For subscribers to ESPN Insider, Keith Law has released his newest list of the top 100 prospects in the upcoming draft class. It’s been a busy day here today for draft coverage, with Baseball America posting their first mock draft of the season and we posted our second preview of picks in the Pittsburgh Pirates range. There was also news from last night of Jeff Hoffman needing Tommy John surgery and Jacob Bukauskas pulling his name from draft consideration, so the top end of the draft took a little hit with those two stories.
As for Law’s new rankings, he seems to differ a lot from some of the more recent mock drafts and rankings. He has Kyle Freeland ranked 24th and that would seem like a steal in that spot for the Pirates. Freeland has put up great numbers all season long for Evansville, but Law questions his quality of opposition and the fact that he has a very slider-heavy pitch selection. We have seen Freeland mentioned often around the tenth spot, though he was mentioned as a possible pick for the Pirates very early in the year. Baseball America had him going seventh overall today.
Some other rankings of note for Law are, Hartford’s Sean Newcomb now ranked ninth and Trea Turner ranked 22nd. Newcomb has been in the Pirates range for much of the season, while Turner was ranked high early, then dropped when he wasn’t hitting for enough power/average, followed by him shooting back up the draft boards with a recent surge in his offense. He was drafted by the Pirates in 2011 and if he somehow slips to them at #24, you’d have to think they would take a long look at a shortstop with plus speed and a solid bat.
