The bat is what gets everybody excited though. From BLF's scouting report, he drives the ball gap-to-gap and can drop the bathead on a low and inside pitch. He is patient and selective at the plate. As he fills out his frame, he should be able to hit it out of any park to any field. PG says, "big bat to watch, ball comes off barrel very well. Showed big power potential and ran a 6.37 at PG National." BLF comps him to Scott Rolen. I'm thinking he's another Kris Bryant and I see some Matt Holliday in him.
Looking at his video, he hold the bat high and away from his body. His load is fairly short and quick. He takes a small slide step with is front foot and drives the bat through the strike zone. He appears to have some length to his swing, which you might expect from a 6'4" dude.
He was named MaxPreps National Player of the Year and played on the 2013 USA Baseball 18U National Team. He as named to the 2013 HS All America team by both BA and USA Today. He is committed to North Carolina.
BLF has him ranked #37 which I think is probably too low. Mack Ade of Mack's Mets has him at #7 in his early mock draft. Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball has him at #34 but also has him listed at 5'11, 165 lbs which is clearly wrong if you look at the video. BA has him all the way down at #45 in their early rankings.
How does the 2015 draft looks? The reason for this question is that for awhile, in both yours and shankbone's blog, I have been advocating that kids should sign when drafted because the chance of moving up in future draft is small. However, it sounds like this draft is so deep that kids who might normally go in the top 15 of the first round are dropping into the 2nd round. Couple this with the steep downward gradient in slot value from the top of the first round into the second, some of these kids should wait. The best bat in the draft is at #45?
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I didn't exactly say he was the best bat in the draft. I said SOME folks THINK he's the best. Yeah, one of my comps for Flaherty is Kris Bryant who did pretty well for himself by going to college.
DeleteIt's early yet, but (so far) Flaherty is the guy I'm hoping the Giants grab in next June's first round.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to go contrarian on this guy. I don't believe that 60 time quoted from PG at all. He looks like a high 6/7.0 60 guy. The bat looks a bit slow to me from the various videos. I wouldn't spend the 1st or 2nd round picks on him. I bet Mac is dreaming of the next David Wright on this one...
ReplyDeleteThe 60 time does seem awfully fast. I would say the swing looks a bit long, but the bat head speed seems good to my eye.
DeleteUnless he goes in the top 10-15, I think he could help himself a lot by going to college a la Kris Bryant.
DrB., Have you looked at a player named Ti'quan Forbes yet? He is a 6'4 SS from Mississippi that looks really interesting.
ReplyDeleteStill gettin' to him. Yeah, Like him a lot. Greatly underrated in early draft rankings, IMO.
DeleteHe is one of those raw tools guys who can fade or hype into the top ten. He's 6'4 and runs a 6.54. That's quick for a big guy. The question will be "can he hit?" and there is a fair amount of skepticism about MS preps. Lets keep an eye on this guy for sure, because he should be athletic enough to stick at short with power potential. That's a double win.
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