Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i Baseball America

The format varied, but one thing remained constant for the previous 56 drafts: They all took place in June. Major League Baseball moved the draft to July this year to coincide with the all-star break. The draft will follow the Futures Game on Sunday, July 11, and conclude two days later. For the first time ever, the draft will be held after the conclusion of the College World Series. Baseball has largely put Covid-19 behind it this spring, but the 2021 draft class still has felt the ripple effects of the pandemic. While it won't be remembered as the Covid draft like the five - round 2020 version, this year's draft class has been equally impacted by the virus. Covid largely blew up the summer evaluation period in 2020 for…

#4 HENRY DAVIS, C LOUISVILLE BORN: SEPT. 21, 1999. AGE: 21. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-2. WT: 210. Henry Davis has what he believes is a healthy obsession. It’s a need to get better, it’s a focus on the process, and it’s a compulsion to continue doing that until he cannot possibly do it any longer. Take his best tool as an example. Davis has an exceptional arm. Scouts have been stacking it up against big league arms since the Louisville catcher was in high school. Cardinals head coach Dan McDonnell acknowledges that Davis came to campus with it. “It’s hard to teach a kid to have a bazooka for an arm,” he said. But Davis describes it as a weakness for a younger version of himself. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound backstop…

From its beginning in 1981, Baseball America has made reporting on draft prospects a priority. That focus continues 40 years later. Here, we present full scouting reports for the players you need to know for the first two rounds of the 2021 draft. Players’ ages are as of draft day. BA web subscribers can go even deeper with the BA500, where complete reports are available for the top 500 draft prospects. For the first time this year, BA Grades and scouting grades are available online for the top 200 prospects. BA Grades attempt to gauge players’ realistic ceilings by expressing their projected future value on the 20-80 scouting scale, where 50 is average. You can get a sense of how this works in the player features in this issue, which…

DILLON DINGLER TIGERS The Tigers selected Dingler out of Ohio State with their second-round pick in the 2020 draft, then assigned him to High-A West Michigan to begin 2021. He didn’t stay long, however, moving to Double-A Erie on June 14. Dingler so far has shown a blend of conact and power skills, and was hitting .288/.377/.518 through 37 games in his professional debut. He has the tools to be the Tigers’ catcher of the future. 2021 CAPTAIN’S CATCHER’S AWARD WATCH LIST…

Zach Von Rosenberg always wanted to be an LSU Tiger. It is not unusual for a kid growing up in the Bayou State to want to attend Louisiana State. But after Von Rosenberg finished his four years at Zachary High, having been the winning pitcher in four state championship games. He was considered the top prep pitcher in the state, and he and LSU both badly wanted to join forces for the next few years. By his senior year, Von Rosenberg was ranked as the 41st overall prospect in the 2009 draft. He set a seven-figure price tag to be bought out of attending his dream school. After signability pushed him out of the top few rounds, Von Rosenberg figured he was headed to Baton Rouge. Instead, the Pirates drafted…

Find out what makes the quartet tick, what sets each apart from the field in a deep draft class—and how each views his shortstop contemporaries. The 2021 draft will be remembered for its high school shortstops. Since 1981, when Baseball America was founded, there hasn’t been a draft class with this concentration of teenagers at shortstop, the game’s most glamorous position. Only once before in draft history, in 1973, were four high school shortstops selected among the top 10 picks. Hall of Famer Robin Yount, drafted third overall, headlined that year’s prep shortstop class. This year, Jordan Lawlar of Texas, Marcelo Mayer of California, Kahlil Watson of North Carolina and Brady House of Georgia all merit top 10 selection on talent. All four have a good chance to go top…

The College World Series was in full swing as we sent the Draft Preview to press. But with the draft pushed to July this year for the first time, teams will have a clear and complete picture of the college draft class. One thing has remained constant all draft season: The 2021 draft is more wide open than many recent ones. That’s because this class is perceived as light at the top, with less industry consensus on the talent overall. While there’s not much in the way of consensus, there has been a consistent group of 10 to 12 players who many teams seem to think will form much of the first half of the first round. 1. PIRATES MARCELO MAYER, SS Eastlake HS CA It sounds like Pittsburgh is still…

