A First Look at the 2017 MLB Draft - Who to Know, What to Expect
Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
It's still over two months away, but what sort of things should we expect from the 2017 MLB draft?
The 2017 MLB draft pools were recently announced, and that gets the attention for draft season ratcheted up.
The new collective bargaining agreement significantly altered the previous huge advantage that teams with the first overall selection had financially on the rest of the draft as far as draft pools are concerned.
There was also a very under-covered provision added to the new CBA where high school players with no intention of going pro can completely opt out of the draft, which does provide more value to the low-level college players in the late rounds.
Over the next couple of pages, we'll look at the college and high school classes for the 2017 class and the early looks on each class. At Call to the Pen, we will have mock drafts that will start in mid-May to review the options that could happen in the upcoming draft.
Before we get to the classes, let's take a look at the pools, taken from an article by J.J. Cooper of Baseball America:
Minnesota Twins $14,156,800
Cincinnati Reds $13,658,400
Tampa Bay Rays $12,528,100
San Diego Padres $11,839,000
Oakland Athletics $11,407,500
Milwaukee Brewers $10,447,700
Pittsburgh Pirates $10,135,900
Arizona Diamondbacks $9,905,900
Atlanta Braves $9,881,200
Miami Marlins $9,375,500
Houston Astros $9,039,600
Philadelphia Phillies $8,729,100
Toronto Blue Jays $8,231,000
Los Angeles Angels $8,212,800
Kansas City Royals $8,076,900
Chicago White Sox $7,921,400
Texas Rangers $7,626,600
Chicago Cubs $7,454,900
New York Yankees $6,912,800
Baltimore Orioles $6,846,700
Seattle Mariners $6,737,300
Detroit Tigers $6,520,100
San Francisco Giants $6,363,600
New York Mets $6,212,500
Los Angeles Dodgers $5,794,200
Boston Red Sox $5,667,100
Washington Nationals $5,503,500
Colorado Rockies $4,615,700
Cleveland Indians $3,829,000
St. Louis Cardinals $2,176,000
Alright, now let's start with the college crop for this season's draft.
College Players
The 2016 college class was a class that wasn't highly regarded either in depth or elite players.
This season's class is different in both regards. There is a good chance that only two or three players of the top eight picks are college players, but it is extremely likely that college players will dominate the draft from that point until very possibly the late second round.
The college class this year is very deep in quality players that would project to move quickly without elite ceilings but seeming high floors. College sluggers in particular seem to be in abundance this season. Interestingly, a discussion on a recent Minnesota Twins/Kansas City Royals game lamented the lack of true sluggers in the game as light-hitting Robbie Grossman took the start at designated hitter for the Twins, so there is a need in the game for this type of player.
Top Players
Coming into the 2017 spring season, there was some argument as to who the top collegiate player was, and there is still some disagreement, but it's moved from two Vanderbilt players, Jeren Kendall and Kyle Wright, leading the group to a North Carolina righty and a Louisville two-way star.
J.B. Bukauskas has been absolutely dominating this season for North Carolina, showing excellent stuff from the right side. The biggest knock on him right now is his height, which some have said is generous at 6'0″ even.
The other top guy is Brendan McKay, who could strike the fancy of a team as a slugging first baseman or a left-handed pitcher, either of which he's excelled at this season for Louisville.
Right now, the group behind them that could also find their way into the top 10 include Wright and Kendall, who started rough but have both rebounded, along with a group of right handed pitchers – Alex Faedo of Florida, Tanner Houck of Missouri, Alex Lange of LSU, Tristan Beck of Stanford, and Will Crowe of South Carolina.
I'd keep an eye on some of the sluggers in the draft who could really make an impression by draft day, including Pavin Smith of Virginia, Jake Burger of Missouri State, and Brent Rooker of Mississippi State.
High School Crop
In 2016, the high school class had difficulty defining the top guy in the class among people in the game, though ranking services certainly loved Jason Groome and Riley Pint above others. However, the class was most noted for its incredible depth, especially in pitching, with some people stating that guys drafted in the third round would be fringe first round talents in most seasons of high school arms.
More from Call to the Pen
This is not that level of depth in class, though it has the opposite issue. There's a definitive #1 and there are a group of guy who will fill out the top 10 for sure before really not seeing frequent high school picks for the rest of the first few rounds due to the elite top of the class and shallow depth within the group.
One of the very intriguing pieces of this class is the guys who are still viable as two-way players without a sure spot where a team will want to put the player, even in the #1 overall guy!
Top Players
The #1 guy in this class is pretty clear – Hunter Greene, a shortstop and right-handed pitcher from California with ideal size, excellent hitting ability, and an upper-90s fastball that has touched triple digits. Most teams see him as a pitcher due to his polish and velocity on the mound, but some have said the bat is still a top-five player.
Behind Greene is a group of guys who will scatter the top 10, but then a fairly large drop-off. The two-way guys like Jordan Adell, Nick Pratto, or Hagen Danner do have one direction they lean harder, but most are viewed as stronger hitters.
There are also elite athletes that have shown well like shortstops Royce Lewis, Brady McConnell, and Mark Vientos along with outfielders Austin Beck, Garrett Mitchell, and Heliot Ramos.
The arms that are highly regarded at this juncture are DL Hall, MacKenzie Gore, and Hans Crouse, who really impressed at the recent National High School Invitational tournament.
Of course, being early, there are plenty of guys who will be jumping up both the high school and college lists, so keep following CTTP!
As a shout out, I have a group of Twitter folks that I chat with frequently. Some are Atlanta Braves fans, hailing from my coverage of the Braves for Tomahawk Take, some are general baseball fans, and some are from all other lines of life.
One of the big MLB draft fans in my Twitter feed is @BravesHerbert. He has put together this composite of the draft rankings that would be a good thing to follow throughout draft season!
Current composite 2017 #MLBDraft rankings:https://t.co/RH6wwx1j7f
You can filter by team, round, & individual media outlet.
Enjoy!
— Doc Herbert (@BravesHerbert) March 7, 2017
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