The 2016 MLB Draft Revisited and Reviewed
Later Picks
Often the guys after the third round are not very well known, and that leads to many people overlooking them, but a large amount of guys have come through just a year later.
One of the headliners of this group was a fourth round selection by the Detroit Tigers, a pitcher from Louisville who was a first-round selection the year previous, Kyle Funkhouser. Funkhouser struggled in his final season in Louisville, but many felt he would be a guy to rebound in the right organization, and he’s already done that with the Tigers.
It’s appeared already that the fourth round produced some other finds, like junior college outfielder DJ Peters, drafted by the Dodgers, who has done nothing but mash since the draft. Bobby Dalbec has been a big-time find for the Red Sox, showing the hitting ability he displayed in the Cape Cod League before his senior year before struggling in his draft year with Arizona, actually looking better off the mound than at the plate that final collegiate season.
After the 10th round, a different financial system is in play, so it does change the success level. One that actually was most intriguing was 13th round selection Anthony Molina, a right-handed high school pitcher from Florida who was the focus of Jeff Passan’s book, The Arm. However, Molina did not sign and chose instead to attend Northwest Florida Junior College and enter the draft again after being a phenom from a young age.
Molina will likely be joined in the 2017 draft by another late pick, 21st round selection Will Crowe, a righty pitcher the Indians selected from South Carolina as he was recovering from injury in 2016. Crowe chose to instead return to school and is now being considered for the top 10 of the 2017 draft, so it looks as if he made a wise choice.
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In the 11th round, the Indians and Nationals grabbed two very good prospects in outfielders Andrew Calica, an outfielder from UC-Santa Barbara that the Indians saw reach low-A in his first year in the system, and Armand Upshaw from Pensacola Junior College that the Nationals saw flash big skills.
While there are a number of college relievers that succeeded from the back end of the draft, and perhaps none more than the pair of relievers the Atlanta Braves saw finish in their Rome Braves bullpen, 27th round pick Corbin Clouse and 17th round pick Devan Watts, for me the best late round selection was a high school pitcher.
The Phillies took New York prep lefty Kyle Young in the 22nd round of the draft, and they saw him post an excellent 2.67 ERA and 0.93 WHIP with a 0.67 BB/9 rate for their GCL club. At 6’10” tall and left-handed, an upper-80s to low-90s fastball along with improving breaking stuff gives him a high ceiling. (Ironically, also what the clubhouses in the Phillies system will need to house him as he advances… I’ll see myself out.)
Because each team utilizes the later rounds differently, it’s hard to compare them. It will be fun to look at where guys work their way into the 2017 draft season.
The last player to mention was a personal favorite of mine simply because of the story of how he was found. Undrafted free agent T.J. Friedl, an outfielder from UNLV, ended up signed by the Cincinnati Reds for third round money after it was found that he was eligible but seemingly no team had known this on draft day.
Next: First Look at 2017 MLB Draft
The above is a first look at the 2017 draft. We’ll look next Wednesday at the college draft class, with a look at the high school class the following week. Then we will alternate college baseball news and mock drafts until the MLB draft on June 12. Last season, we at CTTP had a live post on the night of the first round, and we are looking to do the same this season again!