Should Boston Red Sox fans start getting to know Mick Abel?
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and MLB.com’s Jim Callis both predicted this week in their respective 2020 MLB Mock Drafts the Red Sox would select the pitcher with their first-round pick. Abel stars for Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore., and McDaniel and Callis believe his high ceiling will entice Boston into using the No. 17 overall pick on him.
“I’ve heard Boston is kicking the tires on a number of demographics, but I believe the Red Sox are leaning more to upside than quick-moving types,” McDaniel wrote Tuesday. “Abel is arguably the top prep pitcher in the draft, and new head of baseball ops Chaim Bloom came from Tampa Bay, where the Rays didn’t shy away from the high-risk group that scares off many teams in the first round.”
Callis, who linked the Red Sox with Abel earlier this month in his previous mock draft, doubled down by predicting Boston would take a high-risk, high-reward approach to their draft.
“After losing their second-round choice as a punishment for sign-stealing, the Red Sox are focusing on ceiling with their top pick,” Callis wrote Wednesday. “We have them as the first club opting for a high school arm, and this also might be the realistic peak for Howard or California high school outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong.”
Mock drafts, of course, purely are speculation, but the fact both McDaniel and Callis make the same prediction cause us to take note.
The Major League Baseball Players Association and MLB reportedly have agreed to shorten the 2020 MLB Draft from 40 to just five rounds. The Draft is expected to take place between June 10 and 11.
