My O's Draft Wish List, 1-39

[Greg Pappas]

I wanted to share my personal wish list of 2020 Draft prospects.  What I mean is these are the 39 players I would take, in order, for the O's.

Quote

1   Austin Martin, CF, 21.2, 6' 0", 185, R/ R, Vanderbilt 2   Spencer Torkelson, 1B, 20.8, 6' 1", 220, R/ R, Arizona State 3   Asa Lacy, LHP, 21, 6' 4", 215, L/ L, Texas A&M 4   Nick Gonzales, 2B, 21, 5' 10", 190, R/ R, New Mexico State 5   Zac Veen, CF, 18.5, 6' 4", 190, L/ R, Spruce Creek HS FL 6   Emerson Hancock, RHP, 21, 6' 4", 213, R/ R, Georgia 7   Mick Abel, RHP, 18.8, 6' 6", 190, R/ R, Jesuit HS OR 8   Nick Bitsko, RHP, 18, 6' 3", 220, R/ R, Central Bucks East HS PA 9   Max Meyer, RHP, 21.2, 6' 0", 185, R/ R, Minnesota 10   Reid Detmers, LHP, 20.9, 6' 2", 210, L/ L, Louisville 11   Garrett Mitchell, CF, 21.8, 6' 3", 205, L/ R, UCLA 12   Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF, 18.2, 6' 1", 180, L/ L, Harvard Westlake HS CA 13   Ed Howard, SS, 18.4, 6' 2", 185, R/ R, Mount Carmel HS IL 14   Robert Hassell, CF, 18.8, 6' 2", 195, L/ L, Independence HS TN 15   Jared Kelley, RHP, 18.7, 6' 2", 225, R/ R, Refugio HS TX 16   Cade Cavalli, RHP, 21.8, 6' 4", 225, R/ R, Oklahoma 17   Heston Kjerstad, RF, 21.3, 6' 3", 215, S/ R, Arkansas 18   Justin Lange, RHP, 18.7, 6' 4", 185, R/ R, Llano HS TX 19   Chris McMahon, RHP, 21.3, 6' 2", 205, R/ R, Miami 20   Dax Fulton, LHP, 18.6, 6' 6", 220, L/ L, Mustang HS OK 21   J.T. Ginn, RHP, 21, 6' 2", 200, R/ R, Mississippi State 22   Cole Wilcox, RHP, 20.9, 6' 5", 230, R/ R, Georgia 23   Garrett Crochet, LHP, 21, 6' 5", 210, L/ L, Tennessee 24   Tanner Witt, RHP, 17.9, 6' 5", 200, R/ R, Episcopal HS TX 25   Carson Montgomery, RHP, 17.8, 6' 2", 200, R/ R, West Orange HS FL 26   Jared Shuster, LHP, 21.8, 6' 3", 210, L/ L, Wake Forest 27   Carmen Mlodzinski, RHP, 21.3, 6' 2", 230, R/ R, South Carolina 28   C.J. Van Eyk, RHP, 21.7, 6' 1", 200, R/ R, Florida State 29   Carson Tucker, SS, 18.4, 6' 1", 175, R/ R, Mountain Pointe HS AZ 30   Jordan Walker, 3B, 18, 6' 5", 220, R/ R, Decatur HS GA 31   Clayton Beeter, RHP, 21.7, 6' 2", 220, R/ R, Texas Tech 32   Jordan Westburg, SS, 21.3, 6' 3", 191, R/ R, Mississippi State 33   Slade Cecconi, RHP, 21, 6' 4", 220, R/ R, Miami 34   Nick Loftin, SS, 21.7, 6' 1", 180, R/ R, Baylor 35   Bobby Miller, RHP, 21.2, 6' 5", 220, L/ R, Louisville 36   Casey Martin, SS, 21.2, 5' 11", 180, R/ R, Arkansas 37   Blaze Jordan, 1B, 17.5, 6' 1", 215, R/ R, DeSoto Central HS MS 38   Ricky Tiedemann, LHP, 17.8, 6' 3", 192, L/ L, Lakewood HS CA 39   Justin Foscue, 2B, 21.3, 6' 0", 201, R/ R, Mississippi State

I've been split on Tork and Martin, but two days before the draft I'm now a slight lean for Martin.

[hoosiers]

Strong effort, Greg.  I like Jordan Walker better than several guys ahead of him - up to Crochet.  You are pretty high on Ed Howard.  I liked the write-up on Zach Deloach on prospectslive.  He would be a strong pull IMO at 39.  

[Greg Pappas]

3 hours ago, hoosiers said:

Strong effort, Greg.  I like Jordan Walker better than several guys ahead of him - up to Crochet.  You are pretty high on Ed Howard.  I liked the write-up on Zach Deloach on prospectslive.  He would be a strong pull IMO at 39.  

Thanks.  I like youth and upside over higher floor guys/low ceiling guys, and my 39 probably reflects that.  Frankly I haven't delved into these players nearly as much as prior years, as I'm in the middle of a move. 

[hoosiers]

On 6/8/2020 at 5:22 PM, Greg Pappas said:

Thanks.  I like youth and upside over higher floor guys/low ceiling guys, and my 39 probably reflects that.  Frankly I haven't delved into these players nearly as much as prior years, as I'm in the middle of a move. 

I am normally all over the upside and favoring the HS kids, but there are plenty of very, very good college players in this draft.  

Howard has a high upside, but he carries a significant risk profile without an elite hit tool.

[Greg Pappas]

I agree on all points.  As I mentioned in another post, I have done far less research on these prospects than in prior years, so my limited info and feel for this draft has me less sure than most years.  It wouldn't surprise me to see Elias take three collegians at 2, 30, and 39.  There seem to be plenty of quality ones to choose from and there may be more high upside collegians than I realize. Perhaps Blaze and others would find themselves in my 50's, 60's, or even lower? Hard to say. Anyway, it's going to be fun these next couple of days.

[hoosiers]

I really like Jordan Walker.  I think he would be a great young bat to go alongside Henderson at our lower levels.  
Otherwise, as Greg said above, going with collegians with our first three picks (preferably Martin and two pitchers) would provide strong balance and high quality prospects to our system.  Presumably, these guys would sign for slot and allow us to take signable HSers with most of our remaining picks.

These three first picks are so high that it seems likely that all three will rank in our top 10.