MLB Draft Names to Know: Injured College Pitchers

Names to Know – MLB Draft

This will be the first of a new series I’ll be doing each week exploring players who may be less publicized or lesser known that could be of importance. Now, not all these guys will be completely under the radar as each one of these posts will have a theme to them. But even then, if I’m mentioning them in one of these pieces, it’s because even though the player is known, the publicity around them isn’t quite what I feel it should be for their talent level.

Today’s focus is on the MLB Draft on June 9th. Specifically, I’m going to focus on injured college pitchers. In the last few years, we’ve seen injured pitchers become a sort of undervalued asset in the draft, as we’ve seen the Washington Nationals grab Lucas Giolito with the #16 overall selection in the 2012 draft despite being considered the top talent in the draft that season before having Tommy John surgery.

In 2013, Sean Manaea was considered in competition with Mark Appel and Jon Gray for the #1 overall pick coming out of Indiana State, but after surgery the Kansas City Royals nabbed him with the 34th overall selection. In 2014, the Toronto Blue Jays selected Jeff Hoffman from East Carolina at #9 and the Nationals again selected an injured pitcher, grabbing UNLV’s Erick Fedde with the #18 pick in spite of Hoffman and Fedde each being considered top 5 talents before their respective injuries.

Last year’s draft saw Duke starter Mike Matuella, considered a top 10 pick, fall all the way to the third round, pick #78 to the Texas Rangers.

In the next few pages, we’ll take a look at a few pitchers who have either been injured this season or are coming off of injury and could end up being drafted at a lower position than their talent would indicate. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but just a number of guys that I wanted to highlight.

Next: An MLB Pitcher's Son