It is now the season for mock drafts and Baseball America has rolled out their second attempt at guessing the field. In the first one last week, they had catcher Kyle Schwarber from Indiana, going to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Schwarber had a hot streak recently and has moved up a little for most, so the new pick is prep outfielder Monte Harrison.
We haven’t talked much about Harrison this year, because he wasn’t rated this high early in the year. You can check back from a month ago when we posted a full scouting report and video on him here. He is a very athletic player, who also excels in football and basketball. The thinking is that once he concentrates on one sport, he can really take off, but he is already strong at all three sports. On the baseball field, he is full of potential. Harrison has plus speed, can cover center field and has a plus arm. He has a ton of power potential in his bat. His only average tool is the hit tool, but even that currently rates 50 on the 20-80 scout scale.
The Pirates have a lot of outfielders in their system and should be good at the majors for awhile, but Harrison has the chance to be special. Because he is still a high school player, he is far from major league ready and a lot can happen between now and then, so that should keep the Pirates from picking him.
A couple other recent links concerning the draft:
Keith Law posted a mock draft yesterday that had Pirates taking Vanderbilt pitcher Tyler Beede.
We posted our draft preview, with scouting reports and video of four possible picks for the Pirates. It was part three in the weekly series leading up to the draft.