Those hoping hoping to see the Sox splash the cash on some hard-to-sign candidates on day 2 of the MLB Draft were immediately disappointed, as the Red Sox spent their fifth round pick on Lucas Davenport, a pitcher out of Baylor University who was unranked by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline heading into the draft.
Davenport is a beastly 6-6, 230 lbs. and his pick launched a mini-run on those big college pitchers Craig Breslow likes so much: sixth rounder Brett Lanman, a 6-5, 23o lbs. lefty out of Abilene Christian, eighth rounder Josh Volmerding, a 6-4, 210 lbs. lefty out of California Polytech, thirteenth rounder Mason Lei, a 6-4, 215 lbs. righty out of the University of Illinois-Chicago, and fifteenth rounder Chase Frey, a 6-6 225 lbs. lefty out of Grand Canyon University.
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The highlights of Day 2 are the two higher-ranked high schoolers the Sox nabbed back-to-back in the ninth and tenth rounds. Ninth rounder Martin Shelar, an outfielder, comes out of the baseball powerhouse that is the Marist School in Georgia. He has massive power potential, is committed to Mississippi State, and was ranked as the 65th-best prospect overall by FanGraphs, 125th by Baseball America, and 175th by MLB Pipeline.
Tenth rounder Kaleb LaFavor out of Bishop Heelan Catholic High School in Sioux City, Iowa is a towering 6-7 righty with a ton of extension who can already hit 95 MPH on the gun. He was ranked the 171st-best prospect by ESPN evaluator Kiley McDaniel, 465th by Baseball America, and is committed to the University of Iowa. Craig Breslow’s got bonus pool money burning a hole in his pocket, and it’s going to go to these guys in hopes of enticing them away from college (speaking as someone who spent a fair bit of time partying in Iowa City as a 22-year-old, good luck in LeFavor’s case).
Here’s the full slate of day 2 picks:
Round 5:: Lucas Davenport, RHP, Baylor
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Round 6: Brett Lanman, LHP, Abilene Christian
Round 7: Kide Adetuyi, LHP, Florida Atlantic
Round 8: Josh Volmerding, LHP, California Polytechnic
Round 9: Martin Shelar, OF, Marist School (GA)
Round 10: Kaleb LaFavor, RHP, Bishop Heelan High (IA)
Round 11: Wills Maginnis, SS, Georgia State
Round 12: Jacob Webster, SS, Oak Hills High (CA)
Round 13: Mason Lei, RHP, University of Illinois-Chicago
Round 14: Jase Evangelista, RHP, UNLV
Round 15: Chase Frey, LHP, Grand Canyon
Round 16: Colton Coates, SS, Louisiana Tech
Round 17: Alex Kranzler, RHP, Vanderbilt
Round 18: Ethan Offing, OF Dutch Fork HS (SC)
Round 19: Luis Calderon, RHP, El Shaddai Christian HS (PR)
Round 20: Aiden VanDeHatert, RHP, Dallas Baptist (TX)
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