After last night's draft saw the Red Sox take Arizona State shortstop Deven Marrero with their first pick, #24-- the Red Sox are drawing comparisons to Dustin Pedroia. Like Pedroia, Marrero was a college shortstop that went to Arizona State; and like Pedroia, they are expecting him to shoot through their farm system. It would be foolish to assume that Marrero will be as good as Pedroia, however, given the drop off his stats experienced after the bats were changed in college. After batting .397/6/42 his freshman year and .315/2/20 his sophomore year, Marrero was in consideration for a Top 5 pick. However, he experienced a major drop off and only batted .284/4/33. On the other side of the ball, though, Marrero has always been great and this year did nothing to change that. One could argue that he has four tools: hitting, running, glove, and arm-- but the power hasn't developed yet. He is listed as a great defender in all categories and will probably stick at shortstop, given his impressive speed and range. We can only hope that he'll turn out like Dustin Pedroia, but he should become a good every day player.
With the 31st pick in the draft this year, the Red Sox selected Florida Gators pitcher Brian Johnson. Johnson has been scouted as both a pitcher and as a hitter after an impressive season that saw him bat .310/5/40 and go 8-4/3.56/68 in 86 innings. The kicker about Johnson is that he is a projectable college lefty-- always a hot commodity on draft days. Johnson's repertoire features an average fastball that sits in the low 90's, a slider that can be an above average pitch, and a change that can be an above average pitch. He can throw all of these for strikes, evidenced by his ridiculous mark of 15 walks in 86 innings, a 1.57 walks per nine innings ratio. The lefty is 21 years old right now and has a great pitcher's body with a 6'3", 225 pound frame. He gets good movement on all of his pitches-- including his fastball, which he sinks very well. His slider is his out pitch and his change, which he uses less than his other pitches also is good. We can only hope that Johnson becomes a very good lefty in the Red Sox system.
With their third and final pick last night, the #37 pick, the Red Sox took Monmouth University's Pat Light. After looking at Light's stats and tools, it surprises me that he even lasted to the 37th pick. Light is a big guy-- standing at 6'6" and 215 pounds-- and possessing a perfect pitching frame. His fastball generally sits in the low 90's, but he can reach back into the mid-high 90's and has even been clocked at 97 mph. Being 6'6", Light throws the ball downhill and has potential to throw it with even more sink than he currently does. His off speed pitches are not quite up to par, but he throws a decent breaking that has potential to be an average to above average pitch at the major league level. He does not have a great change, but that can be taught as he moves through the ranks of the minor leagues. 2012 was really the year that Light started to put all his skills together too-- after a 4.94 ERA and a 6-11 record through his first two years, Light pulled a fantastic 8-3/2.40/102 season in 2012. Light should become a good pitcher before too long and should be fun to watch.
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