Monday is D-Day for the 2011 Major League Baseball Draft. This also means the days leading up to the draft are ripe with rumors and mock drafts as sportswriters try their best to determine what general managers and scouts will do as the pieces fall. Kevin Goldstein, the prospect guru over at Baseball Prospectus, recently debuted his “rough draft” of a mock and has the Kansas City Royals going with a high-performance pitcher at the No. 5 slot with UCLA’s Trevor Bauer.
Bauer has been known for his crazy pre-game workouts and a funky delivery that makes some scouts wonder how well it will translate. Others point to such criticism and say that two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum endured the same critique. Suffice to say, the Royals would be enamored with such results.
Despite what people perceive about his workouts or delivery, the results have been there all season for UCLA’s benefit. Through 91-plus innings this year, Bauer had a 1.47 ERA and 142 strikeouts. Even more incredible, he only allowed 45 hits and 27 walks. He also consistently throws in the high-‘90s and features two plus pitches.
Some scouts question his workload at UCLA this year with several games run into high pitch counts, but Bauer says such issues are off-base and many scouts love him as well. He’s exactly the kind of high-results, seasoned college pitcher that the Royals have been rumored to take and it’s a perfect value for the No. 5 selection.