The MLB Draft is tonight and here is my final mock draft. It’s pretty much been written that the Pirates are taking Gerrit Cole first over all; I’m convinced of it as well. After that, there are many question marks. Will Danny Hultzen’s contract demands really cause him to fall? Will the Royals stick with their commitment to be more active in the area draft prospects, like Bubba Starling? Will the D’backs, Padres, and Brewers play it safe with their un-protected picks?
My mocks have mainly been based off scouting reports, draft history, and other mocks. This one has a little more of my opinion to it. I’ll put a little of my reasoning at the bottom.
| Pick | Team | Player | Position | School | Last Mock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pittsburgh Pirates | Gerrit Cole | RHP | UCLA | Gerrit Cole |
| 2 | Seattle Mariners | Anthony Rendon | 3B | Rice | Anthony Rendon |
| 3 | Arizona Diamondbacks | Trevor Bauer | RHP | UCLA | Danny Hultzen |
| 4 | Baltimore Orioles | Dylan Bundy | RHP | Owasso HS (OK) | Dylan Bundy |
| 5 | Kansas City Royals | Bubba Starling | OF | Gardner-Edgerton HS (KS) | Bubba Starling |
| 6 | Washington Nationals | Danny Hultzen | LHP | Virginia | Trevor Bauer |
| 7 | Arizona Diamondbacks 1 | Francisco Lindor | SS | Montverde Academy (FL) | Francisco Lindor |
| 8 | Cleveland Indians | Matt Barnes | RHP | Connecticut | Sonny Gray |
| 9 | Chicago Cubs | Archie Bradley | RHP | Broken Arrow HS (OK) | Archie Bradley |
| 10 | San Diego Padres 2 | Jed Bradley | LHP | Georgia Tech | Matt Barnes |
| 11 | Houston Astros | Sonny Gray | RHP | Vanderbilt | Taylor Jungmann |
| 12 | Milwaukee Brewers | Taylor Guerrieri | RHP | Spring Valley HS (SC) | Taylor Guerrieri |
| 13 | New York Mets | Taylor Jungmann | RHP | Texas | Jed Bradley |
| 14 | Florida Marlins | Javier Baez | SS | Arlington Country Day HS (FL) | Javier Baez |
| 15 | Milwaukee Brewers 3 | Alex Meyer | RHP | Kentucky | C.J. Cron |
| 16 | Los Angeles Dodgers | Mikie Mahtook | OF | LSU | Alex Meyer |
| 17 | Los Angeles Angels | Daniel Norris | RHP | Science Hill HS (TN) | Jose Fernandez |
| 18 | Oakland Athletics | George Springer | OF | Connecticut | George Springer |
| 19 | Boston Red Sox 4 | Andrew Susac | C | Oregon State | Cory Spangenberg |
| 20 | Colorado Rockies | C.J. Cron | 1B | Utah | Kolten Wong |
| 21 | Toronto Blue Jays | Jose Fernandez | RHP | Alonso HS (FL) | Daniel Norris |
| 22 | St. Louis Cardinals | Kolten Wong | 2B | Hawaii | Dillon Howard |
| 23 | Washington Nationals 5 | Dillon Howard | RHP | Search HS (AR) | Mikie Mahtook |
| 24 | Tampa Bay Rays 6 | Cory Spangenberg | SS | Indian River State College | Henry Owens |
| 25 | San Diego Padres | Henry Owens | LHP | Edison HS (CA) | Andrew Susac |
| 26 | Boston Red Sox 7 | Tyler Anderson | LHP | Oregon | Josh Bell |
| 27 | Cincinnati Reds | Levi Michael | SS | North Carolina | Tyler Anderson |
| 28 | Atlanta Braves | Brian Goodwin | OF | Miami-Dade JC | Tyler Beede |
| 29 | San Francisco Giants | Tyler Beede | RHP | Lawrence Academy (MA) | Levi Michael |
| 30 | Minnesota Twins | Jackie Bradley | OF | South Carolina | Blake Swihart |
| 31 | Tampa Bay Rays 8 | Josh Bell | OF | Jesuit College Prep (TX) | Brian Goodwin |
| 32 | Tampa Bay Rays | Blake Swihart | C | Cleveland HS (NM) | Robert Stephenson |
| 33 | Texas Rangers 9 | Robert Stephenson | RHP | Alhambra HS (CA) | Brandon Nimmo |
| 34 | Washington Nationals 10 | Brandon Nimmo | OF | East HS (WY) | Travis Harrison |
| 35 | Toronto Blue Jays 11 | Travis Harrison | OF | Tustin HS (CA) | Jackie Bradley |
| 36 | Boston Red Sox 12 | Matt Purke | RHP | TCU | Matt Purke |
| 37 | Texas Rangers 13 | Josh Osich | LHP | Oregon | Josh Osich |
| 38 | Tampa Bay Rays 14 | Jason Esposito | 3B | Vanderbilt | Anthony Meo |
| 39 | Philadelphia Phillies 15 | Anthony Meo | RHP | Coastal Carolina | Jason Esposito |
| 40 | Boston Red Sox 16 | Alex Dickerson | OF | Indiana | Austin Hedges |
| 41 | Tampa Bay Rays 17 | Joe Ross | RHP | Bishop O’Dowd HS (CA) | Joe Ross |
| 42 | Tampa Bay Rays 18 | Nick Delmonico | SS | Farragut HS (TN) | Nick Delmonico |
| 43 | Arizona Diamondbacks 19 | Larry Greene | OF | Berrien County HS (GA) | Alex Dickerson |
| 44 | New York Mets 20 | Austin Hedges | C | Junipero Serra HS (CA) | Michael Kelly |
