The best all around athletes on prep and college baseball teams tend to be shortstops. As such, they are a favored position to draft because if they don’t work at short, they can be converted to other positions. Brady McConnell has the potential to be the steal of the 2017 draft class, assuming he can be lured away from his dream college.
Brady McConnell 2017 MLB Draft Profile
Overview
McConnell is a lanky, 6’3″, 185 pound shortstop from Merritt Island High School in Merritt Island, Florida. At 19 years old on draft day, he will be one of the older prep players available. He has verbally committed to Florida Gators, and the tweet announcing his commitment includes the phrase “dream come true!” If he is signable, he will be a steal for whichever team takes that chance, as he garnered First-Team 2017 Rawlings-Perfect Game All-American Team honors, and was All-Region First-Team.
Dream come true! ?✍? pic.twitter.com/aIXAiCoE8l
— Brady McConnell (@Brady_M27) November 9, 2016
Strengths
A natural right-handed hitter, McConnell shows the ability to hit to both sides of the diamond. Perfect Game clocked his 60 Speed at 6.42 seconds. A plus/plus runner, he understands the value of “hit it where they ain’t” and running it out. He’s further rated with plus raw arm strength and graceful movements at the shortstop position. He is a five-tool shortstop, and should mature into something special.
He earned a 3.75 GPA in prep high school while focusing on both summer and winter ball. The GPA should assist him in learning how to play at whichever level he wishes to tackle next.
Weaknesses
“Dream come true! Gator Emoji, Signing Emoji.” This is going to make him a hard sign, and may scare teams away from him as a potential top 50 pick. Further, he has slight issues with accuracy from short to first, though time spent drilling should improve this.
