D-Backs target upside in draft
With more picks on the first day of the draft than any team in baseball, the Diamondbacks didn’t shy away from taking risky – yet high-upside – players, going with a trio of high school players with their first three picks.
The Diamondbacks took center fielder Corbin Carroll with the 16th overall selection and followed that up by taking lefty Blake Walston at No. 26 and right-hander Brennan Malone at No. 33.
The Diamondbacks followed those up by taking four college players: Ball State right-hander Drey Jameson, Oregon right-hander Ryne Nelson, Michigan left-hander Tommy Henry and Arkansas outfielder Dominic Fletcher.
The picks ahead of the Diamondbacks appeared to play out the way most of the industry expected. Oregon State’s Adley Rutschman, a switchhitting catcher with power, was selected No. 1 overall by the Baltimore Orioles.
Each of the next five picks were position players: shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals), first baseman Andrew Vaughn (White Sox), outfielder J.J. Bleday (Marlins), outfielder Riley Greene (Tigers) and shortstop C.J. Abrams (Padres).
Carroll, 18, a left-handed hitter out of Lakeside High in Seattle, is regarded as a well-rounded player who draws comparisons to major league outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Andrew Benintendi.
“I guess when I try to describe myself, sort of the phrase ‘Tools meets gamer’ comes to mind,” Carroll said on a conference call with reporters. “I think I’m someone who works really hard each and every day to improve all his tools. But then when it’s time to play in the games, I sort of elevate a little bit and I guess my tools play up in games.”
Carroll has a good approach at the plate, the ability to spray the ball to all fields and a line-drive swing that generates surprising pop, according to MLB.com’s draft profile.
He is undersized at 5-foot-10, but Baseball America’s report says he “isn’t small, with a solid frame and improved strength to the point where he could project for at least average power.”
Walston, who turns 18 later this month, is said to be a good athlete with a clean arm action and delivery who has room to fill out his 6-foot-5, 175-pound frame. He’ll likely be a slow-developing type, though one who has significant upside.
Walston is out of New Hanover High in Wilmington, N.C., where he was a star quarterback, leading the state in passing yards in 2017. His athleticism has surfaced in his strike-throwing ability, according to draft reports, and he can sit in the 90-93 mph range, though many see potential for him to add more velocity.
Walston said on a conference call that focusing on baseball will “most definitely” allow him to develop more quickly.
Malone is viewed as one of the best high school pitchers in the class. According to Baseball America, he “might have the best combination of current stuff and future projection of any prep pitcher in the 2019 draft class.”
He has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and a slider that showed significant improvement this spring.
Jameson, a two-way player at Ball State, is an undersized right-hander who is said to possess tremendous arm speed that generates mid-to-upper 90s fastballs. Nelson has an explosive fastball that routinely hits 99 mph but needs to improve his control.
Henry’s draft stock went up and down throughout the college season, peaking after he dominated to start the year but dropping off after his fastball velocity dipped into the upper-80s later in the year.
Dominic Fletcher is the younger brother of Angels infielder David Fletcher. He’s considered a plus defender in center but will have to show he can hit to avoid being a fourth player.