The Coastal Plain League, brought to you by FloSports, is the nation's premier summer collegiate baseball league. Celebrating its 25th season in 2021, the CPL features 15 franchises playing in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. To date, the CPL has had over 1,650 alumni drafted and 145 alums make their Major League debut - including World Series champions Justin Verlander and Ryan Zimmerman, as well as 2020 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Alec Bohm. For more information on the Coastal Plain League, please visit the league website at www.coastalplain.com, and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok @ CPLBaseball. ◾ Coastal Plain League alum Kevin Kopps was awarded the Dick Howser trophy, honoring the top collegiate baseball player in the country amongst numerous…

Mike Scioscia played 12 seasons for Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda. Together they won four division titles and World Series championships in 1981 and 1988. Their friendship spanned more than 40 years, and when Lasorda died earlier this year, Scioscia served as one of his pallbearers. Scioscia saw Lasorda through many of the most emotional moments in his career. Nothing, in Scioscia’s mind, compares to when Lasorda led Team USA to a gold medal at the 2000 Olympics. “I was fortunate to play on two World Series championship teams with Tommy. We won a lot of divisions with Tommy, and he was always very excited and very emotional,” said Scioscia, who caught 1,395 big league games, ranking him 43rd all time. “I never saw him cry during our…

#5 KUMAR ROCKER, RHP VANDERBILT BORN: NOV. 22, 1999. AGE: 21. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-5. WT: 245. Kumar Rocker is listed at 6-foot-5, 245 pounds and cuts an imposing figure on the mound. Usually wearing Vanderbilt’s black pinstripes—hat, jersey, pants and socks all black—Rocker is a nightmare for opposing batters. Armed with a ferocious fastball/slider combination, he leads the Commodores’ rotation. Jack Leiter follows Rocker in the Vanderbilt rotation and stands in contrast, listed at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. He is lithe on the mound and while at first glance doesn’t have the same intimidating build, batters know the danger Leiter presents. He attacks hitters with a four-pitch mix that has been unhittable at times this spring. As different as Rocker and Leiter might appear at first glance, there is much…

Visit BaseballAmerica.com to view the BA 500, which ranks the top 500 draft prospects.…

Note: Baseball began as a demonstration sport in 1984 and did not become an official medal sport until 1992. It was not played at the 2012 or 2016 Olympics. No official medals were awarded in 1984 or 1988. JAPAN WBSC WORLD RANK: 1 How It Qualified: Earned automatic berth as host nation Previous Olympics Appearances: 1984 (gold), 1988 (silver), 1992 (bronze), 1996 (silver), 2000, 2004 (bronze), 2008. Outlook: Japan is the heavy favorite to win the gold medal on its home turf. With access to the best and brightest stars in Nippon Professional Baseball, the country’s highest league and the second-best league in the world behind only MLB, Japan will have the most talented roster and the advantage of playing at home. UNITED STATES WBSC WORLD RANK: 2 How It…

Jack Powell has accomplished a lot in his 48 years as a scout. He won five World Series rings with the 1975 and ’76 Reds, 1979 Pirates, 1986 Mets and 1995 Braves and has signed 21 big leaguers, including Rick Honeycutt, Tom Browning, Jose Bautista, Byron Buxton, Matt Moore and Steve Pearce. Powell is now the Twins’ area scout for Georgia, the Florida Panhandle and Eastern Tennessee and joined the Baseball America podcast to discuss signing his two most recent big leaguers, outfielder Akil Baddoo and lefthander Sam Clay. You can listen to the full interview at BaseballAmerica.com. Q: You’ve had a long and successful career dating back to 1973 and the list of big leaguers you’ve signed speaks for itself. What would you say is the key to your…