It’s already mid-April and before you know it, the MLB draft will be here. Moved back to coincide with All-Star weekend, the draft has been given more fanfare than in years past. It’s put pressure on teams to make sure that they get the picks right since people are wanting to see these picks play earlier and earlier. However, we know that player development in the minors is a slow burn for most players and that in some case, we will not see them play in the major leagues for several years, if they make it at all.
That said, many people are starting to post up their ideas of how they believe the draft will play out, so why not roundup all the mock drafts that are out there. Of course, we like to stick to the more reputable players in the game when it comes to this, preferring to get away from the guy in the hat making videos in his basement based on his game tape preparation. There aren’t very many choices to choose from. Most people at this point are simply trying to rank the prospects, let alone assign them to any one team.
The Phillies have the 26th pick this year, so here is what we’ve got so far.
Baseball America – Wehiwa Aloy, SS, Arkansas
Aloy is en route to the best single season of his career this spring with Arkansas. Through 37 games, he’s slashing .361/.453/.690 with 12 home runs and 13 doubles. If a team views him as a shortstop at the next level, he could fit higher than this, but concerns that he fits best at second and some whiff tendencies might push him into the back of the second round.
Pitcher List – Brady Ebel, SS, Corona HS
Ebel is currently a hit-over-power prospect, but with a 6 foot 3, 190 lb frame, it is easy to imagine there is more power in the tank. He is the son of Dodgers 3rd base coach, Dino Ebel, so there is a feel for what it takes to be a big leaguer. He doesn’t do anything great right now, but as he matures both physically and mentally, multiple plus tools are not out of the question. Ebel is a prospect who does everything really well and could easily grow into doing everything great.
MLB Pipeline – Slater de Brun, OF, Summit HS (OR)*
De Brun earns some Corbin Carroll comps as a smaller prep outfielder from the Pacific Northwest who can impact the game in several ways.
*This one is kind of old
