Athlon Sports offered up their list of their top 50
college prospects that will be available in the 2020 draft.
18. Daniel Cabrera, OF, LSU
Fan Buzz - The 6-foot-1 junior is a five-tool
outfielder that was tabbed a 2020 First-Team Preseason All-American by Baseball
America after manning left field for LSU baseball the past two seasons.
As a sophomore, he had what he considered a “down” season
after hitting .284 with 12 home runs, 12 doubles and 50 RBIs. Seven of those
homers and half of those RBIs came in 26 SEC regular-season games.
That’s no small task considering the pitching they saw out of
schools like Florida, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama,
Mississippi State and Ole Miss. Read up on Emerson Hancock and Asa Lacy if
you’re unfamiliar.
bA -
2. Landon
Knack, RHP, East Tennessee State
Knack is among the least likely seniors on this list to
return in 2021, because he used an abbreviated 2020 season to become a
legitimate draft prospect, even in the face of the draft being shortened to as
few as five rounds
The righthander was a good pitcher for ETSU as a junior in
2019, going 9-4, 2.60 with 94 strikeouts in 97 innings of work, but he was on
another level through four starts in 2020. He was 4-0, 1.08 with a 51-to-1
strikeout-to-walk ratio in 25 innings of work, featuring a fastball that
reached the high 90s.
Clayton Beeter, RHP, Texas Tech
Texas Tech righty Clayton Beeter is in the mix to be selected
as high as the second half of the first round. Numerous teams are high on
Beeter, but his draft status remains unknown because he doesn’t have the track
record other college pitchers have in this year’s class.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound righty served primarily as Texas
Tech’s closer as a redshirt freshman last season. He earned All-American honors
last year and returned this season as Texas Tech’s No. 1 starter. In 21
innings, Beeter recorded a 2.14 ERA with 33 strikeouts (14.1 per nine innings)
and four walks allowed this season.
In his four starts this spring, he had an electric repertoire
of pitches, which was headlined by his mid-90s fastball and above-average
breaking ball.
Multiple scouts that I have spoke with are extremely high on
Beeter and believe he’s one of the top college starting pitchers in this year’s
draft. One area scout even said he might have been a top-10 pick last year had
he been eligible and displayed the stuff he did this spring all of last year as
a starter.
BA
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Max Meyer, RHP, Minnesota
Why You Should Know Him: Meyer always had big-time stuff, but
one of the questions with him entering the season was how well could the
undersized righthander maintain his electric stuff in a starter’s role? While
we’ll never know how he could have handled that over a full season, the stuff
was plenty good over the first four weeks and he’s got plenty of athleticism,
enough to garner comps to Sonny Gray and Marcus Stroman. Where Meyer winds up
being drafted will show how the industry values undersized, but explosive and
proven arms.
20.
Jordan Walker, 3B — Decatur HS (GA)
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Walker edged Pete Crow-Armstrong,
Cole Wilcox, C.J. Van Eyk, Carson Montgomery and Jake Eder here, and you can
argue for any of them, but I received slightly better reports on Walker.
For Mariners fans, he might remind you a bit of Kyle Lewis in
some of his early video at Mercer. He’s a bit raw and doesn’t run well enough
to project well in the outfield, but the power is legit and he has the swing to
back it up.
He has a very good arm, and projects to third OK for now,
though there are a lot of area guys penciling in a walk across the diamond.
When I asked two checkers to rank Walker, Van Eyk and
Crow-Armstrong, Montgomery, Wilcox and Eder, one had Walker No. 1, the other
No. 3. Eder received the other No. 1 vote, but was ranked last in the group by
the first scout. Crow-Armstrong was ranked No. 2 and No. 3 and would have been
No. 21 had the rankings gone that far.
2 comments:
The Mets will take pitchers. That is what they do. That is what they will continue to do under the Wilpons. We can only hope they get lucky in later rounds taking less well regarded hitters who blossom (like Jeff McNeil).
Landon Knack looks like a freak, averaging 18 Ks and zero walks over 25 innings? I would say he has the knack for sure.
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