With the 2013 MLB Amateur Draft just over a week away, teams are wrapping up their pre-draft workouts and finalizing their draft boards. It’s an exciting time for young, aspiring high school prospects who dream of playing professional baseball. Following successful senior campaigns, we anticipate many of these young stars will hear their name called on June 6^th.     

Comparative analysis of this year’s class to recent drafts has left many in the industry feeling underwhelmed; however the fact remains there are plenty of future Major League players available for the picking.  The difficulty faced by each organization is determining who these players are and when to select them.   And while a few college RHP’s have emerged as candidates for the first pick, this class appears to run deep in high school talent.  To be more specific, the prep LHP’s and catching prospects are providing the most intrigue, despite these two positions lacking a stellar draft history.

Prep Catchers with Potential

Historically speaking, high school catchers selected early in the draft do not live up to their hype in the majors.  While a few recent top picks have switched positions (Neil Walker, Brandon Snyder, Brett Lawrie and others), others have simply failed to fulfill their lofty draft status (Jon Poterson and Jonathan Egan, to name a couple).  Of course there are a few early picks such as Conger, Mesoraco and D’Arnaud who still have a chance for productive careers.  And guys like Saltalamacchia and McCann have clearly proved worthy of an early round selection.  In this year’s draft, teams have their pick of probable first round picks with Jon Denney, Reese McGuire and Nick Ciuffo expected to go on day one of the draft.  Add several other prep catchers expected to be selected early on and this class will provide a decent sample size to observe at the catching position over the next several years.  We are optimistic each of these young men will go on to lead productive Major League careers.

Lefties: Worth the Investment?

High school left-handed pitchers are repeatedly the most undervalued group of players in the MLB draft. Perhaps this is due to the historically lower velocities of prep lefties, or typical sign-ability concerns.  No matter the reason, there is no other position passed over with such frequency come draft day. While there are early selection examples like Kershaw (1^st round pick) or Alex Wood and Jon Lester (2nd rounder’s), they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.  The industry has accepted that players develop at different rates, but to see recent arms like Patrick Corbin, CJ Wilson, Derek Holland and Tommy Milone go from undrafted high school players to mainstays in a big league rotation has led to some head scratching. Mix in 8^th round picks Matt Moore and Cliff Lee, Mike Minor going in the 13^th round back in 2006, and Chris Sale in the 21^st round of the 2007 draft and you have some of the top LHP’s in the game who were clearly undervalued coming out of high school. This year we’ll see how early teams are willing to use their pick on lefties Trey Ball, Rob Kaminsky, Chris Kohler, Hunter Green, Matt Krook, Rob Kaminsky and other top LHP prospects off the board.  Recent history says it could be a very good investment.

Athleticism Prevails in this High School Crop

In addition to the catcher’s and LHP’s, this year’s high school crop features some very athletic outfielders in Austin Meadows and Clint Frazier.  There are also a handful of pure hitters led by Billy McKinney and Dominic Smith.  Although the class is thinner on middle infielders, JP Crawford, Oscar Mercado, and Chris Rivera all have a shot to stay at shortstop at the next level.  RHP’s like Hunter Harvey and Kohl Stewart should find their way into the first round along with a few others who forced themselves into consideration based on a few solid outings late in the season.

At the end of the day, decision makers know there are productive Major Leaguers – even a few All-Stars – to be found in this year’s class.  Their organizations have tasked them with figuring out who that will be, making the right pick and developing the selected players in their minor league system.  Who will be playing right field for the Cardinals six years from now? Or part of the starting rotation for the L.A. Dodgers come 2020? There will always be shoes to fill and roster spots to fight for; someday those positions could very well be held by players selected this June. 

Looking for more prep pre-draft information? Visit Baseball Factory's Top 100 High School Prospects, powered by Under Armour, for a closer look at some of the top prep players available heading into the draft!