While noting that it is still early in the process, Baseball America posted their third attempt at a mock draft on Wednesday afternoon. For the first time they have Vanderbilt’s right-hander Jack Leiter as the pick for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Leiter just went to the Pirates in an MLB Pipeline mock draft earlier this week. The draft this year has been pushed back to the All-Star break in July.
BA has the same five players in the top five as MLB Pipeline, with Leiter followed by prep shortstop Jordan Lawlar in each draft. The 3-4 spots are flipped in the comparison between the two drafts. Pipeline had Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker and prep shortstop Marcelo Mayer going third and fourth respectively. BA has Mayer (3rd) and Rocker (4th). Both drafts have prep shortstop Brady House going fifth.
I usually share great short videos from Twitter showing Leiter’s best pitches, but here’s a better video for those who want to see more. This is all 27 outs of his no-hitter from last month.
