Baseball America released their second mock draft on Thursday, though this is the first one in which they went past the tenth overall pick. The Pirates have the 12th overall pick when the draft starts on June 12th and according to John Manuel’s mock draft, he has them going with Virginia outfielder Adam Haseley.
Haseley has been the best college hitter according to Manuel, although he says that scouts remain skeptical of his power and ability to play center field in the future. Through 40 games this season, Haseley is hitting .407/.508/693, with 11 homers and nine steals in 13 attempts. He’s also a starting pitcher, and has posted a 3.31 ERA in nine starts.
BA has an article worth checking out about Haseley, comparing him with Jeren Kendall and their ability to make contact. In 184 plate appearances, Haseley has struck out just 14 times, while drawing 31 walks. Kendall is the type of player that scouts dream on due to his tools, but he has a lot of swing and miss to his game and there are some questions on how it will translate to pro ball. Still, BA has him going ninth to the Brewers. Haseley’s best tool besides his arm would be his bat.
Here’s a video of Haseley from earlier this month against the best team in college baseball (yes, I’m a biased Louisville fan):
Looks like a hitter; loads up with a slight uppercut but that body is not a center fielders. But God knows the system has no legit bats in the of so he would be a
fine choice
How hard is it to find high upside high school hitters that project in the mold of Bryant or Harper? Weren’t they both college picks? Just asking
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Pirates need to try and draft some “pop” at some point. I know Pedro didn’t work out as planned but, I think we all can agree that the Pirates need power. Also, I am sure they go with a high school pitcher that no one has heard of so this conversation is sort of moot.
Remember, Connor Joe and Will Craig were both guys with pop. Converting NCAA power into MLB power is a very tough get. The Pirates are just not one of those systems that you think about when development of power is the subject. Pitching development yes, power hitting development no.
We have to wait to see on Craig. He is in an extremely difficult hitting environment (the one park is something like 420 to center).
Pirates don’t generally draft high school pitchers in the first round – Taillon was an exception.
I don’t like the pick. No need for another outfielder especially one that walks more then strikes out. Another Newman, Craig clone. Will the pirates win games by walking or hitting with some power. Lets go for a high upside high school hitter that can become more then the “walking dead”.
Um… walking is a huge commodity because, for one it shows that the kid has a good judge of the strike zone and that he isn’t up there just swinging away like Mark Reynolds. In addition, I’ll take guys who get on base a lot any day of the week.
John: Before yesterdays mock draft, I did a lot of research into the BA Top 100. In previous updates I had been all over Jordan Adell, and I still think he is the kid to draft if he is still on the board.
In the Top 100 they had Nick Pratto 1B, OF, LHP from Huntington Beach, CA rated No. 8. In the Mock Draft he is projected at 16th going to the Yankees. In his video he looks like a very strong LH hitter. Pratto did very well in the NHSI Tournament and another kid who made the All – NHSI 2nd team is Mark Vientos SS/3B Plantation, FL who was No. 20 in the Top 100 and is projected to get drafted No. 29.
Another kid from Plantation who made the All-NHSI First team is Christian Santana, RHP who I could not even find in the BA Top 100 and he was not listed in the Mock Draft. Projectable and “only” hits 92 with the FB and has a strong breaking ball. Could be a sleeper to draft later, but after being selected as one of the 5 best pitchers in the NHSI, I think his stock will climb.
I covered Adell here and think he would be a great pick at 12th overall http://18.206.184.11/2017/04/draft-prospect-watch-pirates-see-an-increase-in-their-draft-bonus-pool.html
I don’t think the Pirates pay much attention to these lists. Last years draft clearly showed that.
If the Pirates stay with the hit tool picks Haseley seems like a great choice.
With Kendall a 30% strikeout rate would be okay at the bigs if he puts up good offensive numbers but I don’t see how a 30% strikeout rate in College won’t increase even more once he starts facing better pitching.
College strikeout rates are usually fairly low, even for guys projected to strikeout a lot. I would say 20% is considered high. No one on the Virginia team has a 20% K rate