A right-hander going first overall? Unheard of, right? How about one without any college experience and is a prep school star? Unthinkable. Riley Pint is sure doing his best to make people think otherwise.
Can he surpass high school lefty phenomenon Jason Groome as the top high school prospect in 2016?
Jason Groome is hands-down the most attractive piece in the 2016 MLB Draft.
Groome is 17 years old. He has a frame that scouts drool over, standing at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds. He’s a lefty, and everyone knows that there isn’t a Major League Baseball team that doesn’t fall in love with with a hulking, imposing lefty on the mound. He has an arsenal consisting of three pitches that most scouts and baseball heads will tell you are already plus offerings.
Just to reiterate… he is only 17.
Continuing onward with potential top-ten MLB Draft picks’ profiles, it’s time to take a look at the first pitcher that could go off the board. Before taking a look at high schooler Jason Groome, let’s take a look at what the best college arm has to offer.
This past Wednesday, we took a look at potential top pick, Mercer outfielder Kyle Lewis. Next up in our continuing draft prep profiles is Tennessee third baseman Nick Senzel.
Monday saw the first “Almost Mock Draft” from Today’s Knuckleball, dissecting some of the options each team inside the top-ten has at their disposal. Unlike 2015, when seemingly the whole world knew Dansby Swanson was going first, this season sees two or three players that could be on the Philadelphia Phillies’ wish list at 1-1.
June 9 is right around the corner, which means time is running out for teams to figure out who their first-round selection will be in the 2016 MLB Draft. This season’s crop has an interesting selection of youngsters. Whereas many regarded Dansby Swanson as the easy selection for the Arizona Diamondbacks with the first pick in 2015 (the other members of the Big Three in Alex Bregman and Brendan Rogers were nearly no-brainers at two and three) the Philadelphia Phillies may not have it so easy.
It’s pretty easy to agree on who the top ten or twelve guys to be selected this year will be; however, it’s still unclear how they will land. That doesn’t mean that it’s too early to look at the options of each of the teams inside the top-ten picks have.
Not everyone that heads to the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft in June is a household name. They come from all walks of life. Some are highly ranked on lists by Baseball America, others come straight out of high school. Some eagerly await three or four years in DII.
That’s why I love working for NCAA.com and covering DII Sports. Over the past few weeks, I have met some coaches that have pumped out big leaguer after big leaguer, and have talked to a few players that you will hear called this June in the draft.
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