Later this week we’ll begin taking on scouting reports and player profiles for next months Major League Baseball draft. Today we’re going to be taking a look at the cumulative draft rankings and talking about a few bits of news and notes around the draft.
The draft will begin on July 17th and run through July 19th, so we are just under one month away from the selection process. Some places have been more active when it comes to updating their draft rankings. What I’ve done is look at the rankings from Baseball America, ESPN, MLB Pipeline, and The Athletic and using a 50-point ranking system where 50 points for #1 and 1 point for #50 to create a cumulative Top 50 Draft prospects.
Baseball America | MLB Pipeline | ESPN | The Athletic
| Rank | Player | Pos. | School |
| 1 | Drew Jones | OF | Wesleyan HS (GA) |
| 2 | Termarr Johnson | SS | Mays HS (GA) |
| 3 | Jackson Holliday | SS | Stillwater HS (OK) |
| 4 | Brooks Lee | SS | Cal Poly |
| 5 | Elijah Green | OF | IMG Academy (FL) |
| 6 | Kevin Parada | C | Georgia Tech |
| 7 | Jace Jung | 3B | Texas Tech |
| 8 | Cam Collier | 3B | Chipola College |
| 9 | Gavin Cross | OF | Virginia Tech |
| 10 | Jacob Berry | OF | LSU |
| 11 | Dylan Lesko | RHP | Buford HS (GA) |
| 12 | Daniel Susac | C | Arizona |
| 13 | Brock Porter | RHP | St. Mary’s Prep HS (MI) |
| 14 | Zach Neto | SS | Campbell |
| 15 | Cole Young | SS | North Allegheny HS (PA) |
| 16 | Jett Williams | SS | Rockwall-Heath HS (TX) |
| 17 | Jordan Beck | OF | Tennessee |
| 18 | Chase DeLauter | OF | James Madison |
| 19 | Justin Crawford | OF | Bishop Gorman HS (NV) |
| 20 | Drew Gilbert | OF | Tennessee |
| 21 | Jackson Ferris | LHP | IMG Academy (FL) |
| 22 | Blade Tidwell | RHP | Tennessee |
| 23 | Connor Prielipp | RHP | Alabama |
| 24 | Sterlin Thompson | OF | Florida |
| 25 | Brandon Barriera | LHP | American Heritage HS (FL) |
| 26 | Dylan Beavers | OF | California |
| 27 | Carson Whisenhunt | LHP | East Carolina |
| 28 | Robby Snelling | LHP | McQueen HS (NV) |
| 29 | Gabriel Hughes | RHP | Gonzaga |
| 30 | Brock Jones | OF | Stanford |
| 31 | Andrew Dutkanych | RHP | Brebeuf Jesuit Prep (IN) |
| 32 | Justin Campbell | RHP | Oklahoma State |
| 33 | Tucker Toman | 3B | Hammond HS (SC) |
| 34 | Kumar Rocker | RHP | No School |
| 35 | Peyton Graham | SS | Oklahoma |
| 36 | Jacob Melton | OF | Oregon State |
| 37 | Jud Fabian | OF | Florida |
| 38 | J.R. Ritchie | RHP | Bainbridge HS (WA) |
| 39 | Cooper Hjerpe | LHP | Oregon State |
| 40 | Henry Bolte | OF | Palo Alto HS (CA) |
| 41 | Jacob Miller | RHP | Liberty Union HS (OH) |
| 42 | Peyton Pallette | RHP | Arkansas |
| 43 | Brandon Sproat | RHP | Florida |
| 44 | Landon Sims | RHP | Mississippi State |
| 45 | Logan Tanner | C | Mississippi State |
| 46 | Thomas Harrington | RHP | Campbell |
| 47 | Walter Ford | RHP | Pace HS (FL) |
| 48 | Mikey Romero | SS | Orange Lutheran HS (CA) |
| 49 | Noah Schultz | LHP | Oswego East HS (IL) |
| 50 | Adam Mazur | RHP | Iowa |
The Kumar Rocker question
After being selected 10th overall out of Vanderbilt last year by the New York Mets, Kumar Rocker looked like he was going to sign and start his journey to the big leagues. That didn’t happen after the Mets saw something they didn’t like in his post-draft physical and lowered their signing bonus offer by several million dollars. Rocker didn’t sign and he’s back in the draft this year. To show teams that he’s healthy he’s pitching for Tri-City in the Frontier League. He’s made three starts, covering 11.0 innings and he has a 2.45 ERA in that span. He’s walked just one batter and he’s struck out 18.
