Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers continued to stockpile arms in Rounds 6-10 of the 2021 MLB Draft. All of them, unsurprisingly, came from the collegiate ranks. There might be a couple starters in here and also a couple interesting relievers.
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Previous Draft Pick Entries
- Round 1: Maddux Bruns
- Rounds 3-5: Peter Heubeck, Nick Nastrini, Ben Casparius
Rounds 6-10 (overall in parenthesis)
- 6(192). RHP Emmet Sheehan, Boston College
- 7(222). RHP Ryan Sublette, Texas Tech
- 8(252). LHP Ben Harris, Georgia
- 9(282). LHP Lael Lockhart, Arkansas
- 10(312). RHP Micahel Hobbs, St. Mary’s College
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Round 6, No. 192 overall: RHP Emmet Sheehan, Boston College
Slot: $247,000
Rankings
Baseball America: 341
Perfect Game: 267
Baseball America
“Sheehan’s best pitch is his fastball, which at times sat 90-93 mph, though in some starts later in the year he worked more in the 91-95 mph range and touched 97. His fastball rides up in the zone longer than hitters expect, so he generates a lot of empty swings when he elevates with his heater, and that fastball is how Sheehan gets a lot of his swings and misses. However, when his changeup is on like it was against Pittsburgh, that gives Sheehan another pitch to miss bats. It’s mostly 78-81 mph, so it has excellent separation off his fastball and good sink when he keeps it down. It’s inconsistent, though, and in some starts he didn’t miss any bats with his changeup. Sheehan’s curveball has decent shape to it, but it’s a fringe-average pitch that lacks the snap and bite to get whiffs.”
Perfect Game
“The arm speed is the first thing that stood out after a single pitch in the first inning, staying compact through the back and though there’s some late acceleration, he continued to pump the strike zone from start to finish and more than once climbed back to record the out when down early in the count. Sheehan’s fastball worked comfortably in the 91-94 mph range in the first inning and he quickly established the upper-half of the strike zone with his fastball, challenging and beating some of NC State’s better bats as he racked up the swings and misses with his fastball. While he’d throttle back the velocity to the lower end of his range on the day, the Connecticut native still showed he had whatever he needed in the tank as he bumped 95 in the fourth and continues to work in the low-90s, getting 93 in on the hands in his final inning of work. Much like Pelio, the changeup was his most trusted secondary pitch and the consistency of it continued to sharpen throughout the start, showing arguably his two best on back-to-back pitches against the scorching hot Terrell Tatum, pulling the string for a pair of swings and misses in the sixth. The pitch itself worked in the 77-80 mph range with a similar release to that of his fastball, albeit without some of that aforementioned late acceleration but was pretty consistent in terms of turning it over and getting that late fading life. The curveball worked anywhere from 72 to 76 mph and offered occasional downward bite to it, though it was clearly his third pitch on the day as it was a heavy dose of fastball-changeup.”
Sounds like a fastball-changeup relief prospect to me. But the Dodgers are pretty good at improving their draftees’ breaking pitches, so maybe there’s a chance he could start with an improved curveball. He should be an easy sign, possibly for under slot-recommended money.
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Round 7, No. 222 overall: RHP Ryan Sublette, Texas Tech
Slot: $194,400
Rankings
Baseball America: 381
Perfect Game: 238
Baseball America
“His 92-95 mph above-average fastball has late life to generate swings and misses in the strike zone. His above-average mid-80s slider is effective thanks to its power and modest break because he does a good job of spotting it glove side and down on the black or just off the plate. Sublette has the stuff of a lower-leverage MLB reliever, but he will have to show he can handle the workload and usage patterns of a pro reliever. He pitched on back-to-back days only twice all season and generally worked one day a week.”
