All eyes this week will be on events like the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game, but preceding that is the MLB Draft. It might not be nearly as fun to watch as the NFL and NBA Drafts, but as we've seen this season with the Detroit Tigers, good drafts can go a long way. From Riley Greene, to Tarik Skubal, to Spencer Torkelson, to Colt Keith, much of the Tigers' roster is made up of draft picks. The draft is important to pay attention to.
With that in mind, Baseball America ($) revealed what it's heard ahead of the first round of the festivities. Here are the most important rumors to keep tabs on.
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Zach Root getting tons of buzz ahead of MLB Draft
Arkansas right-hander Gage Wood stole the show during the College World Series by throwing a no-hitter with 19 strikeouts, but he's only one of two electric arms to come from that university. The other is Zach Root, a left-hander who Baseball America believes is getting a ton of buzz ahead of the draft.
"Two names getting a lot of buzz to be the sixth are Arkansas lefthander Zach Root and LSU righthander Anthony Eyanson. Both pitchers are coming off strong seasons in the SEC where they posted consistently and boast fairly safe starter profiles. Root is a lefthander who sits around 93 mph and has impressive feel for his secondaries, while Eyanson sits in the 92-94 mph range with impressive fastball command and has found good results with both his slider and curveball. Both are getting plenty of attention throughout the 20s and 30s and sound like reasonably safe bets to go within the first 40 picks."
Root doesn't have the stuff that Wood does, but he's seen as a fairly safe pick. MLB fans dream of upside in the MLB Draft, especially in the first round, and it's hard to blame them, but there's nothing wrong with going the safe route as well. We see prospects flame out every year. Getting a bonafide starter, which Root projects to be, in the back-end first round would be a solid outcome.
It'll be interesting to see if he ends up going in the first-round or if he slips to a lucky team in the second-round.
Rockies could luck out and end up with Ethan Holliday
For much of the year, Ethan Holliday has been seen as the favorite to get selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the MLB Draft. While he can still end up going No. 1 overall, momentum appears to be heading in Kade Anderson's direction in that regard.
"We went with Holliday in our mock earlier this week, but I’m leaning toward putting Anderson in that spot for our final draft day mock now."
If Holliday doesn't go No. 1 overall, the question then becomes, where will he go? Well, chances are, the Los Angeles Angels, a team that's gone out of its way to select fast-moving collegiate talent in recent years, won't take Holliday fresh out of high school at No. 2 overall. The Seattle Mariners hold the No. 3 overall pick and could take him, but they feel primed to either take a college bat like local product Aiva Arquette or add another arm to their impressive stash. This leaves the Colorado Rockies at No. 4 overall as the winners of the Holliday sweepstakes.
On one hand, it'd be cool to see the Rockies, the team that Ethan's father, Matt, starred for, take him. On the other hand, the Rockies are a mess, and haven't had much luck developing talent even with their altitude advantage. Who's to say Holliday, as talented as he is, will thrive in Colorado?
Regardless, it certainly feels like if the Nationals pass on Holliday, which is getting more and more likely by the day, he'll end up in Colorado.
Nationals could go in dark horse direction with No. 1 overall pick
As mentioned above, Holliday has felt like the favorite to go No. 1 overall until recently, as Anderson has gained momentum. While the Washington Nationals are still expected to go in one of these directions, it sounds like dark horse options can't be ruled out as of yet.
"Beyond the top two favorites, Eli Willits, Seth Hernandez and Aiva Arquette are all commonly mentioned names, though still less likely. I would point to Willits as the most likely of this group, but that is still more speculative than anything hard and fast."
Now, it'd obviously be a shock to see the Nationals pass on the best high school and college players, respectively, with the No. 1 overall pick, but Washington, a team needing lots of help, could choose to save money at the top of the draft and add more impactful players later on. We've seen teams deploy this strategy before.
Ultimately, nobody truly knows what's going on with the Nationals, largely because they just fired GM Mike Rizzo a week before the draft. There's a good chance they'll still go with Anderson or Holliday, but perhaps interim GM Mike DeBartolo has a plan involving a guy like Eli Willits leading the way.