31st Overall: Tampa Bay Rays Select OF Mikie Mahtook
The Tampa Bay Rays selected Mikie Mahtook with the 31st pick in the 2011 MLB First-Year Player Draft. The 21-year-old, right-handed outfielder attended Louisiana State University last season. He stands 6’1″ tall and weighs 200 pounds. Mahtook was slotted as the 14th overall pick by Wally Fish in the S2S Mock Draft.
NUMBERS & TOOLS:
Mahtook hit .383 with 12 doubles, 5 triples, 14 home runs and 56 RBI last season. He led the Southeastern Conference in slugging percentage, walks, and steals too. Mahtook also reached base in all 56 games for the Tigers last season.
Mahtook spent time in both center and right field for LSU. However, the general consensus is that he’ll likely be forced to left or right field down the road. He has the arm to play in right, so left appears to be a worse case scenario. He hits to all fields with average/ projectable gap power. His bat speed is solid but some scouts are skeptical of his awkward violent swing. Put it all together and you see why the five tool tag is occasionally next to his name on scouting reports. The ceiling is high and the floor is still quite encouraging.
WHAT THEY SAY:
Baseball America
Mahtook’s swing isn’t technically proficient, but he’s strong, repeats his stroke and has a feel for the barrel. He has an average arm, but if he gets any bigger and loses his slightly above-average speed, he may have to go to left.
ESPN–John Mayo
He’s got very good bat speed and with good mechanics and looks like he should be an above-average hitter at the next level. He hits to all fields, with his power — which should be Major League average — coming mostly to the pull side. Defensively, he’s got the ability to play anywhere in the outfield. His arm is fringy average, but it’s fairly accurate, and his all-out play and good instincts allow his average range to play up.
SB Nation–John Sickels
His [Mahtooks] performance for LSU this spring was spetacular, even with the new bats, and he’s got some tools; he isn’t a slug, and I think some press reports that his tools are just average are overblown. I think he can stay in center field for awhile, but even so he is a guy who could be a 20-20 player, and he’s made huge strides with his plate discipline. Big bargain at 31 in my view.
THOUGHTS:
Having ten of the first top sixty picks, I’m not exactly sure Tampa could go wrong in this years draft. Taking Mahtook at number 31 was an absolute steal though. Several mock drafts had him inside the top twenty so there’s little room for debate on why they pulled the trigger. He signed for a slotish $1.15 million on the eleventh hour. Regardless of where he ends up in the outfield, Mahtook should be a solid outfielder for the Rays in the near future.
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