MLB Draft day is upon and with has come a host of rumors swirling during draft day. There were rumors going into the evening yesterday that both the Braves and the Rays were interested in doing an under slot deal with several players in play for that.
In Baseball America’s latest mock, the Rays DO in fact go off the board a bit whereas the Braves go with a player that they covet and may be the best player in the draft.
With the draft hours away now, @johnmanuelba projects a new No. 1 pick #MLBDrafthttps://t.co/34FWsRJXCF
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) June 12, 2017
BA has the Braves taking Kyle Wright from Vanderbilt who, until recently, was the odds on favorite to go 1st overall in the draft. Wright has the combination of upside/projection and “now” stuff that any fan can love and John Manuel notes that the Braves covet him in a similar way to how they coveted Ian Anderson last year.
The way this mock ends up this way is partially due to the Rays going for the big under slot deal to sign Bubba Thompson. Even if the Rays don’t go big for the under slot shenanigans, they have been linked to Austin Beck and Royce Lewis in the past which means that the Braves could still get Wright at #5.
Okay, that was the somewhat normal mock draft...stay tuned as we turn our attentions to MLB Pipeline’s latest mock draft where things got really weird here in a bit.