After Wong, Marinan highlights bevy of pitcher picks on Day 2
by Rowan Kavner
Strong right-handed arms dominated the Dodgers’ second day of the 2017 MLB Draft.
After selecting Texas right-handed pitcher Morgan Cooper in the second round Monday, five of the Dodgers’ eight picks Tuesday were also right-handed pitchers.
Director of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino said the slew of pitchers the Dodgers selected was more about simply liking each player available to them, but he added that acquiring “power stuff” that can impact the Major League roster was a point of emphasis.
Tuesday’s Day 2 of the 2017 MLB Draft included Rounds 3–10. Here’s a look at all 10 of the Dodgers’ first picks through the first two days of the draft:
The Dodgers started the day selecting University of Houston catcher Connor Wong in the third round. Gasparino compared Wong, who led the American Athletic Conference with 61 runs and 26 stolen bases, to Dodger catcher Austin Barnes.
“I think he’s a smaller, athletic catcher,” Gasparino said of Wong (5–11, 180 pounds). “We think he’s got a plus-arm. He’s got a pretty good track record of hitting. Again, guys we think have abilities on both sides of the ball, Wong fits that bill.”
Then came the pitchers.
Fourth-round pick James Marinan was the first high school player the Dodgers selected (Park Vista Community High School in Boynton Beach, Fla.) and the first of four straight right-handed pitchers selected by the Dodgers.
Marinan ranked in the top 65 draft prospects for 2017 by both MLB.com (№65) and Baseball America (№58). During his senior season, Marinan pitched two complete-game shutouts and went 8–1 with a 0.84 ERA while striking out 66 batters in 50 innings.
He’s the exact type of pitcher with “power stuff” that Gasparino referred to. MLB.com gave his fastball a grade of 60 and rated his curveball, control and overall grade a 50.
“He was a guy we targeted throughout the draft as a chance to be a premium high school starter,” Gasparino said. “We like his delivery. We like his arm action. We think he’s trending up. So, we put him in the same kind of class as Dustin May or A.J. Alexy from the last couple of years. We’re hoping he’s that kind of talent range.”
That would work out well, considering May is ranked by MLB.com as the Dodgers’ №22 prospect, while Alexy is ranked №28. Both pitchers are excelling with Single-A Great Lakes.
Following Marinan, the Dodgers selected pitchers Riley Ottesen (Utah), Wills Montgomerie (Connecticut) and Zach Pop (Kentucky) in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds, respectively.
When looking back at the eight players the Dodgers selected Tuesday, Gasparino singled out Ottesen and Montgomerie as two of the best value players at their spots. There’s also a unique reason Ottesen is a 23-year-old sophomore.
“Ottesen is up to 98 (mph) with plus-secondary stuff,” Gasparino said. “He’s a guy who went on a mission and missed two years of college baseball and came back, so we thought he was a little undervalued because his stuff grades out as high-end Major League quality. We’re hoping we can just help the command, get him to repeat a little better, help his delivery.”
Ottesen started 15 of 16 games as Utah’s typical Saturday starter, going 5–4 with a 4.93 ERA and striking out 72 in 95 innings. Montgomerie, a junior, went 6–3 with a 3.73 ERA while striking out 116 in 89 1/3 innings.
Pop, a native of Canada who appeared in 22 games his senior year at Kentucky, allowed eight runs and struck out 20 in 20 2/3 innings.
MLB.com ranked Pop the №95 prospect, and the Dodgers got him with the №220 overall pick.
Day 2 of the draft finished with the Dodgers selecting Xavier third baseman Rylan Bannon, Evansville right-handed pitcher Connor Strain and Kentucky outfielder Zach Reks. Nine of the Dodgers’ first 10 players came out of the college ranks.
Bannon was the 2017 Big East Player of the Year, starting 61 games last season and posting a .339/.449/.633 slash line with 15 home runs. Strain gathered a 2.62 ERA (20 ER/68.2 IP), striking out 68 batters in 68 2/3 innings over 14 starts in 2017. Reks slashed .352/.461/.471 as a senior last season and also demonstrated his speed with a team-leading 15 stolen bases.
Wednesday’s final day of the draft will include rounds 11–40.
