As part of Perfect Game's recurring 'Before They Were Pros' series David Rawnsley will take a look at some of the top prospects in minor league baseball and their impact on the sport prior to their professional careers. This will be done in a six-part series, one feature for each division in Major League Baseball while identifying one of the top prospects for each team. Links are provided below to past installments of the 'Before They Were Pros' series for other reports on prospects, both past and present.
Atlanta Braves
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Lucas Sims, J.R. Graham, Jason Hursh
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Alec Grosser
Dansby Swanson, SS
Swanson's recent trade from the Diamondbacks to the Braves brought him back to his hometown of Atlanta, more specifically the city of Kennesaw, a short drive from the Braves new ballpark that will open in 2017.
He was a busy tournament participant during his high school days, playing for both the East Cobb Astros and East Cobb Yankees at age group tournaments all the way from the 2007 14u WWBA National Championship between his seventh and eighth grade years to the 2012 18u WWBA National Championship after he had graduated from Marietta High School.
When this scout saw Swanson in high school he was a very good all-around middle infield talent, with a short line drive swing, 6.6 speed and polished defensive ability. He lacked much present strength, however, and was what typically would be called a "college guy" by most scouts. He was ranked 151st in the 2012 class at draft time.
Swanson was an outstanding student as well and choosing to go to Vanderbilt was an easy decision. However, Swanson only got into 11 games as a freshman, getting three hits in 16 at-bats. He started at second base as a sophomore, hitting .333-3-34 with 27 doubles and 22 stolen bases and scouts started to talk about his potential in the 2015 draft. He was named the Most Outstanding Player at the 2014 College World Series for the national champion Commodores.
Swanson was a different player in 2015, though. He made a seamless transition to shortstop and showed that he had a long future at that position. He also showed significantly more strength with the bat, hitting .335-15-64 during the spring with 24 doubles and six triples. That combination of defensive tools at shortstop and increased pop in his bat vaulted him to the No. 1 spot in the draft in a year without an obvious No. 1 pick. Arizona signed him for a $6.5 million bonus, over $2 million short of the assigned slot, only ten minutes before the signing deadline.
Miami Marlins
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Andrew Heaney, Jake Marisnick, Anthony DeSclafani
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Trevor Williams, Avery Romero, Justin Nicolino
Tyler Kolek, RHP
Kolek was one of the most talked about high school prospects of this generation when the Marlins picked him with the second overall pick in the 2014 and signed him for a $6 million bonus.
Part of that was his unique background. A monster of an athlete at 6-foot-5, 250-pounds, Kolek grew up on a 10,000 acre ranch in East Texas where his father was the general manager. Shepherd High School, where Kolek attended, is in the second smallest classification in Texas high school sports. Kolek's appearances with the Houston Heat team during the summer were often scheduled around when he was able to get out of his normal work duties on the ranch.
Of course, the other part of the Kolek legend was the fastball that would occasionally touch triple digits and regularly sit in the upper-90s.
Kolek missed most of his junior high school season with a broken arm sustained in an early season base running collision and was not known at all on the national scouting circuit. He did not have an invitation to the PG National Showcase until word got out of Texas in early June about a big righthander throwing in the mid-90s in early summer outings for the Heat. He was quickly invited to Minneapolis and this is the PG report filed after his debut on the national stage:
Extra large, extra strong build, physical presence on the mound. Long cross body stride, long arm action with plus leverage and whip coming through, high 3/4's arm slot, arm works very well, shows athleticism in his delivery, could get directional better. Mid-90s fastball, topped out at 97 mph, gained velocity throughout his outing and was hitting top numbers at the end of two innings, mostly straight with occasional arm side run. Big breaking wipeout slider, very hard biting action at times, deep 12/6 downer curveball with different shape, tends to lengthen arm and extension on curveball at present. Elite level velocity and the potential for a plus/plus slider with refinement. Everything you'd want to see in a young power pitcher.
The Houston Astros held the first pick in the 2014 draft and there was obvious intrigue about whether they would pick Kolek, who lived only an hour north of Houston. In addition, no high school righthander had ever been picked first overall in the draft. A huge entourage of Astros executives, including Nolan Ryan, famously watched Kolek pitch in the playoffs a month before the draft. Ultimately, Houston decided to go another direction, selecting, and eventually not signing, San Diego area high school lefty Brady Aiken.
New York Mets
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Kevin Plawecki, Brandon Nimmo
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Steven Matz, Dominic Smith
Gavin Cecchini, SS
Cecchini comes from one of the strongest baseball families in the country and that has always been evident in his instincts and passion for the game. His father, Glenn, is the long-time coach at one of the top programs in the country, Barbe High School, and was the 2015 USA 18u National Team coach. His mother, Raissa, also has coached at Barbe and is renowned as perhaps the best female batting practice pitcher in the country. And, of course, Gavin's brother, Garin, is a third baseman who has played in the big leagues with the Red Sox and is now with the Brewers.
