As it turns out, the most accurate projection came from the No. 1 overall pick himself.
Years ago, long before the Phillies took him with the first selection of Thursday’s Draft at the MLB Network studios, Mickey Moniak, a sweet-swinging center fielder from La Costa Canyon (Calif.) High School, was certain enough about his abilities that he made a bet with his buddy and teammate, Ethan Abrams. If Moniak went in the top 10, Abrams would have to get Moniak’s signature tattooed on his rear end.
So for Abrams, what happened here Thursday was a pain in the you-know-what.
For everybody else, the first day of the Draft was a fascinating reveal of how each club interpreted the wide-open canvas of candidates for selection. The Draft featured diversity in both picks and programs. Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities and Breakthrough Series alum Corey Ray was among the 18 selections (out of 77) who are African-American or Latino, and the 34 first-round selections were split evenly between college players (with Louisville supplying three of the 17 and Florida supplying two) and high schoolers.
By virtue of the prevalence of prep arms — a traditionally and notoriously unpredictable lot — this first round rates as high risk and potentially high reward. Seven of the 17 prep kids taken were pitchers. Last year, there were no high school pitchers taken in the first 12 picks and only one in the top 20. This year, high school arms made up five of the top 12. And to give you a sense of why high school pitchers are considered so risky, consider this: The last time that five of the top 12 picks were high school pitchers was 2000, and none of that prep quintet (Mike Stodolka, Matt Harrington, Matt Wheatland, Mark Phillips and Joe Torres) reached the Majors.
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