College pitchers dominate picks
Coastal Carolina’s 6-5 Knorr leads way as 3rd-round choice
Day two of the 2022 MLB draft found the Astros taking college selections to the nth degree.
Continuing a trend that began with their first three picks Sunday, they took nothing but collegiate players with their eight picks in rounds three through 10.
And how does it happen that six of those eight players are pitchers?
“Pretty organically, to be honest,” said Astros director of amateur scouting Kris Gross. “A lot of bats go off the board early, and we kind of had a target on some of these strikethrowing college pitchers. We’re excited about the arms we got today.”
The first of those arms selected Monday was Michael Knorr, a 6-5 righthander who went 5-0 at Coastal Carolina in 2022 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.06 WHIP over 69 innings. He struck out 86 batters while walking only 13.
“Big, physical righthander,” Gross said of Knorr, the 103rd overall pick. “Started his career at Cal State Fullerton and transferred over to Coastal Carolina this year. He fills the zone. He’s got two workable breaking balls and the changeup, too. Fivepitch guy that throws a ton of strikes. He’s big. He was a very enticing guy.”
Other pitchers selected Monday by the Astros included:
•6-5 Monmouth lefty Trey Dombroski III in the fourth round (3.13 ERA over 95 innings with 120 strikeouts versus 14 walks and an opponents batting average of .224);
• Davidson righthander Nolan DeVos in the fifth round (9-2 with a 2.40 ERA and 1.19 WHIP over 78 2⁄3 innings with 106 strikeouts and 31 walks);
• Wisconsin-Milwaukee righthander A.J. Blubaugh in the seventh round (3-3 with six saves and a 3.25 ERA over 52 2⁄3 innings with 51 strikeouts and 16 walks);
• Kentucky 6-4 righthander Tyler Guilfoil in the eighth round (3-1 with six saves and a 1.59 ERA in 21 relief appearances spanning 51 innings, with 80 strikeouts and 17 walks);
• Portland righthanded Brett Gillis (9-2 record with a 2.24 ERA, 115 strikeouts and 32 walks across 84 innings).
His Southeastern Conference pedrigree was a selling point for Guilfoil.
“His fastball misses a ton of bats,” Gross said. “It’s not huge velo, but it’s played very well — that invisi-ball fastball that people talk about. (Among) SEC hitters that we talked to, he was a common name that came back of guys that missed bats and were tough to hit this spring.”
The Astros did manage to come up with a couple of position players, starting with Collin Price, a 6-6 catcher out of Mercer, in the sixth round.
A fourth-year senior from Suwanee, Ga., Price started all 58 of his team’s games, slashing .315/.460/.626 with 18 home runs and 58 RBIs.
“He’s a tall guy,” Gross said. “I think we could put a little more weight on Collin and tap into some more power, but he’s shown a little bit of that at Mercer, and to get him in the place we got him, we’re excited. He can throw, he’s big, he’s flexible back there, so he’s going to hold up nicely.”
Closing out Tuesday’s Astros selections was 10th-rounder Zach Cole, whom Gross called “a very interesting athlete out of Ball State.”
Cole led the Cardinals with a .361 batting average in 2022, amassing 10 doubles, nine triples, 13 home runs and 47 RBIs over 182 at-bats. He followed first-rounder Drew Gilbert of Tennessee and second-rounder Jacob Melton of Oregon State as outfielders selected by the Astros so far this year.
“The instincts need to be worked on a little bit, but he’s so fast and athletic,” Gross said of Cole. “He’s got a 41-inch vertical. He can do some special things. Optimistically, I think center field’s a realistic possibility.”