FanPost

Draft Prospects: Trending Up/Down Pt3

MLB Draft starts Monday, June 12, 2017. Draft is about 2.5 months away.

Here is part 3 of how college players are trending.

There were some really fun match-ups this past week. Lange vs Faedo where both players pitched exceptionally well in a 1-0 LSU win. Kyle Wright vs Brigham Hill where Wright won a bit of a sloppy game.

I'll include a shout-out and a link to FONZY541 Google Sheet.

Trending Up:

Jeren Kendall - 24G .320avg, 4-2B, 3-3B, 7-HR (8SB:2CS); 22%K-Rate

Kendall was on FIRE the past week. Raised his avg from .272 to .320, lowered his K-Rate to 25% to 22%. Only thing to nit pick is that he walked just once during this hot streak, but if you are hitting the cover off the ball, it's a slight nit pick.

JB Bukauskas - 2G - 14IN, 6H, 2ER, 4BB, 23K

Overall: 4-0 0.90ERA, 40IN, 21H, 4ER, 9BB, 60K (3HRs) .154B/AVG

Brendan McKay - 2G - 14IN, 11H, 3ER, 2BB, 26K (almost 2K/IN!)

Overall: 4-1 1.13ERA, 32IN, 19H, 4ER, 7BB, 55K (1HR) .173B/AVG

Overall: .450, 2-2B, 1-3B, 4-HR; 11%K-Rate

Might be the 1st college pitcher of the board before JB. 3 straight games of 12+ Ks. As a hitter, he also has more walks than Kendall in 40 less ABs. Phenomenal 2-way player.

Tanner Houck - 2G - 10.2IN, 6H, 3ER, 4BB, 12K

Overall: 3-2 2.80ER, 35.1IN, 28H, 11ER(16R), 11BB, 40K (0HR) .206B/AVG

Mixed bag results in the past 2 starts. Houk did have a 20IN scoreless streak that was broken up.

Alex Faedo - 2G - 11.1IN, 11H, 6ER, 6BB, 12K

Overall: 4-1 2.39ERA, 37.2IN, 24H, 10ER, 13BB, 42K (2HRs) .180B/AVG

He's had 2 bad games, and they've been the only games in which he has even given up any runs. That's right, 4 games giving up 0 runs. To think he's been this dominant not being at 100%. His FB is sitting right at 90MPH.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/220538972/pipeline-inbox-2017-mlb-draft-questions/ (dates March 23)

Trending Down:

Kyle Wright - 2G - 12IP, 12H, 4ER, 6BB, 10K

Overall: 1-3 4.50ERA, 32IN, 36H, 16ER, 12BB, 34K (2HRs) .281B/AVG

Last 2 starts have been encouraging, but he hasn't had 1 dominant start yet this season.

Alex Lange - 2G -12.1IN, 14H, 8ER, 5BB, 14K

Overall: 3-2 4.09ERA, 33IN, 31H, 15ER, 10BB, 43K (3HRs) .252B/AVG

2 really awful starts are making his overall numbers look worse than they might be.

HS Players:

Austin Beck

An outfielder from North Davidson High in Lexington, N.C., he tore the ACL and meniscus in his left knee last May and thus missed the summer showcase circuit and the World Wood Bat Association World Championship in October. He has impressed scouts this spring with his power potential, speed and center-field skills, though giving him three 70s on the 20-80 scouting scale might be a bit much.

Teams still are trying to figure out exactly how good Beck's bat is because they didn't get to see him against top competition last summer or fall. He's drawing interest from at least a couple of clubs who pick in the top 10, though he fits more in the back half of the first round for most. As intriguing as Beck is, the top choice among North Carolina high schoolers probably will be Whiteville (N.C.) left-hander MacKenzie Gore.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/220538972/pipeline-inbox-2017-mlb-draft-questions/

Jordon Adell

https://sodomojo.com/2017/03/24/mariners-future-draft-profile-adell/ (March 24)

Article doesn't mention if he's improved his contact rates, but states that he's toolsy and the Mariners would love to have him at pick 17.

Royce Lewis

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/3/24/14927512/royce-lewis-ss-of-2017-mlb-draft (March 24)

If you aren't subscribed to John Sickels "Minor League Ball" then shame on you! Sickels grades look like:

Hit: 50/55 | Power: 50/60 | Run: 60/65 | Arm: 50/55 | Field: 50? Not far different from MLB Pipeline

Sickels has write-up for Kenall, Heatherly, Shane Baz, etc.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/2/20/14668284/2017-mlb-draft-player-profile-index

I'll include the BA article that rajah linked to:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/2017-top-100-draft-prospects/

Mock Drafts (Braves only - note that only BA is really up to date):

BA - Austin Beck

draftsite.com - Jordon Adell

baseballranks.com - Jeren Kenall

medium.com - JB Bukauskas

draftutopia - JJ Shwartz (only including this one cause it's hilarious, and hard to believe he was ranked this high at one point)

I'm not familiar with Baseball mock draft sites, so if anyone wants to let me know of some of the better ones, I can include that moving forward. Thanks!

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