Some mid-week draft news and notes to hold you over until the weekend action picks up. Just a reminder, the Pittsburgh Pirates picked 24th overall in the first round of the 2014 amateur draft, which starts on June 5th. For information on some of the best players in this draft class, check out our four-part draft preview.
The big news yesterday was that Virginia outfielder Derek Fisher has a broken hamate bone. The team gave him the day off on Tuesday night, but a Wednesday visit to the doctors revealed the injury. He will have surgery on Monday and miss 4-6 weeks recovering, which could really hurt his draft stock. Hamate injuries sap power from hitters and usually take a year to fully recover from. Fisher has been ranked by many as a mid-to-late first round pick. In 14 games this year, he has a .333/.393/.451 slash line, with four doubles, a triple and four walks.
From the only action of note on Wednesday in college, Max Pentecost from Kennesaw State, went 3-for-5 with a double, walk and two runs scored. His team won 4-3 in 12 innings over Western Carolina. Through 20 games, Pentecost is hitting .321/.398/.429 with one homer and 11 RBIs. Scouts have been down on him due to those numbers because Kennesaw State doesn’t have the strongest schedule.
Dan Kirby has his list of ten high school players on the rise. Listed among them are Tyler Kolek, who has the potential to go first overall with North Carolina State’s Carlos Rodon not dominating the competition like many expected. Kolek has hit 100 MPH early this season and in 11 innings, he has allowed one walk, no hits and struck out 24 batters. Also listed are Sean Reid-Foley, Nick Gordon, Grant Holmes and Michael Gettys, who were all covered in our season previews. Gordon has been getting a lot of positive press recently and could go in the top ten. You can view videos of Reid-Foley, Holmes and Gettys in the links under their name.
Baseball America posted stats from week four of the college season for the top 100 prospects. There is also a write-up on Sean Newcomb, who many feel could be around when the Pirates pick in the first round. Clint Longenecker added an in depth article on Newcomb since this article was first published. It’s well worth checking out.
Finally, Braxton Davidson threw four shutout innings on Tuesday night. He was shaky in his outing, allowing two hits and four walks, though he struck out seven. Davidson won’t be drafted as a pitcher, he is a power bat that will likely play first base in the pros, or possibly a corner outfield spot. He had a single, run scored and stolen base in his team’s 5-4 win. If you missed it from earlier in the week, three new mock drafts had Davidson in the Pirates range, with one predicting that they would pick him. While it’s too early to say they could be looking at him closely as a potential pick, there seems to be a strong opinion at this time that he is a mid-to-late first round pick.
