Pirates. Killington agreed to terms with the Pirates but has had second thoughts and will take his time before he makes his decision. The Pirates have Day 3 contingency picks to cover for those prospects who do not sign.
Can someone confirm that if White doesn’t sign, that the Pirates would get that pick back in 2022? If the pick is in the first two rounds you get it next year; do comp picks count?
If they don’t sign White and they get another pick next, I legitimately don’t think it’s a major problem. He’s very likely the least of those four prospects. They’re unlikely to do better next year at that spot so it would be a blow but not a devastating one.
I think they are counting on him to sign, but if not, I think Sharts and Corona could get some extra money to induce them to sign (Bishop is going to school).
Could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure they changed it so comp round picks do count for compensation. I think the only time you don’t get that pick back is when that original pick was given for not signing someone the year before. For example, if the Pirates received a comp pick in 2021 because their 2nd round in 2020 didn’t sign they wouldn’t get another comp pick for 2022 if the 2021 comp pick didn’t sign.
It’s overly confusing but that’s how I thought it worked. Please correct me, someone, if I’m unintentionally spreading some fake news.
Comp picks for unsigned draftees are given for Rounds 1 to 3.
Do the NCAA’s new NIL rules make it any harder to sign high school players? College baseball isn’t nearly as big as football or basketball, but all those players had before for leverage was “I’ll go to college, where I can’t be legally paid.” Now they can go to college and even make a little money while they are there. Maybe not signing bonus money, maybe not even MiLB salary money, but more than just the scholarship they got before.
Probably more this year than in future years. Like you said, there probably isn’t a ton of NIL money there for guys who aren’t big stars, but this is a new frontier and there will be guys who’s imagination about their earning potential outstrips the reality that awaits them.
Someone pointed to Bubba Chandler as very much the kind of guy who would be harder to sign, since he would be competing for a quarterback job at Clemson. I think that’s correct in general. In this case, though, it seems he prefers baseball.
Also worth noting that while it seems Bubba Chandler could earn more (probably a lot more) in endorsements than an MiLB salary, he gets probably $2M upfront now. If you already prefer baseball you could make that work pretty well for you (not saying he will, but he could).
The impact of the NIL rules are vastly overrated. The value is there for star players, but an incoming freshman without a guaranteed starting job just isn’t going to pull anywhere close to a MLB signing bonus.
I’ll be curious to see just how much these college players receive and at what point in their careers.
It’s getting enough play on other sites, but I still think Mason Miller’s (A’s 3rd Rnd pick) story is cool. I am sure there are other neat prospect backstories from this year (maybe especially form this year) and would love to read a post or seven if FG puts them out there.
Wicklander was another guy who recently found out he had diabetes. Started getting care and managing it this spring and his stuff was much better towards the end of 2021. He’s a good sleeper pick.
Thanks! Great write up, I have been having trouble finding comments on some of the later rounds, especially the Angels, so this helps. I’ll be reviewing this article for a while.
As a Dbacks fan, reading that they may have issues signing Lawlar was certainly not a good way to start my morning. Sigh.
Overall though, great writeup, Eric and Kevin! Thanks for all you do!
I know that’s not good news but if it happens I think they will be okay in the long run. If he doesn’t sign they get the #7 pick in next year’s loaded draft, which is an acceptable consolation prize, and they drafted two excellent prep guys they can overslot if Lawlar doesn’t want the money (Eric Hammond and Davis Diaz; in theory, also Drake Varnado but he’s going to school). Those guys are both 2nd-to-3rd rounders on talent. On top of that, Ryan Bliss is probably the second baseman of the future. It’s not exciting but they’ll be okay.
A couple of thing I noticed:
-Obviously, both the Giants and Dodgers took a heavy interest in pitching this year. But they also targeted pitchers who have “big stuff” with concerns surrounding their control/command. A heavy reliance on pitch data perhaps?
-The Rays selected a number of two-way prospects this year. For an organization that already has Brendan McKay and Tanner Dodson in the fold, this might signal a skill/profile they value. I doubt we say any of their two-way selections playing both sides of the ball, but Carson Williams, Ryan Spikes, Mason Auer, and johnny Cuevas have all been up to 92 MPH or above with some breaking ball feel on the mound this spring.
-Like so many of the teams in this year’s draft, the Mets targeted pitching early and often. But many of the hitters they targeted had a similar skill . . . contact. Here’s a look at the K totals/rates for the college hitters they took this year:
JT Schwartz, UCLA: 28 Ks; 13%
Kevin Kendall, UCL;A: 35 Ks; 12.6%
Rowdey Jordan, Mississippi St.: 43 Ks; 13.5%
Jack-Thomas Wold, UNLV: 14 Ks: 8.7%
Matt Rudick, San Diego St: 9 Ks; 4.2%
Wyatt Young, Pepperdine: 23 Ks; 10.4%
The only outlier was Justin Guerrera who’s K rate was above 18%, he was selected in the 20th round.
