First Pitch 2021 MLB Mock Draft: Predicting the top-5
By Mark Powell
MLB Mock Draft: Boston Red Sox select Henry Davis
“Red Sox fans are hoping that Jack Leiter falls to them at No. 4 since the franchise hasn’t had a top pitching prospect emerge from their system in a long time. If he’s off the board, Louisville catcher Henry Davis should be our top choice. The first-place Red Sox aren’t expecting to pick anywhere near this high again anytime soon so there’s significant pressure to nail this draft pick. A college bat would be safer and ready to contribute at the major leagues sooner than the elite high school shortstops available near the top of the draft. Boston has some enticing catching prospects in their system but none with the ceiling that Davis possesses. His potential arrival in the majors could line up with when the 30-year-old Christian Vazquez begins to fade.” – BoSox Injection site editor Sean Penney
The Red Sox clearly prefer Leiter here, and if he’s available, expect them to rush to the podium. Davis isn’t a bad consolation prize, however.
Davis has emerged as the best collegiate bat available in this draft class, and is no slouch defensively either. His slash line of .380/.482/.663 in his final season at Louisville are straight video game numbers.
The Red Sox could very well price Leiter down to them, offering his camp a $7 million price tag, as FanGraphs wrote in one of their latest MLB Draft pieces. That feels a bit more like mock draft fan fiction than reality at this point, however.
Assuming no financial steps are taken to ensure Leiter falls to Boston, expect them to take the next-best-thing, and be better off for it in a strong catching prospect like Davis.