Jonathan Mayo from MLB Pipeline recently took his shot at predicting the first 29 picks of the 2020 MLB amateur draft. With the seventh overall pick in the draft, Mayo has the Pittsburgh Pirates taking Zac Veen, an 18-year-old lefty hitting outfielder.
Veen was featured in one of our first Draft Prospect Watch articles this year. That link, which includes the two best videos I could find, had this scouting report for Veen:
Veen has a projectable 6’4″ frame, with some in-game power now, but more raw power at this point and plenty of time to increase that raw potential as he fills out. He checks all of the boxes while in the batter’s box. Besides the power, he has discipline, a great eye, a consistent/smooth swing and above average bat speed. BA calls him a potential five-tool center fielder. Fangraphs says a prototypical center field prospect, while Pipeline believes he might end up at a corner spot, but still gives him solid grades across the board. Veen has a commitment to Florida
I have included a third video here, this one from Joshua Nelson:
In the brief write-up included with each pick, Mayo wrote this about Veen:
The first high school player to come off the board, and he could go a bit earlier. College options here: Garrett Mitchell (UCLA); Reid Detmers (Louisville)
UPDATE: There’s news from Ken Rosenthal that MLB and the players didn’t agree on a draft setup that had ten rounds, with smaller slot amounts for rounds 6-10, as well as a limit on the non-drafted players teams could sign. So basically it’s no real news, but we get an idea of what MLB wanted. The initial agreement said that there could be as few as five rounds, but 40 rounds wasn’t off the table. Rosenthal also notes that the draft could still happen in June. Maybe we will get some real draft news soon, since they are at least in talks.
