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With Fall Signing Day behind us and the 2017 season essentially complete, PBR VA/DC will begin to look ahead to the upcoming spring and the 2018 season in our Spring Forward series, which will run on the website in the coming weeks. In this series we will focus primarily on players that we have seen this year and are looking forward to seeing again in 2018, these posts will not have anything to do with prospect rankings.

Today, we open our Spring Forward series with our first way-too-early look at the 2018 Major League Baseball amateur draft. After a strong 2016 draft class, the 2017 draft only saw two prep players from Virginia or DC drafted, Bassett County catcher Nathan Perry and Halifax County lefty Andrew Abbott. Today we will look at the primary pitchers who might garner some draft consideration in the spring, check back in later for a look at hitters.

Cristian Sanchez RHP Centreville
The Virginia commit had a strong showing on the fall circuit and has shown the ability to hit big numbers with his fastball, sitting in the low 90s and reaching as high as 94 with hard late life in Jupiter in October. He has a very lanky projectable frame with a lot of upside left and the potential to add velocity as he fills out. It would not be surprising to see him consistently in the mid-90s in the spring. His secondary stuff needs polishing, but his breaking ball has some decent shape and could develop into a plus pitch as it continues to tighten.

 

Sanchez has been a pretty clear-cut draft prospect for a while, but his October performance made him a must-see prospect for scouts going into the 2018 season. There are other pitchers in Virginia and DC who had strong 2017s that could easily continue to develop and garner some draft attention between now and June.