MLB Mock Draft

At this point it feels unlikely we’ll have any certainty who the Pirates are taking until they make their pick Sunday night. Mayer’s name has been more frequently cited, but we do think the Pirates are still considering prep shortstops Jordan Lawlar and Kahlil Watson, Louisville catcher Henry Davis and Vanderbilt righthander Jack Leiter—though a bat seems more likely.

If Mayer doesn’t go 1-1, it sounds like the Rangers would grab him, and if he’s not available they are looking at both Vanderbilt righthanders (Leiter and Kumar Rocker), Kahlil Watson and Jordan Lawlar. There's a chance Watson could be in front of the arms at this spot, but we're leaning toward the Rangers taking Leiter here.

It’s increasingly unlikely that Mayer makes it to this spot, where he would likely be the pick if he was available. The tricky part with Detroit is trying to figure out if it prefers Brady House or the top prep pitcher in the class, Jackson Jobe. In the event that Leiter is still on the board it wouldn’t be shocking if he was taken here, but the prep players mentioned consistently have been linked with the Tigers.

We’ve had Leiter consistently mocked to the Red Sox in our last few editions. If he's on the board, we think that's their pick, but if not, the Red Sox will have to audible. House and Lawlar also get linked here and we think Watson would be considered as well, so it sounds like Leiter and then all of the top bats available—but we’re not sure of the order of preference. It sounds like UCLA shortstop Matt McLain could wind up being a bit of a wild card here, but our read is that Davis would be most likely if Leiter isn’t available.

There's a scenario where Watson could go No. 2 to the Rangers. We hear the Orioles really like Watson and think he's their pick if he's still available at five. But Baltimore is also consistently mentioned in regards to potential underslot deals and linked to essentially the entire second-tier college bat group of Boston College outfielder Sal Frelick, Sam Houston State outfielder Colton Cowser and more recently UCLA shortstop Matt McLain. Lawlar is a tricky one to mock, but we think he would be in consideration if he’s available too.

Lawlar is becoming a bit of a conundrum to figure out for mocks. Most teams at the top seem to have genuine interest in him but it was floated recently that he could really consider heading to campus at Vanderbilt if he slips too far. That would be a massive win for coach Tim Corbin and Co. but there’s very little precedent in the draft for a hitter of Lawlar’s pedigree to make it to campus, so consider us skeptical of that rumor. Watson (if available at No. 6), Kumar Rocker and Colton Cowser are also potential options here. We mentioned previously we’ve heard conflicting feedback on whether or not the D-Backs would entertain Jobe. If Davis and Watson are both off the board, it wouldn’t be surprising for one of the Frelick/Cowser/McLain trio to fit here, either.

In this scenario, all of the top prep shortstops are off the board in front of them except for House. It seems like a real possibility that one or two fall—with House or Lawlar seeming more likely to make it down here than Mayer and Watson at this point. If either makes it here they would make plenty of sense (and no, Bobby Witt Jr.'s existence shouldn’t change that, before you ask). Rocker has been linked here and makes plenty of sense considering the bats that aren’t available in this version.

We’re uncertain who the top player is for the Rockies, but they’re in a position where they could scoop up one of the top eight players (Lawlar, Mayer, Leiter, Davis, Rocker, Watson, House, Jobe) if they wanted to. Most recently we have heard Pennsylvania prep outfielder Benny Montgomery’s name, and this might be the high water mark for him.

We’ve heard some chatter late about Los Angeles going after an arm, potentially one a bit further down the board. Naturally that leads to the potential for an undersold selection to create more flexibility later on. This pick could be highly dependent on the House-Jobe dilemma for Detroit (or more accurately our dilemma in figuring out its preference). With Jobe going No. 3, we have them scooping up House here, but it would not be surprising if House found a home in several spots in front of this. College arms like Ty Madden and Sam Bachman have been mentioned. We’ve previously linked Will Taylor here but have some indication to come off that prediction.

We’re sticking with Frelick in this edition, and many of the college players that are about to come off the board make sense here as well, and we can’t discount the rumors of Indiana prep shortstop Colson Montgomery either.

It consistently sounds like power arms for the Nationals, and Madden is the best of that player type available here. Bachman fits that as well and could make sense, as could both Rocker or Jobe—who are solidly unavailable in this mock. Mississippi State righthander Will Bednar has been mentioned as well but it seems like this could be the highest spot for him.

The Mariners have been difficult for teams to peg, but they generally continue to get tied to college players, and specifically the Frelick/Cowser/McLain trio.

