Recapping Nats' second day of MLB Draft

The Nationals made eight picks between the third and 10th rounds of the MLB Draft yesterday. They’ll conclude this year’s draft with 10 picks this afternoon, spearheaded by vice president of scouting Kris Kline and assistant director of amateur scouting Mark Baca.

Of their first 10 selections, the Nationals have selected two outfielders, four infielders, one catcher, two right-handers and one left-hander. Righty Travis Sykora, the third-rounder, was the only pick out of high school, with the other nine coming out of college.

“I think we did a super job,” Kline said on a Zoom call with reporters after the 10th round last night. “Everybody in there making our pool money work to the best of our ability and that kind of translated into three first-round picks at the top of our draft. So it was a good day. Good first two days for us. So pretty good.”

Because of the high number of college players and even with the lone high schooler, the Nationals feel confident they will sign all 10 of their picks from the first two days: “Yeah, we feel confident we'll have that all taken care of,” Kline said.

A lot has already been written about the No. 2 overall selection and No. 40 pick Yohandy Morales, both of whom are two of the next top Nats prospects.

But what about yesterday’s eight?

Here is a rundown of the selections from Day 2 with insight from Kline and Baca …

* Round 3 (No. 71) - RHP Travis Sykora, Round Rock High School (TX)
19, 6-foot-6, 232 pounds
58 IP, 7-0, 0.84 ERA, 108 K

KLINE: “He was a first-round guy going into the year. Over the summer, he had some minor delivery issues. There was more effort, little head whack and recoil in his delivery. Really cleaned it up in a short period of time this year and it looks a lot more polished. A lot less effort now as a kid that will reach triple digits with his fastball. He'll show you flashes of an above-average slider, a wipeout-type pitch that he'll put guys away with. He's got a split-finger that he'll probably scrap and probably go to more of a traditional changeup in the end. But big body with a great arm and a makings of a plus-slider.”

BACA: “We actually had a lot of history with him going back a couple of summers ago. So he was on the radar. Probably projected, going into the year, probably middle of the first round. So we feel very fortunate to have gotten him where we got him.”

* Round 4 (No. 102) - OF Andrew Pinckney, Alabama
22, 6-foot-3, 215 pounds
64 G, .339 AVG, .442 OBP, .648 SLG, 1.090 OPS, 55 R, 79 H, 12 2B, 3 3B, 18 HR, 58 RBIs, 8 SB, 40 BB, 68 K

BACA: “You got a big physical guy out of Alabama. Great ability. Big guy. Huge tools, huge power. Really showed his stuff at the SEC. He had a tremendous year this year. Very intelligent kid. And we were super pleased to have landed him. Very, very, very talented. A few swing adjustments and you could have just a huge impact with this guy. … Plus runner, probably a seven arm, huge power potential. And like I said, just maybe a few little tweaks offensively, you could really have something big here.”

* Round 5 (No. 138) - SS Marcus Brown, Oklahoma State
21, 6-foot, 187 pounds
60 G, .273 AVG, .360 OBP, .469 SLG, .829 OPS, 40 R, 57 H, 10 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 36 RBIs, 3 SB, 14 BB, 40 K

BACA: “Loved Marcus Brown. Saw him early. Really good actions, really good defensively. Last summer played about 44 games for Chatham, didn't make an error. So pretty sure-handed guy. Left-handed hitter. More of a line drive-type bat. But you look at maturity-wise for Marcus Brown, really, really solid defender there with him.”

* Round 6 (No. 165) - 2B Gavin Dugas, LSU
23, 5-foot-10, 205 pounds
68 G, .290 AVG, .464 OBP, .589 SLG, 1.053 OPS, 74 R, 65 H, 12 2B, 2 3B, 17 HR, 46 RBIs, 1 SB, 44 BB, 63 K

KLINE: “I think I read somewhere he's Dylan Crews' best friend, so maybe he'll be paying for rent money or I don't know. We'll see how that goes. But he reminds me a lot of, we took back in our Diamondback days, of Dan Uggla. He's a strong, powerful compact body with power and a feel to hit. It's a really simple swing, short, fast and strong. The other tools are average major league. And so this is a kid that has a chance to hit and be an offensive second baseman. Really similar to Uggla from way back when we took him years ago.”

* Round 7 (No. 195) - C Ryan Snell, Lamar University (TX)
23, 5-foot-10, 206 pounds
55 G, .317 AVG, .412 OBP, .654 SLG, 1.066 OPS, 42 R, 66 H, 17 2B, 1 3B, 17 HR, 58 RBIs, 2 SB, 33 BB, 30 K, 20-of-34 CS

KLINE: “He's one of the finalists for the Buster Posey Award. Kevin Ham, our scout in Texas who I signed out of high school so that tells you exactly, approximately half my age right now. But (Snell) is a defensive catcher with above average defensive skills now and has some power. Makeup and character kid. Good energy. Kevin really liked him a lot. So that was a nice addition when you can find a premium position player at that part of the draft.”

* Round 8 (No. 225) - LHP Jared Simpson, Iowa
23, 6-foot-4, 205 pounds
22 G, 1 GS, 42 ⅔ IP, 4-3, 6.54 ERA, 42 H, 33 R, 31 ER, 4 HR, 22 BB, 64 K, 13 HBP, 1.500 WHIP

KLINE: “He's a guy that the fastball is average, but it's got life down in the zone. He's got an average slider. He's gonna be a guy that's going to require just a few delivery, nothing major, just some minor delivery tweaks to allow him to repeat his delivery a little bit better.”

* Round 9 (No. 255) - RHP Thomas Schultz, Vanderbilt
23, 6-foot-6, 243 pounds
21 G, 1 GS, 33 ⅓ IP, 2-2, 4.05 ERA, 33 H, 16 R, 15 ER, 5 HR, 10 BB, 37 K, 1.290 WHIP

KLINE: “We view him as a starter. Average velocity this year was right around 93-94 mph. He's kind of a slider-heavy guy now, but he's got an average one. Maybe a little better at times. Like to see him pitch with his fastball, establish it a little bit more. And he'll have to develop a changeup as he goes through to be in that starter role. But three pitches and a feel for all of them. Throws strikes. More of a sinker guy, a groundball guy at this point, but he could fill numerous roles.”

* Round 10 (No. 285) - SS Phillip Glasser, Indiana
23, 6-foot, 200 pounds
63 G, .357 AVG, .444 OBP, .515 SLG, .959 OPS, 70 R, 95 H, 19 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR, 48 RBIs, 14 SB, 36 BB, 30 K

KLINE: “He's a middle infielder, left-handed hitter, average runner. He's a little older, but versatile kid. I would just describe him as a really, really good baseball player. High IQ guy on the field. Good internal clock. Probably ends up being in more of a utility role down the road, but with the ability to fill at short for short stints.”