Boston Red Sox: 2018 MLB Draft recap day one

Boston Red Sox draft pick day one: Nick Decker – OF, Seneca HS (NJ)

It really isn’t fair to mention Mike Trout as part of the lead-in, to Nick Decker in the intro to this article. It’s not fair to mention Mike Trout when discussing any player, really. And the only real things they have in common are that they are both from New Jersey, and they both play in the outfield. That’s the end of the similarities.

While Nick Decker has some exciting raw power, he’s probably about maxed out for projection at 5’11 and 200 pounds. Mike Trout had room to grow and packed on some muscle which helped his power to match his projection.

That’s not to say that Decker doesn’t have plus raw power. It appears that he does. How that power will play in games comes down to his hit tool, however. And that’s more of a question. That said, he has a good grasp of the strike zone and is plenty patient. He can also be a decent corner outfielder with average run speed. But that power is what got him drafted here.

Also interesting is this tweet from Red Sox Stats:

Seems likely that this isn’t a coincidence. The Red Sox were a bit late to the party on the launch angle thing. But they appear to be buying into it now. Seeing them jump at two of the best high school hitters for exit velocity is another encouraging sign that the updating of their analytical approach is being applied across the organization.

Will he sign?

Nick Decker has a commitment to Maryland. As with most picks in the first ten rounds, the Red Sox wouldn’t have selected him unless they thought he would sign. Chances are they know what he’s willing to sign for, and the real question is will it be under slot?

MLB.com has Decker at 74th in their pre-draft rankings, which is just ten slots below where he went. Baseball America, however, has him at 110, which would put him in the 4th round. The difference between the Red Sox 2nd and 4th round slot bonus allotments is nearly $530K.

So there is an opportunity to save some money if Casas is looking to be paid more like the 13th pick than the 26th. If not, it frees up some money to target one of the players who fell out of the first round last night. We’ll get into some of those names in a bit, but first…