The 2022 Major League Baseball Draft kicks off Sunday, and the Boston Red Sox own the No. 24 overall pick in Round 1.
This comes one year after the Red Sox selected Marcelo Mayer with the No. 4 pick, a stunning development since many draft experts projected the high school shortstop to go No. 1 overall.
Two years ago, Boston selected infielder Nick Yorke at No. 17, marking the first draft pick of Chaim Bloom's tenure as Red Sox chief baseball officer. This, too, was a surprise based on pre-draft rankings.
Mayer and Yorke now are two of Boston's top prospects, with each garnering national attention.
Who will join them in the Red Sox system this weekend? Here's who several MLB draft experts predict Boston will select at No. 24 in the first round:
Kiley McDaniel, ESPN (July 15): Kumar Rocker, RHP, Tri-City (Independent)
It seems like Rocker's range starts around 13 and ends around 40, with bigger budget contending-type teams mentioned almost exclusively. The Red Sox seem like a team that would like to prioritize building near-the-majors pitching depth and are value-focused enough to see the opportunity here. The Sox have mostly been tied to college players who maybe shouldn't make it to this pick more than specific guys they like more than the industry, so this also fits in that regard.
I think they're on Cade Doughty at their second pick and have been tied to prep C Brooks Brannon and CF Drew Faurot at later picks.
Carlos Collazo, Baseball America (July 15): Chase DeLauter, OF, James Madison
DeLauter's range is quite wide. We mentioned him as a possible link with the Twins at pick No. 8 and if he doesn't go there he could fall quite a bit and into the 20s. There are a number of teams who purportedly like him along the way, but he's been a difficult player to figure out given his foot injury and the difference in how teams evaluate his small school competition.
Joe Doyle, Prospects Live (July 15): Jordan Beck, OF, Tennessee
Another tough one to tag, the Red Sox are all over the map. They've been out to see DeLauter quite a bit, and Florida's Sterlin Thompson is mentioned here quite a bit too. It sure seems like a college performer is the play here. Boston's connection to Rocker is real, and this might be his floor, though he remains the biggest mystery of this entire draft.
Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com (July 13): Jett Williams, SS, Rockwall-Heath High School, Texas
As Mr. Callis mentioned last week, Williams could go higher than this, but he might not get past here, though Boston is looking at the remaining college bats (Thompson, Beck, Jacob Melton).
Keith Law, The Athletic (July 11): Kumar Rocker, RHP, Tri-City (Independent)
This one has some legs, as the Red Sox were heavy on Rocker once he started pitching for Tri-City in June, with people at every start, and they were serious about him last year until Marcelo Mayer fell into their laps at pick No. 4.
Scouting report: Rocker was the 10th-overall pick last year, selected by the Mets, but the team declined to offer him a contract after finding something they didn't like in his post-draft physical. Rocker left Vanderbilt to pitch for the independent Tri-City ValleyCats in upstate New York, where he was 95-98 in his first outing with two above-average breaking balls and an adequate changeup, showing a lower arm slot than he had last year. Rocker has shown a plus-plus slider at times in the past, and there's no reason to think his fastball is back but his slider isn't. He has always had better control than command, and while he's shown incredible competitiveness in some games -- like the no-hitter he threw in 2019, when he was pushed to 131 pitches -- he's also had outings where he seemed to struggle to adjust mid-game. He has No. 2 starter upside, if healthy, but the risk associated with his medicals may make him a better bet for some team's second pick.
