Jeren Kendall

Kendall's father Jeremy played in the Phillies farm system for five years, and the dynamic outfielder has baseball and youth hockey in his background. The Wisconsin prep product starred in the 2013 Area Code Games but got limited looks from scouts due to weather and modest competition. He wound up at Vanderbilt, starting as a freshman for the 2015 national runner-up, then making strong progress in 2016 before playing for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team that summer. Kendall has the best tools of any college position player in the class. He's an 80 runner and has plus arm strength and accuracy. He's a plus defender in center field. The biggest question with him is how much he'll be able to hit at the highest level; he has plus bat speed and raw power, but Kendall had struck out in more than 25 percent of his plate appearances with a month left before the draft. Kendall doesn't use his lower half much and doesn't create much separation in his swing. He has electric hand speed and strength in his 6-foot frame. Kendall often whiffs at pitches thrown in and out of the strike zone, even when facing below-average college pitchers. He tends to pull the ball--even when he's pitched away--and the ball consistently comes off his barrel with authority. Kendall compares favorably with Corey Ray, the Louisville outfielder that Milwaukee drafted fifth overall in 2016, but Ray made more contact as a junior and showed more present hitting ability. Kendall's other tools are better, but he may wind up being drafted lower than Ray was a year before.