MLB Draft 2014: Brady Aiken tops final mock drafts for ESPN and Baseball America
By Brad Rowland
The 2014 MLB Draft is set to begin on Thursday night, and while there is always a great deal of intrigue surrounding the proceedings, there seems to be a consensus building at the top of this year’s draft. Both ESPN and Baseball America (along with MLB.com and countless others) have weighed in with their final mock drafts in advance of the 7:00 pm ET start, and California high school pitcher Brady Aiken sits atop the board.
John Manuel of Baseball America settled on Aiken in the top spot and pegs him to the Houston Astros:
"The Astros were floating deals to players such as North Carolina State lefty Carlos Rodon, Louisiana State’s Aaron Nola and Orlando prep shortstop Nick Gordon. One scouting source in the top 10 believed both San Diego prep players, Aiken and Rancho Bernardo’s Alex Jackson, were falling to the back of the top 10 due to signability questions. While that rumor had yet to be corroborated, the more conventional wisdom was that the Astros were sleeping on it and were going to spend Thursday working the phones for deals but would end up back at Aiken."
In his final mock draft, Keith Law of ESPN had this to say about Aiken’s projection:
"I’m still hearing they’re down to Aiken, Carlos Rodon, or Alex Jackson, perhaps even just Aiken or Jackson, but the late rumors that they’re still on Tyler Kolek aren’t true.They’re not likely to get a huge discount on any of those guys, nothing like the Carlos Correa situation a few years ago — a deal that looks like an unbelievable bargain in hindsight — but might opt for the player who allows them to save an extra half-million or million if they think it strengthens their position in later rounds."
As Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com noted on Thursday, “the Astros always keep people guessing”, but generally, when every major outlet centers on one pick at the top of the draft, that player ends up being the choice. Brady Aiken is a 6-foot-4 left-hander with a fastball in the mid-90’s and various tools that project him as a potentially elite pitcher down the road, and if all goes according to plan, Houston will have another top-end weapon at their disposal.