We’ve heard Benny Montgomery’s name linked to the Phillies as much as anyone, but with him going in the top 10 picks in this mock, we have them taking Florida prep righthander Andrew Painter, who has also been linked here. Another name to watch late is UC Santa Barbara RHP Michael McGreevy.

This could be the floor for Benny Montgomery if he makes it to 13 and the Phillies also decide to pass on him. We’ve heard the top college lefthander in the class, Jordan Wicks, linked to San Francisco recently, and other college arms like Madden, Bednar and Bachman or college bats like Cowser or McLain could make sense if they are available. Don’t sleep on two-way Georgia prep Bubba Chandler here either.

Milwaukee is another team that’s difficult to figure out. Wicks could make sense if he’s on the board, as could Bachman or any of the Frelick/Cowser/McLain trio if they are still available.

In a previous mock we had the Marlins tied to Bachman, and that seems like a real possibility, but we’ve heard athletic high school position players lately and Ford fits that description, as does Taylor, Chandler and Florida outfielder Jay Allen.

We’ve heard the Reds linked to many of the same athletic high school hitters that we mentioned with the Marlins and also Will Taylor more recently. Taylor would be an interesting fit here because he’s reportedly got a high price tag thanks to a Clemson football commit, but the Reds are in a position to throw their weight around with the fourth-largest bonus pool in the draft. It’s unclear whether they would rather overslot a player here or underslot and then put that savings to one or more picks later on, when they have two selections in the first supplemental round at picks No. 30 and 35.

We’ve heard the Cardinals linked to plenty of college arms at this spot, though we’re not sure if that’s a function of how the board seems to be playing out or a real demographic preference for the Cardinals. Bachman seems like a good value here given the amount of real landing spots in front of this pick and some of the best pure stuff in the draft.

There’s some diversity of options with what we are hearing with the Blue Jays here and that probably makes sense given their lack of a second-round pick. They might get creative by choice or be forced into it in order to get a player they really like who’s a bit further down the board but has little chance to make it back around to their second pick at No. 91. We have them playing things straight up here with Bednar, the College World Series most outstanding player. We’ve also heard them linked to Eastern Illinois shortstop Trey Sweeney, prep lefthander Anthony Solometo and New York prep catcher Joe Mack.

The Yankees have shown in the past that they are willing to take a player coming off an injury, and getting Hoglund here would represent good value considering he was a likely top 10 pick before he got hurt. We've also heard college bats with the Yankees, including Boston College 2B Cody Morissette and Eastern Illinois SS Trey Sweeney, in that order. Morissette was a name we hadn’t heard a ton in the first round recently, but we’ve specifically heard him linked with New York for this pick, though there could be other options we’re unaware of—a comment that’s certainly true for every team throughout the rest of this mock.

The Cubs have been tied to a wide range of demographics and players but McGreevy seems like one of them so we’ll stick with that pick again here.

Montgomery is heavily associated with the White Sox and would make sense here if he’s available. We’ve also started to hear more college arms to the White Sox lately, so perhaps they were happy with the Garrett Crochet selection a year ago. Previously we’d heard them tied to plenty of prep bats, which still should be in consideration—names like Peyton Stovall, James Wood, Wes Kath or Izaac Pacheco could still make sense for this pick or later ones.

Stovall fits what the Indians have valued recently, an advanced hitter with strong bat-to-ball skills and a good offensive track record. The Indians have underslotted players in this range previously and that could be an option as well, but like every team in this range those decisions probably will depend on who’s available. We think they’d be in on Hoglund or other college arms like Gavin Williams, Michael McGreevy, if he’s available, or Ryan Cusick. High school bats like Joe Mack, Colson Montgomery or Jay Allen could make sense. Florida outfielder Jud Fabian and Miami catcher Adrian Del Castillo seem like unlikely fits here.

We're hearing a lot more late buzz about Ky Bush to this pick, potentially on an underslot deal, and if it's not Bush we're also hearing California prep shortstop Maxwell Muncy. We’ve heard college arms tied to the Braves so frequently that we’re going to feel a bit betrayed if they wind up taking a different demographic. Gavin Williams and Ryan Cusick are two other names that make sense. Nebraska two-way Spencer Schwellenbach has been linked as well and we still wouldn’t be surprised if Atlanta took a college-performer bat.

There have been plenty of high school bat ties to the Athletics recently, and in this edition we have Mack available which seems like pretty strong value. Other names include Wes Kath, Max Muncy, Tyler Whitaker and Alex Mooney. Another possibility we've heard late is Oakland targeting Stanford RHP Brendan Beck on an underslot deal with the idea of allocating more money to a prep bat later, potentially prep SS/C Davis Diaz.