Scouting the 2017 Draft: Brent Rooker and Joe Perez

Brent Rooker, 1B/OF, College(Mississippi St.).  B-R, T-R.  6'4", 220 lbs

2017:  .413/.511/.905, 25 2B, 3 3B, 19 HR, 17 SB, 31 BB, 37 K, 179 AB.
2016:  .324/.376/.578, 15 2B, 2 3B, 11 HR, 2 SB, 16 BB, 48 K, 204 AB.

2015(New England Collegiate):  .360/.413/.609, 10 2B, 10 HR, 12 SB, 15 BB, 33 K, 164 AB.
2016(Cape Cod League):  .305/.338/.426, 8 2B, 3 HR, 4 SB, 5 BB, 37 K, 141 AB.

Rooker is one of the more intriguing and polarizing draft prospects for 2017.  He's a redshirt junior at Mississippi St who has destroyed college pitching in a very down year for college hitters.  He's playing 1B this season but has enough speed and arm to play OF, most likely LF as a pro.  He could be another Bryce Brentz, but Brentz played against much weaker competition than Rooker, whose school plays in the SEC, maybe college baseball's strongest conference.  He also has wood bat pedigree. Scouts do wonder if he will make enough contact at the highest levels of pro ball, but he checks all of the statistical boxes.  He is currently projected to be a late first through 2'nd round pick.  Much as I believe the Giants biggest organizational need is pitching, the power outage at the MLB level of the organization is so bad I would not be unhappy to see them take a shot with Rooker at #19.  I doubt this will happen as the Giants have ALWAYS drafted either pitching or up-the-middle talent in round 1.

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Joe Perez, OF, HS.  B-R, T-R.  6'4", 200 lbs.

I don't have much on Perez except he seems to have light-tower power.  There is a video of him on BA purporting to show him hit a ball that literally disappears into a cloud.  I can't tell if that actually happened, but it makes a great story.  His PG swing metrics are not impressive.  He might be a nice risk in round 3, but probably needs to go to college.