All articles tagged with #high school players
The Detroit Tigers focused on long-term potential in the 2025 MLB Draft by selecting high school players with upside and college pitchers needing development, emphasizing sustainable team building over quick fixes.
USC Football has added 19 high school football players during the December early signing period, including several four-star recruits and players ranked in the ESPN300 and Top247 lists. The signees will join the Trojan program in January or the fall, with one player currently serving a Mormon mission. USC may add more players before the next signing day in February.
The comparison between Nick Kurtz and Spencer Torkelson reveals similarities in their profiles as power hitters with advanced control of the strike zone, though Torkelson received more hype during the 2020 Draft. The 2024 Draft is projected to have a strong presence of college players in the first round, with a potential high school player cracking the top eight. The Guardians and Reds secured the first and second picks in the Draft Lottery, a rare occurrence for teams from the same state. Xavier Isaac and Junior Caminero both possess power, with Isaac having more raw power and Caminero demonstrating more in-game power.
The Detroit Tigers focused on drafting young talent in the 2023 MLB Draft, selecting nine high school players out of their 21 picks. This marks a departure from their previous draft strategy under former general manager Al Avila. The Tigers have the second-largest bonus pool in the draft and hope to sign as many players as possible within their slot value. However, it is unlikely that all nine high school players will ultimately sign professional contracts.
The Detroit Tigers continued their trend of drafting high-school stars on Day 2 of the MLB Draft, selecting lefty Paul Wilson and slugging infielder Carson Rucker. Despite both players being committed to power college programs, the Tigers saw an opportunity to leverage their spending pool and earlier picks to convince them to turn pro. The team's assistant general manager emphasized the importance of planning and maximizing their resources. The Tigers' scouting staff played a crucial role in identifying talent from high school to college ball, the MLB Draft League, and the MLB Draft Combine.
Despite having one of the worst records in baseball and a depleted farm system, the Kansas City Royals took a gamble in the MLB draft by selecting high-risk, high-reward high school players. With their first-round pick, they chose Blake Mitchell, a power-hitting left-handed catcher, and followed it up with high school pitcher Blake Wolters in the second round. While Mitchell and Wolters show promise, the Royals' track record in developing players raises doubts about their ability to turn these raw talents into impact players. The organization will need these risky picks to pan out in order to climb out of the bottom of the standings.