Dodgers select college arms and a prep shortstop in Rounds 11-15 of 2024 MLB Draft

Bruce Kuntz 07/16/2024 MLB Draft Leave A Comment

(Via Saluki Athletics)

The 2024 MLB Draft marches on with Day 3 taking place Tuesday. Here are the Dodgers’ picks from rounds 11-15.

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With the 340th overall pick in the 11th round, the Dodgers drafted 22-year-old right-hander Aidan Foeller out of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Foeller worked as the ace for the Salukis this spring and showed good strikeout stuff.

Foeller’s fastball has good metrics, averaging 19 inches of induced vertical break and 10.7 inches of horizontal break. He also has great extension across his arsenal, averaging 6.9 feet on his fastball, 6.5 feet on his curveball and 6.4 feet on his slider.

Standing 6-foot-3, he pairs his extension with a low vertical approach angle of -4.57 degrees on his fastball, which should also help with whiffs. He relied mostly upon his fastball, but his slider an curveball each performed well when thrown, with the slider getting a 33.0% chase rate and the curve forcing a 57.9% whiff rate.

If Foeller gets more comfortable with throwing his secondary pitches more often, the Dodgers could give him a chance to start. If not, he could slide into a relief role and hope to get a couple extra ticks on his fastball, which would make a good pitch even better.

We’re in the part of the draft now where there isn’t a set slot value for each pick. For any selection on day three, the player can get a bonus of up to $150,000 before it counts against the bonus pool. This selection here seems unlikely to go over that mark.

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With the 370th overall pick in the 12th round, the Dodgers drafted 21-year-old left-hander Cody Morse out of Weatherford Junior College in Texas. Morse stands 6-foot-6 and split time as a reliever and a starter this spring.

(Via @codymorse_)

Across 49 2/3 innings, Morse posted a 3.08 ERA and 53 strikeouts. He was a second-team all-conference selection for the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference.

Reports on Morse have his fastball sitting in the low-90s this spring to go along with a low-80s changeup and a mid-70s slider. He throws out of a low three-quarters release that is deceptive paired with his natural height on the mound.

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With the 400th overall pick in the 13th round, the Dodgers drafted 21-year-old right-hander Mike Villani out of Long Beach State. I announced Villani pitching on the radio many times this spring, so this is a very cool pick for me. He was the Dirtbags’ closer, totaling 10 saves in 22 appearances.

Villani attacks hitters with a mid-90s fastball and a mid-80s slider combo, each of them profiling as effective pitches. He forces uncomfortable swings with his fastball, which has 15.5 inches of run to go along with the velocity topping out at 97 mph.

The break on his fastball makes it good for both whiffs and called strikes, as he can run it back onto the corners and get hitters to freeze. He will have to rely on his slider more in pro ball, but the makings of a quality second offering are there as it forced a 46.2% whiff rate this spring.

I’ll be interested to see what tweaks the Dodgers make to his arsenal, especially with the slider. He threw a slower one in college, averaging 81.5 mph, but a bullet slider could tunnel well off of the excellent run of his fastball. Villani has had control issues before, but his 9.3% walk rate was overall manageable.

After pitching for Long Beach in the spring, Villani appeared in three games on the Cape, striking out six and picking up a save. He’s got a relief-only outlook but could be good in that role if his stuff continues to play at the professional level.

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With the 430th overall pick in the 14th round, the Dodgers drafted 20-year-old right-hander Will Gagnon out of Reedley Junior College in California. Gagnon had nutty numbers in JuCo this year, leading him to commit to UCLA.

In 10 starts and 53 2/3 innings, Gagnon struck out 98 batters with a 3.69 ERA. As of his post from last July which is linked below, he throws a fastball in the mid-90s along with a big-sweep slider, a cutter and a loopy curveball.

Gagnon is listed at 6-foot-2, 105 lbs. In the summer ball Appalachian League last year, he struck out 28 in 17 1/3 frames. He will likely be an over-slot guy if he gets signed due to his UCLA commitment.

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With the 460th overall pick in the 15th round, the Dodgers drafted 18-year-old shortstop Erik Parker out of North Gwinnett High School in Georgia. Parker has a strong commitment to Georgia which made him fall this far, but he is ranked as MLB Pipeline’s No. 183 prospect in the draft.

Parker has physical projection to dream on and possesses great athleticism. He’s a plus runner with good arm strength and actions that are fit for shortstop. He has room to add strength and become a more powerful hitter, and even if he bulks up and has to move from shortstop, he should stick at third.

This is the fourth prep player the Dodgers have taken so far in the draft and he may be the most difficult to sign. Anything over the $150,000 bonus in this round counts against the overall pool, so the Dodgers will have to have saved a good chunk of change elsewhere to make this happen. With the Gagnon selection the round before this, these are back-to-back high ceiling players with signability risk.

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The Dodgers went pitching-heavy to begin Day 3 of the draft before taking a prep shortstop in the 15th round. There is a lot of potential in this group, with the selections in rounds 11-13 looking like potential relief arms (Foeller and Morse could be given a chance to start) and then Gagnon and Parker looking like more traditional ceiling picks.

These are the first batch for today. The draft continues into the 16th round now, and an article will be published to cover the remainder of Dodgers picks later today.

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About Bruce Kuntz

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I'm a Long Beach State journalism student and I've been writing about the Dodgers and their farm system since I was in high school.
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