The first few rounds of Day 3 (rounds 11-40) are typically much more exciting to follow than the last few rounds of Day 2. Instead of drafting mostly lesser prospects who WILL sign in rounds 7-10 (most often for well below slot value), players chosen in rounds 11-14 are typically higher level prospects from both the high school and college ranks who fell out of the top 10 rounds due to signability and/or medical issues. For many of these prospects who fell, college players especially, their true feelings of wanting to play professional baseball come out. As a result, their desired bonus amount falls back to reality. Good area scouts who are in touch with their prospects are then able to relay this information to the draft room. Deals are cut (technically illegal, but allowed by MLB) and picks are then made.

Best Drafts Day 3:
As we wrote during MLB Draft: Day Two Analysis our staff did not see all of the 194 four-year college prospects selected in rounds 3-10, nor did we see the 686 total picks from Division I colleges in this draft. However, we did see, in-person, hundreds of college and high school prospects. You can find full, detailed reports on those seen. In regards to the best four-year college selections of Day 3, here are the top ones based on our looks.

• Strong bodied 1B Andrew Daschbach (Stanford) was the first selection on Day Three to Baltimore. After a slow start, he slugged 15 home runs for the Cardinal and has slashed .314/.397/.646 with an 1.043 OPS so far this spring.
• Catcher Carter Bins (Fresno State) likely had many clubs attempting to negotiate a pre-pick deal for Day Three after the dust had settled from Day Two. Seattle likely came through with the strongest offer as they selected Bins with the 19th pick in the 11th round. Bins is a strong armed, athletic catcher who had an up and down spring season with the bat, yet showed his skills during the rugged Stanford Regional by going 7-for-17 at the plate with a home run, double and four RBI.
• John McMillon (Texas Tech) struck out 52 batters in 38 IP to go along with a 3.32 ERA exclusively out of the pen for the Red Raiders this spring. He likely fell due to bonus demands, but Detroit grabbed him with the sixth pick of the 11th round. McMillon ran his fastball into the high-90s this spring, after being up to 95 last summer in the Cape.
• Big bodied righty Adam Lukas (Evansville) who runs his fastball up to 100 mph (3rd on the final Heat Sheet) was selected in the 12th round by Kansas City. He doesn’t have much to offer as far as offspeed pitches, but to grab 100 octane gas in the 12th, despite some late season struggles with back issues, has to be considered a great pick.
• The Rockies continued their aggressive drafting of college prospects and landed a headsy, slick-fielding shortstop in Christian Koss (UC Irvine) in the 12th round. Koss improved in every offensive category this season, ending with a .307/.397/.490 slash and 11 stolen bases. Earlier this spring we compared him to another West Coast middle infielder, AJ Graffanino (Washington), who was selected in the 8th round last June.
• Just as we were about to pull the trigger in the PBR SimulDraft, the Giants selected big right-hander Nick Morreale(Georgetown) in the 14th round. We saw him during Opening Weekend of the Scouting Trail on a cold day in North Carolina up to 93 mph to go along with a 86-88 mph cutter.
• Another excellent 14th round pick from our evaluations is outfielder Joe Aeilts (Illinois State) to the Rockies. The MVC Player of the Year, Aeilts possesses speed, power, defense and the ability to hit. For the season he finished with 10 home runs while posting a .346/.408/.559 slash line. To get those types of tools and skills in the 14th round is a steal for the Rockies.
• Following right behind Aeilts with the next pick in the 14th round, Cleveland selected Ike Freeman (North Carolina). After watching him turn around a 96 mph heater from Conor Grammes for a home run on Opening Day this spring, I left impressed. Freeman continued with a very solid season at shortstop and then third base for the Tar Heels, while slashing .294/.442/.436 with 50 walks and 11 HBP compared to only 29 strikeouts.
• The Phillies selection of Chris Cornelius (Missouri) in the 16th round was a solid pick. Cornelius faded down the stretch, but posted a final season slash of .327/.387/.475 with seven home runs while playing shortstop everyday for the Tigers.
• Strong bodied lefty Jeff Belge (St. John’s) selection in the 18th round by the Dodgers (as well as by us in the 18th round of the SimulDraft) was another good pick in our eyes. We missed him this spring when he struck out 73 in 61.2 IP, but liked what we saw last summer in the Cape for the Chatham Anglers when his fastball was up to 94 mph with riding life up in the zone.

By The Numbers:

• During the 40 rounds, 1,217 total prospects were selected. Pitchers accounted for 54% of the picks. Of the 653 arms taken, 493 were right-handers and 160 lefties.
• College seniors represented 55% of all picks taken in the 9th and 10th rounds (33 of 60 ). Slightly down from 2018 when they represented 60% of the picks (33 of 60) from these rounds.
• Vanderbilt led the way with 13 players selected from its roster. UCLA added 12, while Mississippi State totaled 11. UC Santa Barbara and Indiana both had 10, while North Carolina, Stanford and TCU all had nine.
• As usual, the SEC led all conferences with 88 selections, yet down from 99 total picks last season.
• The Pac-12 was second with 70 picks.
• The ACC was third with 69 picks, down from 75 picks in 2018.
• Finishing out the Top 5 were the Big 12 (48) and the Big Ten (46).
• In total, 317 of the 1217 (26%) total picks were from Power 5 Conference schools.

A Look Ahead:
With approximately 370 days to go we are already preparing for the 2020 Draft. This coming September we will update our joint rankings with D1Baseball.com Top 2020 Prospect rankings that was released in February. At this point it looks like a strong draft for college starting pitching with some athletic, up-the-middle hitters also leading the way. Our current Top 10:

 

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