Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Round 3 – Durbin Feltman, CL (TCU)
It’s odd to look at a college reliever as a third-round pick and get excited. But here we are anyway. Durbin Feltman has been absolutely untouchable on the mound for Texas Christian University this season. He works in the mid 90’s and touches 98 with his fastball. He pairs that with a hard slider and can get strikeouts with both.
What’s more interesting is that he could potentially help the Red Sox this year. As a drafted reliever, he can just focus on what works for him and fly through the minors.
Since the Red Sox will be severely limited in what they can do at the trade deadline, this pick serves as a bit of a hedge against their lack of luxury tax space, and their lack of trade chips. Worst case scenario, he should be a fine addition to the bullpen sometime in the 2019 season.
Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Round 4 – Kole Cottam, C (University of Kentucky)
Cole Kottam is unranked by MLB and is all the way down at 361 on BA’s list. He’s an interesting grab because he’s clearly an under slot draftee, but he could be more valuable than his ranking suggests.
He’s a bat first catcher who also spent time at first base in his time with Kentucky. The carrying tool for him is his power, which fits with their first two selections. There’s also this tidbit from Alex Speier:
Red Sox 4th round selection C Kole Cottam is highly alliterative and hit 19 homers this year. Sox have taken 3 position players so far, all with power as headline tool.
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) June 5, 2018
As a draft-eligible sophomore, he may not be extremely cheap to sign, but there’s a pretty good chance he won’t command the full $417,800.00 bonus the slot has allotted. Potential savings here could be as much as $150K.