https://medium.com/@oliver.mitsuo/2027-mlb-draft-top-100-prospects
Picks 7-9:
7. Malachi Butler (HS SS)
McEarchen HS (GA), Georgia Tech Commit
6' 3", 190 lbs, L/R
Butler is how you draw them up. A 6' 3", left-handed shortstop, Butler’s swing and operation is very efficient. There’s little to no unnecessary moving parts, quiet triggers, and a direct, compact path to the zone. It’s a swing built for contact, and Butler makes tons of it. It’s a simple approach best suited for working the gaps.
Butler doesn’t chase out of
the zone much, and pulls the trigger when he does get pitches within the zone.
It’s already one of the most distinguished hit tools among the prep crop. The
swing is very short, and can look to lack some leverage at times, but Butler
hits the ball hard enough, and can put a charge into one enough to suggest
he’ll end up someone with average raw power. Though, he’ll have to take more
chances early in the count to punish the ball pull-side if he’s to tap into it.
Butler’s more of an average runner, but he’s got all the actions to suggest a long-term shortstop. He makes up for a his more lacking raw foot speed with a quick first step and the ability to make tough throws on the run.
Butler is quick laterally and has solid average arm strength that’s
good enough for shortstop. He’s no defensive show pony, either. The actions
have consistently translated well to in-game settings. He’s got the potential
to be an above-average defender there, although average may be a safer bet
long-term.
Butler’s entire profile from top to bottom screams pro-caliber. It’s an offensive profile that keeps hitting easy and simple, it’s strong defensive actions at shortstop, and enough size to hope on some power coming on. A fairly high-floor hitter with enough upside to get potentially excited about.
Additionally, Butler won’t even be 18 years old on Draft day,
another plus in his game. There’s just simply not many holes to poke in
Butler’s profile. This looks every bit the part of a first round prep
shortstop.
8. Gavin Kelly (C/UTIL,
West Virginia)
6' 0", 185 lbs, R/R
Kelly is yet another in the recent trend of athletic amateur
catchers with speed and defensive versatility. Kelly may be the most athletic
one yet, however, and may still have room left to grow.
At the plate, Kelly is rather upright, with a short stride forward, keeping his weight back, and getting the toe down early. He has obvious contact skills, showing big bat speed when he uncorks, both staying on velocity and holding his own on secondaries. He effectively spoils even when he’s fooled, shortening up with two strikes, and still generating enough force to consistently impact the baseball.
He can get the ball in the air, working a gap-to-gap approach, more intent on impacting the ball than selling out for his game power. He’s able to have the ball squeeze out over the fence with a metal bat, though his power stroke is primarily to dead center field, and the opposite way. The raw power is mostly average to this point, and whether the game power can effectively translate with a wood bat like it has with metal is a question he’ll need to answer.
He’s very adjustable, able to let the ball travel with ease, and recognizing spin within the zone, with some natural loft to the smooth right-handed stroke. He possesses a quiet approach that effectively stays off balls out of the zone, while not keeping the bat on his shoulder when he gets pitches within the zone.
As currently constructed, his
swing isn’t the most constructed for pull-side damage. He projects more as an
average power, primarily doubles hitter kind of guy. He has the tools to
potentially be a plus hitter.
Kelly is a true Swiss Army Knife that can fit in any position on the field. The catching chops are quite impressive, with impressive framing skills, plus lateral agility and blocking skills, and an above-average arm, showing himself adept at managing the running game and throwing out baserunners.
He’s got the look of a plus or better catcher defensively. That’s not the end of the defensive train for Kelly, however. He’s a plus runner on the whole, who has good twitch and bend on the dirt, most of his time coming at second base there. He’s got plenty of range going to his right, and could be tried out as a shortstop in the low minors and see how he takes to it, as well.
He’s gotten time in the outfield, too, and he’s got plenty of range out there,
with strong reads and routes. Unlike your classic utility player who is a jack
of all trades, master of none defensively, Kelly legitimately could play any
defensive position on the infield, outfield, or behind the dish, and be a
defensive asset.
Kelly’s best defensive position currently does appear to be
catcher currently, but there is a not so silent crowd of evaluators who would
like him to move out from behind the plate in favor of a position where he’d be
able to get his bat in the lineup every day with less bodily risk to himself.
Second base has been the most popular suggestion, though Kelly becoming a
full-time second baseman removes a whole lot of the allure of the athlete.
9. Ryan McPherson (RHP,
Mississippi State)
6' 3", 215 lbs
McPherson is a legit arm talent who checks a lot of boxes, even if he doesn’t necessarily excel at any one thing. Up to 99 mph, McPherson has a powerful frame and holds 94–97 mph in his starts with some authority, leading with the pitch and trying to establish it early. It’s very low-effort velocity.
The shape is more solid than anything, and McPherson doesn’t hide the
ball exceptionally well, leading to it playing more mediocre compared to how
hard he throws it. It has more visual running life than carry, though the raw
velocity certainly helps, he pounds the zone and can get it to the top rail
when he’s on.
While McPherson won’t have every single pitch firing on all cylinders in one outing, each pitch can shows it’s flashes of being above-average or better depending on the night. His best bet of the bunch is an upper-80s changeup that he seriously sells, with impressive tunnel and depth.
He can manipulate both more of a true changeup and splitter-like offspeed within that bracket, a testament for his feel for the offspeed. That feel makes it easy to project the pitch out as plus. His firm 83–86 mph knuckle curveball was once his bread and butter, though the pitch is more inconsistent now as the arsenal around it has improved. It still has solid, short movement, and can be effective when he’s picking and choosing his spots right, and putting it where he wants instead of letting it hang up in the zone.
He began to show a harder
upper-80s slider shape later into the year that looked better than his curve.
So, while the changeup is the most effective weapon, he’s shown capable of
spinning the ball and being able to get to firm, distinct shapes.
McPherson has a nice, simple motion that he has fantastic feel to consistently repeat. He does everything fairly well, with four pitches that can flash above-average, a plus changeup, good velocity, a good body, and above-average strikes. This is as good of a bet to be a big league arm, and a big league starter at the next level as it gets.
It’s merely about what it looks like when he gets there. But this is a fairly low-variance number 3/4 starter at the next level who doesn’t have the raw traits or explosiveness to be too much more, and does too much well to be too much less.
There’s a good
deal of similarities in the motion to Brandon Woodruff. He may never have the
fastball value Woodruff had, but the rest of the profile looks rather similar
otherwise.