| 45 | Colorado Rockies 21 | Andrew Chafin | LHP | Kent State | Larry Greene |
| 46 | Toronto Blue Jays 22 | Michael Kelly | RHP | West Boca Raton Country HS (FL) | Joshua Tobias |
| 47 | Chicago White Sox 23 | Jack Armstrong | RHP | Vanderbilt | Andrew Chafin |
| 48 | San Diego Padres 24 | Sean Gilmartin | LHP | Florida State | Sean Gilmartin |
| 49 | San Francisco Giants 25 | John Stilson | RHP | Texas A&M | Jack Armstrong |
| 50 | Minnesota Twins 26 | Hudson Boyd | RHP | South Ft Myers HS (FL) | Trevor Story |
| 51 | New York Yankees 27 | Tony Zych | RHP | Louisville | John Stilson |
| 52 | Tampa Bay Rays 28 | Joshua Tobias | 2B | Southeast Guilford Greensboro HS (NC) | Hudson Boyd |
| 53 | Toronto Blue Jays 29 | Dillon Maples | RHP | Pinecrest HS (NC) | Dillon Maples |
| 54 | San Diego Padres 30 | Kyle Winkler | RHP | TCU | Tony Zych |
| 55 | Minnesota Twins 31 | Charles Tilson | OF | New Trier Township HS (IL) | Phil Evans |
| 56 | Tampa Bay Rays 32 | Derek Fisher | OF | Cedar Crest HS (PA) | Johnny Eierman |
| 57 | Toronto Blue Jays 33 | Johnny Eierman | SS | Warsaw HS (MO) | Charles Tilson |
| 58 | San Diego Padres 34 | Trevor Story | SS | Texas HS | Kyle Winkler |
| 59 | Tampa Bay Rays 35 | Grayson Garvin | LHP | Vanderbilt | Grayson Garvin |
| 60 | Tampa Bay Rays 36 | Jorge Lopez | RHP | Puerto Rico HS | Derek Fisher |
| Note | Reason for Pick |
|---|---|
| 1 | For failure to sign Barret Loux |
| 2 | For failure to sign Karsten Whitson |
| 3 | For failure to sign Dylan Covey |
| 4 | From Tigers for Victor Martinez (A) |
| 5 | From White Sox for Adam Dunn (A) |
| 6 | From Red Sox for Carl Crawford (A) |
| 7 | From Rangers for Adrian Beltre (A) |
| 8 | From Yankees for Rafael Soriano (A) |
| 9 | From Phillies for Cliff Lee (A) |
| 10 | For Adam Dunn (A) |
| 11 | For Scott Downs (A) |
| 12 | For Victor Martinez (A) |
| 13 | For Cliff Lee (A) |
| 14 | For Carl Crawford (A) |
| 15 | For Jayson Werth (A) |
| 16 | For Adrian Beltre (A) |
| 17 | For Grant Balfour (A) |
| 18 | For Rafael Soriano (A) |
| 19 | For Adam LaRoche (B) |
| 20 | For Pedro Feliciano (B) |
| 21 | For Octavio Dotel (B) |
| 22 | For John Buck (B) |
| 23 | For J.J. Putz (B) |
| 24 | For Jon Garland (B) |
| 25 | For Juan Uribe (B) |
| 26 | For Jesse Crain (B) |
| 27 | For Javier Vazquez (B) |
| 28 | For Joaquin Benoit (B) |
| 29 | For Miguel Olivo (B) |
| 30 | For Yorvit Torrealba (B) |
| 31 | For Orlando Hudson (B) |
| 32 | For Randy Choate (B) |
| 33 | For Kevin Gregg (B) |
| 34 | For Kevin Correia (B) |
| 35 | For Brad Hawpe (B) |
| 36 | For Chad Qualls (B) |
I have Bauer jumping to #3 because I don’t think the D’backs will want to mess with Hultzen’s demands. They’ll take the safer pick, even with having to play it more safe with the #7 pick of Lindor. The Nationals won’t be afraid to negotiate with Hultzen, especially after drafting Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper the last 2 years.
I think Starling will be drafted by the Royals – it’s really a perfect fit. Their system needs another top notch outfielder, as they already have a large contingent of pitching prospects (although you can never have too many).
As much as I don’t like the pick, I think the Cardinals take Kolten Wong. They could have a better pick of pitching here, but they want to get a middle infielder and are committed to taking a safe pick since this is their only day 1 pick. It might be a huge mistake, as baseball teams should never draft for need. It’s so much different than the NFL or NBA drafts, as those players have an immediate impact. Baseball players can take as much as 5 years to truely develope and you rarely see the players that are immediately ready to contribute.
The Rays could field a starting line up with their picks; it’s kind of tough to pick for them. They’ve historically taken high schoolers, but there are some decent college players around some of their picks. With the amount they have, I could see them taking a couple, especially for their weaker positions (middle infield specifically). Most people will say that the team, with their tiny payroll, will go cheap in the draft. Their GM said in the winter that any money they didn’t spend on their free agents was going into the draft — granted you will hear these comments to appease the fan-base, so take it with a grain of salt.