Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The draft begins in an hour. Before we get to the final big board — extended to 20 players for your reading pleasure — let’s get a roundup of the prominent mock drafts out there.
More than any other sport, the MLB Draft is the biggest crapshoot. It’s a lot easier to predict the NBA and NFL drafts, but almost anything can happen baseball’s Rule 4 Draft.
The “ESPN” drafts are done by Keith Law, while the others are self-explanatory.
Mock Draft Roundup
| Mock Draft | Player |
| Baseball America 2.0 | Ryan Rolison |
| Baseball America 3.0 | J.T. Ginn |
| Baseball America 4.0 | Steele Walker |
| Baseball America 5.0 | J.T. Ginn |
| ESPN 1.0 | Alek Thomas |
| ESPN 2.0 | Alek Thomas |
| ESPN 3.0 | Nick Schnell |
| ESPN 4.0 | Nick Schnell |
| ESPN 4.1 | Cole Wilcox |
| FanGraphs 1.0 | Anthony Seigler |
| FanGraphs 2.0 | Parker Meadows |
| FanGraphs 3.0 | Parker Meadows |
| FanGraphs 3.1 | Shane McClanahan |
| MLB.com 2.0 | Jameson Hannah |
| MLB.com 3.0 | Jameson Hannah |
| MLB.com 4.0 | Jameson Hannah |
| MLB.com 5.0 | Jameson Hannah |
| MLB.com 6.0 | Steele Walker |
| MLB.com 7.0 (Callis) | Steele Walker |
| MLB.com 7.0 (Mayo) | Steele Walker |
| Perfect Game 1.0 | Xavier Edwards |
| Perfect Game 2.0 | Will Banfield |
| Perfect Game 3.0 | Jameson Hannah |
| Perfect Game 4.0 | Jordan Groshans |
Lots of outfielders. MLB seems quite convinced the Dodgers are going with a college outfielder. I’d prefer Walker to Hannah in that case. Law is one of the most plugged in draft experts, and Schnell would be a fine pick. But he’s not fully on board with that. “But they pick 30th, so who really knows?” In the updated version, he has them going Logan White-style with Wilcox, a prep righty from Georgia. FanGraphs has linked Meadows to the Dodgers all spring. He’s one of my favorites and I’d be ecstatic if they landed him. Baseball America has Ginn going at 30 and the Dodgers passing on Hankins. That would make me upset. Perfect Game gives the most variety with the picks, and none of them seem terribly likely at the point. Both Banfield and Edwards are Vanderbilt commits and will be expecting big bonuses. Which leads us to…
Bonus Pool
The Dodgers have the lowest bonus pool number of any team in baseball. Without any compensatory/sandwich picks and after winning 104 games, it’s not surprising they are lacking in draft funds this year.
| Round | Slot |
| 1 | $2,275,200 |
| 2 | $917,000 |
| 3 | $538,800 |
| 4 | $402,300 |
| 5 | $300,600 |
| 6 | $233,800 |
| 7 | $184,200 |
| 8 | $155,300 |
| 9 | $143,600 |
| 10 | $136,800 |
| Total | $5,288,200 |
They can spend up to 5 percent over the nearly $5.3 million amount without being penalized (other than paying an overage). That means they can spend an extra $264,409 (5 percent, less $1) on their draft picks this year without losing any next year.
——
Previous versions of the Big Board:
——
OK, I’ve made you wait long enough. Here’s my final Big Board.
