MLB Draft 2021: scattered thoughts on Boston Red Sox draft class, led by Marcelo Mayer

The draft is ready, the Red Sox having potentially added 20 players to the organization. We have articles on the 20 players selected by Boston over the past few days, which you can find links to in the draft follow-up here. This page will also be pinned below the top of the site’s home page for the next few weeks, as well as signature bonus numbers will arrive. With the rough draft in the books and a day to sleep on it, let’s quickly review scattered thoughts about the class.

• I’ll start by thanking everyone who follows with the cover. I am proud of what we have been able to achieve this year and the traffic figures of the last few days have blown me away. It’s a very tiring three days here, but it’s also a lot of fun and the conversation in the comments is always greatly appreciated. My favorite part of baseball coverage is following the trajectories of players from the draft to the majors, and that’s the start of it.
• Regarding this particular class, I’m in awe of what the Red Sox scouting service has been able to do here. I thought they caught some very interesting, high-ceilinged players at the top, and were able to fill the rest of the class with a lot more talent than I expected. With the obvious caveat that the draft is a roll of the dice and all the other sayings you hear when people talk about the MLB draft, it seems to me to be sort of a class B + / A- strong.
• I am, however, very curious about how the money is going to play out here. I thought Mayer could take a pretty big overslot bonus, and I thought the same could be true for Fabian. However, they didn’t quite catch the number of high schoolers on Day 2 I was expecting, picking just one. Teams no longer leave the top 10 picks unsigned, so I guess the Red Sox have a plan on how to split the money. It’s just surprising to me, and I’m interested to see precisely how the finances play out here.

Photo by Rob Tringali / MLB Photos via Getty Images

• If you were on the old Twitter machine, you might have seen a few teams talking about how many pitchers they’ve taken, including the Angels grabbing arms with their 20 pickaxes. I have seen some theories that the lack of wooden bat leagues last summer due to COVID made the hitters in the class riskier as many were only seen with metal bats. . I’m talking about it because the Red Sox have gone the other way, catching 12 positional players and eight pitchers, and catching positional players with five of their top six picks. I’m interested in the wood / metal bat thing, but I still love the idea of ​​zigzagging when everyone zigzags, and most notably here with the Red Sox, given how traditionally they are better at developing. bats.
• With positional players, it seems like there has been a bit of an emphasis on contact, although that may have been due to some preconceptions on my part. It had seemed in recent years that the Red Sox had grabbed a lot of high powered bats with questionable hitting tools, but there was a lot of contact here. To be fair, it wasn’t all about contact, but as someone who prefers these types of hitters over all-or-nothing hitters, just in terms of viewing, I’m all for it.
• When it comes to launchers, there’s been a little throwback to the Dombrowski era with a lot of right-handed people profiling themselves more as backup weapons. In fact, all of the pitchers they picked in this class pitched from the right side. Now, a big part of the reason all of them come forward as relievers is that only one is from high school (more on him in a second) and the college guns were all taken later in the draft. They don’t fall that far if there are no questions. But I like the pitchers class, even though the ceiling isn’t that high.
• Now we should be talking about some specific players, and it seems natural to start at the top with Marcelo Mayer. We’ve covered a lot of it already, so there’s not much more to say, but I would like to reiterate how much I love this pick. I know how many people wanted them to catch a pitcher, and I didn’t have Jack Leiter very far behind Mayer in my personal top two, but it’s so rare that the Red Sox are able to take a guy like Mayer. . He’s relatively safe for a high school student, having played in high-profile showcases with good defense and contact skills to build a floor, and he also has a great cap. Finding intermediate players who tick all of these boxes isn’t easy, and you have to jump when you get the chance.
• I spoke earlier about the contact players taken in this class, but Fabian is the exception there. And while I generally don’t like the kind of profile here, I am very intrigued by Fabian. He’s a guy who was connected to the squad for his first selection in January and February, which is positive. And unlike other high-powered, high-scent profiles, Fabian actually brings a defensive advantage into central field. There’s a good chance he can stay there, which makes his contact issues less of a concern. And it’s worth mentioning that Fabian made an adjustment last spring to lower his leg kick with two strikes, which resulted in more contact. If the Red Sox can keep that trend going among the pros and get him to regularly tap into his power, it could be a relative steal in the second round.

• Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz appears to be the squad-excited guy with the dust settling in. It’s always a little scary to buy too much information that’s clearly coming from the team, but he’s an exciting pitcher and the aforementioned high school arm. He’s got a lot of work to do – he’s rated at 6’4 and only 160 pounds – and he’s already getting the fastball up to 94. (And those speeds don’t just come from the Red Sox.) He’s extremely raw and it even takes a long time for him to hit the upper minors, but as the only early-round pitcher caught this year he’s obviously a guy to watch.
• Nathan Hickey may have been my favorite pick of this whole class compared to the round they were caught in. Fabian’s teammate in Florida, Hickey’s attacking profile is exciting. There is some legitimate raw power here, but he also makes a ton of contacts and walked more than he struck in 2021 with the Gators. It’s total steal if he can stay behind the plate, but even if he has to move around a corner, the stick has the potential to play if he can find an adjustment to consistently hit the high heat.
• Niko Kavadas is the top pick on Day 3 who is likely to sign. This is not a huge surprise as the 11th round is usually for players like that. He doesn’t fit the contact mold mentioned above, but instead brings some of the highest raw power in the entire MLB draft class this year. His whole future rests on him to maximize his potential at home plate, but if he does, he could be a quick player and an exciting hitter to watch against minor league pitchers.
• In terms of day three, Phillip Sikes was my favorite pick. Much of this is down to his preference, as he’s a central fielder who can run and hit lines all over the pitch. My favorite kind of player.
• Payton Green was the most talented player on day three, but the shortstop certainly won’t sign and travel to NC State. I would be shocked if he was part of the organization, but I would happily eat crow if that happens.
• I’m very curious to see what happens with the 20th round pick Josh Hood. He hasn’t played since 2019, but he was awesome that season. He’s also heading to NC State this year, but as a transfer rather than a prep player, and I’m curious if the Red Sox can talk him out of it.
• The Red Sox only have one FCL squad, which is probably where all of these guys will be heading to start their professional careers since Lowell is no longer an option. There isn’t a lot of playing time there, and they already have a lot of guys looking for playing time, so the way they juggle bats and innings there is going to be fascinating. Guess we won’t see much of the 2021 rookies as they train more with coaches than play in games, but that’s just speculation on my part.