Mack's spin -
Boone is a lefty with the speed and accuracy of Tom Glavine.
Nothing he does out on the mound is very electric, but he is in total command of his weapons and knows how to mix them up effectively.
He will be picked on day two because of this.
LHP 6-2 175 UC Santa Barbara
12-18-20 -
college baseball info - top player from each school -
22. UCSB
Rodney Boone, LHP (2021): Though Boone doesn’t boast the premium velocity of other pitchers on this list, his pitch metrics are exceptional and should catapult him ahead of guys with better radar gun readings.
12-3-20 - Perfect Game combined their picks for the first two rounds in this mock draft -
11. Washington Nationals | Steve Hajjar, LHP, Michigan | (2/40) Rodney Boone, LHP, UC Santa Barbara
Hajjar jumped on the scene in 2020 going 3-0 in his four starts for the Wolverines as an already polished southpaw who has a strong fastball with plus command of his entire arsenal. He’s a guy who has the opportunity to really move on the draft board depending on his performance this season. The 2019 Big West pitcher of the year noticeably made strides in 2020 as he generated more empty swings on the mound and posted a 13.08 K/9 rate. He’s another southpaw on this list that has the opportunity to float his stock if he looks dominant in 2021. With so much high-end similar talent in this draft class, experience and maturity may be a difference maker on the mound in this draft and Boone possesses plenty. -Connor Spencer
Sakowski’s Take: A pair of college lefties who represent two of the more intriguing data sets in college baseball, this hypothetical draft would definitely give the Nationals a couple high-end arms right away. Hajjar has a chance, with a big spring, to potentially move even higher up the board while Boone has been a tremendous performer throughout his career out west with the metrics that more analytically-savvy teams salivate over.
Rodney Boone
UC Santa Barbara LHP
Ht: 6-2 | Wt: 175 | B-T: L-L
Commit/Drafted: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 21.3
A 6-foot-2, 175-pound lefthander, Boone had a freshman All-American season in 2019 after he posted a 2.78 ERA over 14 starts and 81 innings, striking out 80 batters (8.9 per nine) and walking 29 (3.2 per nine). Boone followed that up well in his first four starts in the shortened 2020 season, again posting a sub-3.00 ERA. He managed a 2.53 ERA over 21.1 innings while striking out 31 batters (13.1 per nine) and walking 11 (4.6 per nine). While Boone sits in the 87-88 mph range with his fastball, the pitch has some stealthy qualities to it and plays better than that. He throws from a lower slot and has a bit of funk and deception in his operation and heavily utilizes a changeup that could become a 55-grade offering. There are questions about his overall feel to spin a breaking ball, however, and while Boone has had no issues striking out batters now, scouts will need to see an uptick in his velocity next spring.
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1 comment:
Rodney gets respect from me for being a lefty. I'd pick a lefty on day 2. I just wonder if his ceiling is another PJ Conlon.
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