With three of the first 75 picks this year, the Red Sox have selected three position players.
On Sunday, the Sox nabbed the No. 1 overall prospect in the draft, high school shortstop Marcelo Mayer. On Monday, the Red Sox went back to work and added two college outfielders to their organization.
Jud Fabian, a 20-year-old center fielder from the University of Florida, was selected at No. 40 overall with the Sox’s second-round pick.
Fabian is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound defensive-first type of player whose scouting reports read a lot like those on Jackie Bradley Jr. when he was coming out of South Carolina State in 2011.
Fabian was ranked as the No. 27 overall prospect in the draft by Baseball America after hitting 20 homers in 59 games this year, tied for sixth-most homers by any Division 1 player in the country.
While he’s drawn incredible reviews for his range, speed and instincts in center field, where he’s likely to be a plus defender at the big league level, Fabian’s offensive ability is a storyline to watch.
Baseball American wrote that “teams have plenty of concerns about his pure feel for hitting and his high strikeout rates. He entered the year with question marks about his swing-and-miss against spin, but has whiffed more than 30% against each pitch type.”
He is said to have cut down on his strikeout rate after eliminating a leg kick, something a lot of big league hitters have done as the game evolved back to relying more on contact than power. Because he graduated high school early, he’s being drafted as a 20-year-old junior with a lot of development left to do.
For context, here’s what Baseball America wrote about Bradley back in 2011, when the Sox selected him No. 40 overall: “Supporters point to his track record because his lone plus tools are his defense and his arm. He lost his feel for hitting this spring as he sold out for power, employing an uppercut that helped drop his average to .259.”
Every player is different, but it’s notable that Bradley also went No. 40 overall, also was known for his defense and also might’ve sacrificed an overall feel for hitting to sell out for power. Of course, Bradley hits left-handed and throws right-handed, while Fabian hits right-handed and throws left-handed.
In the third round, the Sox took a different type of player, Tyler McDonough. The 22-year-old second baseman/outfielder from North Carolina State was ranked No. 128 overall by Baseball America, but was drafted at No. 75 overall by the Sox, their first reach of this year’s draft after taking Nick Yorke, the No. 96-ranked player, at No. 17 in last year’s draft.
But McDonough is considered more of a Kevin Youkilis-type of a hitter, a guy who can control the strike zone and has a tremendous feel in the box. He hit over .300 every year at N.C. State. The 5-foot-10, 180-pounder increased his home run totals from three to five to a whopping 15 in his final year, though his strikeout rate jumped a bit this season.
The Sox have yet to take a pitcher in the draft.
DRAFT: Jacob Steinmetz’s blazing fastball helped make him a baseball draft trailblazer.
The New York native is believed to be the first known practicing Orthodox Jewish player to be selected by a major league team, going in the third round – 77th overall – to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Steinmetz, from the Long Island hamlet of Woodmere, is a 17-year-old right-hander whose repertoire features a fastball that sits in the mid- to upper-90s and a knee-buckling curveball. His draft stock rose considerably while playing for the Elev8 Baseball Academy in Delray Beach, Florida, this year after previously competing for his high school team, The Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway.
Steinmetz recently told the New York Post he keeps the Sabbath and eats only Kosher food, but plays during the Sabbath and on Jewish holidays – although he walks to games on those days rather than taking transportation. No practicing Orthodox Jewish player has made it to the big leagues.
The selections during the nine rounds Monday were made by teams on a conference call after the first night was a primetime event at Denver’s Bellco Theater with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announcing the picks. Major League Baseball moved the draft from June to July, including it in the All-Star festivities.
Pittsburgh took Louisville slugging catcher Henry Davis with the No. 1 overall pick Sunday night and got him a potential future batterymate to lead off Day 2 by selecting New Jersey high school lefty Anthony Solometo at No. 37.
The Pirates picked athletic Pennsylvania high school outfielder Lonnie White Jr., who signed a letter of intent to play both baseball and football at Penn State, in the competitive balance round between the second and third rounds. Pittsburgh went back to pitching in the third round, taking Georgia high school pitcher and shortstop Bubba Chandler – who has a scholarship offer from Clemson to play quarterback.
The Nationals used their 10th-round pick on Cal infielder Darren Baker, the son of former Washington and current Houston manager Dusty Baker. Darren Baker was famously swooped away from home plate by Giants player J.T. Snow during the 2002 World Series, when the 3-year-old Baker was a bat boy.
Arkansas closer Kevin Kopps, the Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year and a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, was taken by San Diego in the third round. The 24-year-old right-hander was a sixth-year senior after redshirting as a freshman and missing a year after having Tommy John surgery, but was dominant this season with a Division I-leading 0.90 ERA while winning 12 games and saving 11.
Houston took Nevada high school outfielder Tyler Whitaker with its first pick of the draft, which didn’t come until the third round for the second straight year as punishment for the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.
Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels have taken exclusively pitchers through 10 rounds, and the Cleveland Indians grabbed pitchers with 10 of their 11 picks and the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays grabbed nine pitchers through 10 rounds.
The Baltimore Orioles, meanwhile, selected just one pitcher among their first 11 picks.
The draft will be completed Tuesday with rounds 11 through 20 conducted via a conference call with teams.
MARINERS: The Seattle Mariners reinstated left-hander Yusei Kikuchi from the injured list, making him eligible to participate in the All-Star Game.
Kikuchi was selected to the American League All-Star team for the first time in his career and is Seattle’s lone representative.
The Mariners placed Kikuchi on the injured list Sunday but did not disclose an injury and Manager Scott Servais said he could not comment but wasn’t concerned about Kikuchi’s status.
Seattle used the open roster spot to promote top catching prospect Cal Raleigh, who made his major league debut Sunday against the Los Angeles Angels.
The Mariners optioned infielder Donovan Walton to Triple-A Tacoma and designated for assignment reliever Will Vest in order to reinstate Kikuchi.
Kikuchi has been one of the top left-handers in baseball this season, his third since signing with the Mariners and moving to the major leagues from Japan. He’s 6-4 with a 3.48 ERA and 98 strikeouts.
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