Baseball America released their second mock draft on Friday afternoon and there’s a name for the Pittsburgh Pirates with the fourth overall pick that is really interesting.
BA still has high school outfielder Druw Jones going first overall to the Baltimore Orioles. He’s now followed by Brooks Lee in the second spot going to the Arizona Diamondbacks. If you’ve been following the early mock drafts/rankings, Lee has been going to the Pirates in the mocks and he’s been rated fourth in some of the rankings. Next up is high school right-handed pitcher Dylan Lesko going to the Texas Rangers. For the Pirates, BA has them picking Termarr Johnson, a high school shortstop out of Georgia, who has consistently been rated as the #2 player in this draft class. Not only has Johnson dropped to the Pirates, BA also has Elijah Green going fifth now to the Washington Nationals. He went third in the last mock draft.
If this plays out this way (we still have over three months to go), the Pirates would have a choice between the player who was ranked first in this class for most of last year (Green) and the one who has been ranked second this year (Johnson).
Johnson is not tall, standing in at 5’8″, 194 pounds. He’s a lefty hitter, who BA believes will end up at second base. His value is in his bat, where they say that he has an incredible feel for hitting and lightning quick bat speed. He’s the best pure hitter in the class, with ability to barrel up the ball often, great pitch recognition skills and above average strike zone judgement. He has performed well against strong velocity and excellent breaking ball pitchers. His other tools (fielding/arm/speed) are average, but the bat is special.