Cecchini first appeared at a Perfect Game tournament the summer before his freshman year and played in over 20 PG events before he graduated, many of them tournaments with the Texas Sun Devils. It was quickly obvious that he was an entirely different type of prospect than his older brother as a righthanded hitter with pure shortstop abilities and athleticism on defense.
Cecchini went to the 2011 PG National Showcase and played well, with this report being filed afterwards:
Slender athletic frame, lots of room to add strength. Very polished hitter with present bat speed, patient hitter, recognizes pitches, balanced hitting stance, short and compact to the ball, line drive swing plane, has the strength to drive the gaps now with more to come, consistent hard contact. 6.60 runner smooth defensive actions with range, soft hands, enough arm for shortstop, could play anywhere on the infield. Will keep improving over time, still projects.
Cecchini's prospect stock soared throughout that summer. He got noticeably stronger as the summer progressed and that really impacted his bat speed. Previously more of a defense-first type of prospect, Cecchini's prospect profile changed over those couple of months with his new found bat speed and offensive game. This scout wrote in his notes during the Area Code Games:
No one hit it harder more often in Long Beach, outstanding BP and crushed it in games, hard pull contact, drove the gaps, consistent mid-90s off the bat, showed more power than before.
That evolution in Cecchini's game continued through his high school season in the spring. The Mets picked him with the 12th overall pick in the 2012 draft and signed him out of a Mississippi scholarship with a $2.3 million bonus.
Philadelphia Phillies
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Jesse Biddle
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – J.P. Crawford
Zach Eflin, RHP
Eflin is a great example of how a simple change to proper directional mechanics, whether they be pitching or hitting mechanics, can take a prospect to the next level.
At 6-foot-5, 190-pounds, Eflin already had an outstanding and very projectable body for a pitcher and he was additionally a good athlete. Through the 2010 summer pitching for FTB Mizuno and at the 2011 Perfect Game National Showcase, Eflin showed a very loose and easy arm action and regularly threw in the upper-80s and had no problem throwing strikes.
However, Eflin fell off hard to the first base side during his delivery and this kept him from throwing a consistent breaking ball and also kept him from getting behind his fastball. The result was an impressive looking young righthander with a straight and hittable fastball and a below average curveball.
Eflin's coach both at Hagerty High School in Florida and with FTB Mizuno was Jared Goodwin. Goodwin was well aware of this delivery problem and its impact on Eflin's pitches and after the National Showcase doubled down on his efforts to get Eflin more directional in his delivery through release. The result was profound. Eflin topped out at 93 mph at the 17u WWBA National Championship in July with real power behind his curveball and did the same at the East Coast Professional Showcase and the Area Code Games in August, then threw even better in Jupiter in October.
Eflin's fastball was not only now sitting 90-93, it had huge sinking life to go with the natural downhill angle from his delivery. His changeup, which had always been a pretty solid pitch, had more movement as well. And the curveball, which was a soft spinning 72-74 offering previously, was up to 77 mph with some real bite to it at times.
For a scout who had seen Eflin throw many times over an extended period of time, it was so obvious what the cause of the improvement was. Coaches, like Goodwin, live for that type of moment. And the adjustment wasn't anything profound or difficult to understand, it was simply a matter of body direction. Put on the right line to release, Eflin's natural talent took over from there.
During the spring leading up to the draft Eflin started touching some 95's and 96's and quickly solidified his standing on scout's lists. The Padres drafted him 33rd overall in 2012 and signed him out of a Central Florida scholarship for a $1.2 million bonus.
Washington Nationals
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Lucas Giolito, A.J. Cole, Brian Goodwin
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Michael Taylor, Jake Johansen
Trea Turner, SS
Turner may be headed into the 2016 season as an early candidate for the National League Rookie of the Year crown but he hasn't always been considered a top prospect.
The Florida native played in 10 WWBA and BCS tournaments between 2009 and 2011, most of them with the Palm Beach PAL, but never attended a Perfect Game showcase, nor did he ever appear at other national level events such as a Tournament of Stars or the East Coast Professional Showcase. Published reports say that he received only two Division I college scholarship offers, one of those to North Carolina State, which he accepted. The Pittsburgh Pirates recognized Turner's potential in high school and ventured a 20th round pick on him to no avail.
Turner played third base as a freshman and quickly showed that the entire baseball community had made a mistake in his evaluation, hitting .336-5-43 with 41 walks and stealing 57 bases in 61 attempts. He shifted back to his natural shortstop position as a sophomore and had another strong season, with a stint as the USA Collegiate National Team shortstop during the summer mixed in.
There was talk before the 2014 season that Turner and his teammate, lefthanded pitcher Carlos Rodon, could be the first two players selected in that June's draft. That wasn't to be, as Rodon struggled with his command at times and slipped to No. 3 overall, while Turner hit .321-8-36 and disappointed scouts with a slow start offensively that brought into question his offensive ceiling. Turner ended up going 13th overall to the Padres and quickly signed for a $2.9 million bonus.