Perfect Game
“Sublette has extremely good fastball quality and though the command wasn’t there, the fastball itself is still something to write home about. He’s got average size with some projection remaining at 6-foot-2, 190-pounds and a very deceptive delivery. Sublette generates good extension out in front and throws from a low three-quarters slot to generate good riding life and a low attack angle to really play up in the zone. The fastball worked in the 94-96 mph range that missed a ton of bats and had a ton of ride and angle making it tough for righthanded hitters to pick it up. The fastball plays well in the strike zone but his problems arose when he started to miss the zone. The slider and changeup both need work with the changeup having a slower arm action and some sink and the slider mostly showing short horizontal bite and lacking depth.”
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Dodgers tried him in the rotation, but hi future is most likely as a reliever.
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Round 8, No. 252 overall: LHP Ben Harris, Georgia
Slot: $162,700
Rankings
Baseball America: 361
Perfect Game: 467
Baseball America
“His fastball sits in the low 90s and touches 95 mph but has close to elite spin characteristics, with exceptional riding life that analytics departments should love. His fastball whiff rate stacks up with some of the more elite pitchers in the country and he gets plenty of swings and misses up in the zone. Harris also throws a slow 12-to-6 curveball. While his walk rate was well below-average this spring, scouts noted that he showed improvement in his control as the season progressed when he stopped nibbling around the zone.”
Perfect Game
“He isn’t big in stature and that works to his advantage as he hides the baseball with natural deception. The arm action is whippy, and he isn’t afraid to let it eat. He ran the fastball up into the low-90s and proved he could work all four quadrants with it. The big question here is if he will be able to command the breaking ball. At times, the breaker shows sharp spin and big depth with 1-to-7 movements, but the command is an issue. He left the first one of the night short of the plate. This wasn’t a common theme though, he proved he could land it for strikes at times and when he did, he got swing and miss. The consistency is going to be the determining factor for his draft stock. He also threw one changeup that was left down in the zone, but it seems to be something he is working on.”
The Dodgers have definitely had a type in this draft so far.
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Round 9, No. 282 overall: LHP Lael Lockhart, Arkansas
Slot: $149,800
Rankings
Not Ranked
Perfect Game
“With the whole arsenal at his disposal, including command of all three pitches, Lockhart was able to go to any pitch at any point finding success on both halves of the plate and not allowing a barreled baseball until the final out of the fourth inning. The fastball opened up at 90-92 in the first before settling in more at 88-90 mph. The two breaking balls were equally effective, with the slider sitting 81-83 mph and the curveball at 74/75 mph. The slider did show more bite and the potential for more swing-and-miss as a sharper offering, while the curveball had bigger shape as more of a change-of-pace offering. It all came down to the command of each pitch though, as the fastball stayed around the edges and the breaking balls played off the fastball, starting in the zone and breaking down off the plate with later action. That level of command will certainly give Lockhart the chance to compete no matter the stage. The question moving forward is how often and how close to that level of stuff and command can Lockhart repeat on a consistent basis.”
Lockhart was a 5th-year senior, so the Dodgers are going to save a lot of money against the pool here.
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Round 10, No. 312 overall: RHP Michael Hobbs, St. Mary’s
Slot: $142,200
Rankings
Not Ranked
There isn’t a ton of information available on Hobbs, but he’s a senior reliever and should be an easy sign.
Michael Hobbs, @WVBlackBears
— MLB Draft League Data (@draftleaguedata) June 26, 2021
Fastball/Curveball Overlay + 1/2 speed
⚾️ 92 MPH / 2436 RPM
⚾️ 82.2 MPH / 2427 RPM
📽️: @brendan_kohler
More on Hobbs’ 🔨: https://t.co/Oo6CiEH58Z#MLBDraftLeague #RaiseYourStock pic.twitter.com/67AGd2JkYa
From the link in that tweet on his curveball:
“81-83 mph with up to -11 inches of induced vertical break; 56.4% CSW.”
Interesting relief prospect is interesting.
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A recap of Rounds 11-20 will come in the next day or two — either in one post (11-20) or two (11-15; 16-20). With two prep arms being their first two picks, I wouldn’t expect many high schoolers on Day 3. The Dodgers probably won’t have a ton of money to offer them (they can go up to $125,000 without it counting against their pool). We’ll see how it goes down, but the Dodgers have found some good value prospects in the later rounds of previous drafts.
