Sunday, July 12: Rounds 5-20
• 11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.ET (MLB.com, MLB TV, MLB+)
Yesterday certainly could have gone better for the Diamond Dores, as no current players were chosen in the first 4 rounds (yeah… we earned that postseason miss this year), but 6 commits were.
The latter part of that sentence likely frightens you, but it was pretty much expected. Well, that OF Eric Booth Jr. went in the 1st (Orioles), SS Aiden Ruiz in the 2nd (Pirates), LHP Sean Duncan in the 2nd (Yankees), recently flipped from UVA commit SS Luke Williams in the 3rd (Gnats), and SS Keon Johnson in the 3rd (Houston) was pretty par for the course. The only shocker was 1B Collin Bland being tabbed by the Devil Rays in the 4th. Most thought he was pretty safe to get to campus, as he’s a 1B/DH type, and those only get taken out of HS if their bats are unreal, but… you know… you only need one team to like you and whatnot.
In normal years, losing 6 potential incoming freshmen would mean our class was completely raided by the pros, and we’d be pretty apoplectic. Heck, losing 3 guys who could take over for Ryker Waite at SS in a year even sounds like something that would kill a class, right?
Well, no. Not this class. Not yet.
Note that there are more guys in this class than Aria listed… those are the Perfect Game top 100 ‘croots still on the board. CF Wilson (11), RHP Contreras (21), LHP Holloway (23), SS Tronstein (40), LHP Cope (46), SS Skelton (56), and though RHP Herst is ranked outside of those confines, he was still on the Top 250 lists (for the overall draft… not just high school guys) for MLB, ESPN, and Perfect Game, and is the most starter ready of any of our pitching ‘croots. That doesn’t even count RHP Hinojosa (150) and others who are prized 4 star commits.
Seriously, we still have two 5 star types left at SS after having already lost 3 in the draft. One of those, Gunner Skelton, is my pick to have an immediate Brodie Johnston-level impact at the plate, as he straight up destroyed the Appy League this summer. Esposito, Corbs, and Brownie did work in this class.
Make no mistake, if no other commits are chosen today, that would be the #1 class in the nation and a massive jumpstart to get The Diamond Dores back to the top of the heap.
…but we’re not out of the woods yet. With the new draft schedule (rounds 1-4 on Day 1; rounds 5-20 on Day 2), it is expected that teams will have made the calls to all the remaining over-slot HS players (think players with $2 million asking prices) to see who’s actually signable. With that said, expect the 5th round to be the danger zone for our commits, and once we’re past that, you can exhale a bit. Further, it would not shock me if Corbs and the boys went nuclear with NIL asks to boosters last night, especially with Contreras, Wilson, and Holloway still on the board.
Today, we want to hear current player names, like The Hulk and The Kranz, and (refills Jobu’s rum; prays to Pinman) none of our remaining commits, please and thank you.
