Richard Palacios

The first Towson player ever named the Colonial Athletic Association's Rookie of the Year, Palacios is an intriguing infielder with professional bloodlines. His father, Richard, played in the Tigers organization, his uncle, Rey, played parts of three seasons with the Royals and his brother, Josh, played for San Jacinto (Texas) JC and Auburn before being selected by the Blue Jays in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. Richie has shown a knack for hitting throughout his time with Towson, following up his record-setting freshman campaign (.329/.415/.480) with an even better sophomore season in 2017, when he hit .338/.417/.502 with five home runs. Palacios was the only member of Towson's club to start all 54 games in 2017 and he led the Tigers in hits (72), runs (43) and stolen bases (19). This spring, he's continued to do more of the same at the plate, hitting .316/.463/.542 with a career-high eight home runs through 49 games. Palacios, who currently has average raw power, has added more pop in each of his seasons at Towson, culminating this spring with an OPS over 1.000 and an isolated slugging over .200--both of which are career highs. With that power has also come a dramatically improved strikeout-to-walk ratio, as Palacios had a walk rate around 19 percent compared to a strikeout rate below seven percent after 49 games. Both of those are career bests, though Palacios has walked more than he's struck out in each of his three seasons at Towson. Defensively, Palacios has the twitchy athleticism and speed--he ran a plus-plus 60-yard dash at Towson's scout day--to give himself a chance to stick at shortstop. His arm is fringe-average, however, so he might be better suited to move to second base or take on a utility role. His run times to first base are not as regularly impressive as his 60-yard dash time would indicate, but he has stolen 74 bases at an 86 percent success rate through parts of three seasons. If a team thinks Palacios can handle shortstop, he may be drafted as high as the third or fourth round.