In his first start he reportedly touched 99 MPH, but he hasn’t been there in the other two starts. He’s been sitting around 94-95 MPH and he’s touched higher. While he’s shown that the stuff is there, he hasn’t yet shown if he can carry it deep into a start this year.
Doug,
Have you seen any of the outfielders play in the CWS?
I noticed none of the major college OF’s were in the top 50 in batting average in college.
Didn’t see any of the pitchers in top 50 in ERA either.
Is this an indication that the better players may be in High School?
I would say Kumar Rocker is not a logical #1 choice to the Reds. I see the group of OFs more achievable such as Beck, DeLauter, Crawford or Gilbert like candidates according to this ranking… That said, in the 2nd round maybe Rocker becomes intriguing if he is available…
RGB- love Gilbert as a college player at UT and got to watch him in person a few times. Do not think he will adjust well to the talented professional pitching though. Similar for Beck, very talented – but his Cape Cod statistics were very meh and he did not “rise to the occasion” in the college playoffs this year.
I think Cross and Delauter – outfielders with similar statistics are more talented hitters in my humble opinion.
If the deep pocketed Mets wouldn’t take a chance on Rocker then I wouldn’t risk a high pick on him as a small market team but someone will.
I love the Campbell shortstop – Zack Neto. If there was such a thing as trading up in the MLB draft, I would trade up to get him! Very good Cape Cod league statistics, more than held his own against Tennessee in this year’s college playoffs and Tennessee had some good pitching. I also like the outfielders from Virginia Tech & JMU- Cross and Delauter. Would really like us to get 1 of these 3.
I do not like the Reds taking a high school pitcher in the first round. The stakes are too high and high school pitchers are so raw and often wind up hurt. However, the high school pitching is supposedly far more talented than the college pitching this year. Although much of them are hurt, it might be the one year where a high school arm is justified in 1st round given the lack of college pitching talent. Although I’d still rather see us take a position player! Man I hope we get some difference makers this draft.
I think the Reds should target the most advanced college bat they can. Optimistically thinking has a pretty good rotation over the next few years with Greene, Lodolo, Ashcraft, Williamson, Abbott, Phillips, etc.
Get a bat who’s ready in 2024ish, you’ve got EDLC, India, Stephenson, Barrero, Cerda, 2022 draft pick, McLain, plus other potential bats currently in A+/AA.
Adding to my reply to Redsvol, I’d be down to see the Reds take a chance on Rocker at 32 if he’s still there.
The problem with Rocker is that he didn’t sign last year because the Mets didn’t offer him enough. Would the Reds offer more this year than the Mets did last year?
I’m not sure it was that the Mets didn’t offer enough, but that they significantly reduced the original $6M offer after the medical report.
For a guy who was throwing in the upper 90’s early in the 2021 season and saw that fall to low 90’s in the second half of the season, and really hasn’t seen that increase in his limited pitching this season, he’s unlikely to get anything near $6M.
With nothing showing he’s reclaimed his velocity, it’s likely to scare people off regarding his health, and he may not even draw an offer close to what the Mets offered after the medical report.
I mean it’s a bit much to say nothing showing he’s reclaimed his velocity given that he’s been throwing in the mid-90’s and has touched 99 with Tri-City.
Brady Aiken (2014) and Barret Loux (2010) are probably decent warning signs about top pitching prospects who failed their physical.
If Kumar lost his velocity, and hasn’t regained it a year later, he’s probably damaged goods. And not returning to Vandy allowed him to better hide that, if it’s true.