Schwartz, Kendall, and Jordan were all 2-3 points above 10%, but they also played in power conferences. In context, those K rates are very good and I’d imagine they are well below the avg in their respective conferences.
Sometimes I feel draft trends are a bit overrated. It’s a relatively small sample of picks and many times we are talking about regimes with only a few drafts under their belts. Teams also seem to “flip the script” on a year to year basis. But we also know teams use draft models in this day and age. The Giants. Dodgers, Rays, and Mets are teams I’d imagine rely on them quite a bit. Whether these trends continue into the future is anyone’s guess, but it does look like these teams had “a type” in 2021.
Thanks for the great work, Kevin and Eric. Your coverage has been excellent.
I don’t know what those conversations with Tampa Bay are going to look like but Carson Williams was pretty clear with teams that he does not want to be a pitcher unless he fails as a shortstop first. Apparently, everyone else was much more ambiguous, saying “well, I want to help the team win” and Williams was not.
As for the Mets, that is a Sandy Alderson special. He absolutely loves guys with big plate discipline. A first baseman with 15-home run power but who walks as much as he K’s? Sign him up! I can’t really disagree with the results, though.
I know it will probably never happen, but this draft was another example of why the bonus slots need to be smoothed. Vanishingly few players at the top ever sign for slot, which gives the teams at the top the equivalent of multiple first round picks. Unfortunately the only way to fix this is to lower the slots at the top (bad for players), or raise the slots at the back (let’s just say good luck on that).
So sad.
Yeah those poor Dodgers and Yankees. How will they compete with the Daddy Warbucksian Pirates?!?!
It’s not about franchise size – this year the 3/4/5 teams are Detroit, Boston, and Baltimore. Hardly small-market franchises. To be clear what I’d like to see is for the bonuses at the back end of the draft to be raised, to give everyone more money. The current drop-off is so severe that the incentive is to underslot all the top picks, which doesn’t seem like the way the system should work.
Agree with this. There also appears to be a serious trend toward players pricing themselves to a city or franchise of choice (I assume both Mayer and Rocker did that this year, and probably others). If the draft is going to be a mechanism for small market franchises in non-glamorous cities to compete, they need to figure out how to end that.
Rocker, Leiter and Meyer did not price themselves out of any slot bonus. The Pirates could have taken anyone of the three. The team took Davis because he provided the best return on the money invested in him. Moreover, he was not an overdraft. Davis was a credible 1-1 pick for this class.
Edwin Arroyo…WHAT?!?
Switch hitting two-way player SS/LHP????
Remarkable!
He was one of my favorite players in the draft. He’s almost certainly a shortstop and not a pitcher but because he throws right on the diamond and left on the mound you could, in theory, let him try pitching a bit too.
I think the Freddy Galvis comp is probably gives you a sense of the most likely outcome, and that’s a pretty good outcome. But he’s young for the class and there is a ton of room for this kid to put on muscle. The switch throwing makes me think that he’s got some unusual coordination, giving him a lot of upside as a switch hitter too. So there are some scenarios where he really rakes, and since he’s a no-doubt everyday fielder at shortstop he’s got both a high floor and high upside.
There aren’t a lot of switch hitting shortstops who stuck at the position except Lindor, and I think that’s a crazy comp for all kinds of reasons. But I think there’s a chance he could hit like Asdrubal Cabrera or Jorge Polanco, which combined with his defense would be a guy who occasionally makes an all-star team.
If Grayson Rodriguez had gone to Texas A&M, where would he have been drafted this year?
I just really appreciate the fact that the Angels memed their way through an entire draft.
So you’re saying about the Rockies draft room was “barren” during the draft?? Maybe the Rox should have put Dinger in there to head up the draft…
The public facing room may have been barren, but they had a helluva draft. One of the best of any team imo. Picking up Jaden Hill in the 2nd round (not even Comp A) was a massive steal if they can sign him, which I assume they can since they went for a bargain in the first round. He would have been top 10 had he not had TJ surgery in April. And the two college pitchers they got after that, Joe Rock and McCade Brown, are potential studs as well. Benny Montgomery was one of my favorites going in. Best tools in the draft. This is exactly how you draft when you’re rebuilding.
incredible content
Peyton Wilson is hardly 2B-only. Can play all over the field, and was primarily a catcher as a college freshman.