The Kentucky baseball team has had one of the best seasons in the school’s history. They won a share of the SEC regular season title, and wound up as the number two overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. One of the leaders, and big reasons for the team’s success, is outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt.
This season, Waldschmidt had a big breakout year for the Wildcats. He is currently hitting .363 with 14 homeruns and 46 RBIs. He has recorded a 1.156 OPS and even stole 24 bases.
With the Major League Baseball draft just over a month away, writers are making projections on who could be picked in the first round. Waldschmidt has entered those conversations.
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ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel recently posted his thoughts in the form of a first round mock draft (subscription required). In it, he predicts Waldschmidt to be picked by the Atlanta Braves with the 24th overall selection. He had this to say about the pick:
Waldschmidt is another late riser in the SEC, with some of the best underlying TrackMan data in the country, right there with the hitters going in the top 10 picks. He’s perceived to fit more with numbers-oriented clubs, and there’s a lot of those in the back half of the first round.
There’s no doubt that Waldschmidt was one of the better players in college baseball this season. Mock drafts are fun exercises by knowledgeable analysts, but can always be wrong. However, it’s clear that the Wildcats outfielder is a special player, and will eventually wind up on a major league field in the future.