MLB Draft Big Board, v 4.0
1. CF Parker Meadows, Grayson HS (Ga.) No. 44 to Detroit
2. RHP Ethan Hankins, Forsyth Central HS (Ga.) No. 35 to Cleveland
3. LHP Shane McClanahan, South Florida No. 31 to Tampa Bay
4. SS/3B Jeremy Eierman, Missouri State No. 70 to Oakland
5. OF Connor Scott, Plant HS (Fla.) No. 13 to Miami
6. LHP Ryan Rolison, Ole Miss No. 22 to Colorado
7. CF Nick Schnell, Roncalli HS (Ind.) No. 32 to Tampa Bay
8. OF/1B Trevor Larnach, Oregon State No. 20 to Minnesota
9. CF Alek Thomas, Mount Carmel HS (Ill.) No. 63 to Arizona
10. 3B Jordan Groshans, Magnolia HS (Texas) No. 12 to Toronto
11. LHP Kris Bubic, Stanford No. 40 to Kansas City
12. CF Jordyn Adams, Green Hope HS (N.C.) No. 17 to Anaheim
13. RHP Griffin Roberts, Wake Forest No. 43 to St. Louis
14. SS Brice Turang, Santiago HS (Calif.) No. 21 to Milwaukee
15. RHP Blaine Knight, Arkansas
16. RHP Cole Wilcox, Heritage HS (Ga.)
17. SS/2B Xavier Edwards, North Broward Prep (Fla.) No. 38 to San Diego
18. RHP J.T. Ginn, Brandon HS (Miss.) No. 30 to the Dodgers!!!
19. OF/1B Greyson Jenista, Witchita State No. 49 to Atlanta
20. SS Jeremiah Jackson, St. Luke’s HS (Ala.) No. 57 to Anaheim
Editor’s Note: Click on the hyperlinked players to read our profile on them.
I’ve been on Meadows all spring, so to see him atop this list isn’t shocking. After talking with Steve Fiorindo on the podcast, I’d be all-in on Hankins, if he makes it there. But the Dodgers haven’t taken a high school pitcher in the first round since 2014 (Grant Holmes), which was (not coincidentally) Logan White’s last draft with the club.
McClanahan has Top 5 stuff, but poor performance and a heavy relief profile has caused him to drop a bit. He’d be a steal at 30. Another guy falling because of production issues is Eierman, but I’m a big believer in the bat, and he should hit enough to slide over to third base.
Scott is a guy I’ve gone a little hot & cold on, but I’m back to liking him. He has tons of potential — probably more than Meadows — but there’s a bit more risk involved with him. Rolison fits with the “college performer who’s falling” group above, but he’d also be a nice value pick if he makes it to 30.
Schnell is a late-riser and has nice power potential and a center field defensive profile, but he needs to incorporate his lower-half a lot more if he wants to be successful at the next level.
Larnach is one of the best college bats available and is likely to be gone before No. 30. But if he isn’t and the Dodgers are looking for a safer pick with some upside, he might be that guy.
Thomas is a guy in the mold of a Jacoby Ellsbury — the good version, not the version that his 32 home runs in 2011. He’ll stick in center field and is really athletic.
Groshans is another late-riser after a strong spring in Texas. David Hood of True Blue LA mocked him to the Dodgers in his projection.
Bubic is probably the safest pick on my board. He could come at a little bit of a discount here so the Dodgers might be able to go over slot for a guy in the subsequent rounds.
Adams might be the most athletically gifted player in the class, but he’s also extremely raw. He’d be a nice 4-5 year project with an almost limitless ceiling. It also means he could be gone before 30.
Roberts has a reliever profile, but also one of the best sliders in the class. He could be a fast-mover.
Turang might opt for school instead of signing for No. 30 money, but he also seems like a better version of Gavin Lux.
Knight has good stuff, but the stamina and durability are concerns. He’d be a great pick if he’s there at No. 68, but that doesn’t seem likely.
Wilcox is a prep arm, so he’s automatically way down the board. I like him more than where he’s ranked, but I’m also realize the Dodgers won’t take him.
Edwards might be a tough sign, but he also has more upside than Turang. He’s also super athletic.
Ginn is in the same situation as Wilcox. I think he’ll enjoy San Diego.
Jenista is an interesting college bat. I’m not sure the Dodgers would take him at 30 and I’m also not sure he’ll make it to 68, but if they could get him there, that’d be incredible.
Jackson is a new name here. He’s in the mold of the athletic shortstop, but he’d probably be an overdraft at 30. But there’s a lot of upside with him.
Profiles
As I said above, we wrote profiles on the players who are hyperlinked. Here are the remaining profiles we wrote on guys who didn’t make the Top 20.
——
We’ve done our part here. Thanks to Alex (and one anonymous person) for helping out with the MLB Draft profiles. Now, let’s see who the newest Dodger is going to be.
