Troy Melton

Melton possessed some of the best stuff in last year’s draft class but couldn’t get teams to meet his bonus demands after a poor season. He opted to return to school and made the decision look wise with a dominant showing at the front of San Diego State’s rotation. Melton is a physical, athletic 6-foot-4 righthander with a quick arm and physical projection still remaining. His four-seam fastball sits 93-95 mph, touches 98 and has room to tick up further as he gets stronger and fills out his frame. He added a two-seamer in the low 90s this season that gets under rigthhanded batters’ hands and is at least an above-average pitch. Melton’s short, mid-80s slider with late break flashes average but is often only on one plane, leaving it vulnerable to getting hit hard. His firm, 87-88 mph changeup is an average fourth offering. Melton’s stuff previously played down because hitters could track the ball easily out of his glove, but he shortened his arm action to create more deception this spring and fixed the issue. After allowing a 6.14 ERA and 10.7 hits per nine innings last year, he logged a 2.07 ERA with 7.9 hits per nine this season. The change also helped Melton repeat his release point better and improve his control to fringe-average. Melton still struggles with consistency at times, but he is trending in the right direction. His improved stuff, deception and control have him in top-three rounds consideration.