Sam Coonrod

Coonrod was moving up draft boards late, winning a duel with Evansville lefty Kyle Freeland in front of a throng of scouts at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. It was a classic Coonrod start, as he showed mid-90s velocity, control issues (he walked seven) and the competitiveness and stuff to pitch into the eighth inning. He started to establish himself in the middle of his sophomore year, moving into the weekend rotation, then had a strong Cape Cod League campaign. He has arm strength and arm speed, giving him one of the best fastballs in the college class, sitting in the 93-97 mph range at his best and around 92-93 for most of the spring. Coonrod shows some feel for his changeup, while his hard slider is less consistent. He has effort in his delivery and tends to overthrow, which gives him below-average command, and many scouts consider him a future reliever.