Here are some thoughts and notes on seven position players that were recently drafted in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft:
Pick #4 (Pittsburgh)- Termarr Johnson- (Georgia HS, 2B/SS)
–Age on Draft Day: 18.1
In Johnson’s interview with MLBN right after being selected fourth overall, the interviewer asked him what he’d like to tell Pirates fans. His response was, “you just got the best player in the draft” and I happen to agree with that assessment. Admittedly, the majority of the past decade I’ve been on the pro scouting side but Johnson is the best amateur hitting prospect I believe I’ve ever seen. He has very advanced hand-eye coordination and bat-to-ball skills along with an adjustable path that handles pitches in all quadrants with plus bat speed. He also does a nice job of utilizing his lower half throughout his swings. Johnson isn’t a large or overly strong player, but he gets into his legs and hips so well that he creates as much leverage and juice as someone with far superior natural strength and athleticism.
I believe Johnson has the potential to have a 70 hit tool along with 60 game-power. I’ve seen him chase breaking balls from high-caliber arms from time to time, but nothing really of concern, and I project him to have above-average plate discipline in the future as well. Johnson projects to be an average runner long-term but does anticipate and runs the bases well in my looks.
The Pirates drafted Johnson as a shortstop obviously, but I’m one of the evaluators in the camp of him being a 2B throughout his MLB career. The hands have softness to them but I see him having to move over to 2B as a result of just an average arm, and I don’t believe he’ll have enough range to merit staying at the position long-term. With his soft, quick hands and sound footwork, his defensive skill-set profiles to be above-average at the keystone position.
Johnson has highly-regarded makeup both on and off the field and by all accounts is a fantastic teammate and human being to be around in general, which isn’t meaningless to his development either. Johnson is one of those players who will be able to put bat to ball until the day he leaves this earth and that’s a trait I love to bet on. I look forward to watching Johnson develop into one of the premier players in MLB.
Future Value- 65
Pick #6 (Miami)- Jacob Berry- (LSU, 3B)
–Age on Draft Day: 21.2
There’s no question at all that you’re buying the bat when it comes to Berry. He played most of his games in 2022 at 3B, which is the position Miami announced him as, but he also got plenty of time in RF. I haven’t talked with anyone who does think the hot corner is Berry’s future position long-term. One scout told me that his long-term position will be the one he hides best at.
At LSU in 2022, Berry put up a 1.094 OPS with 15 homers, and drew 27 walks while only punching out 22 times. He’s a switch-hitter who utilizes a simple, repeatable stroke from both sides of the plate with the left-side being his strong side. Something Berry does exceptionally well at the plate is his ability to consistently make contact farther in front of the plate than most hitters, which allows him to elevate and juice balls on a regular basis with his compact stroke that still features a hint of loft in the path. Berry projects to not only be a plus hitter at the ML level, but also a hitter who will generate plus game power production. This is not something many hitters do and still make contact at the same clip Berry does, which is what really makes him a compelling hitter to me. He’s a below average runner and that’s a tool that doesn’t really factor into his value.
If he doesn’t end up as a full-time DH, I think Berry will see most of his time in RF but in the end, any defensive value you can get out of him will just be gravy to what the bat brings to the table. Berry projects to be a future middle of the lineup type hitter who can beat you in many different ways with his switch-hitting bat at the plate.
Future Value: 55
Pick #8 (Minnesota)- Brooks Lee (Cal Poly, SS)
–Age on Draft Day: 21.4
The most appealing aspect of Lee’s game to me is that there is no real weakness present, and he projects to be able to bring value on both sides of the baseball. The Twins drafted him as a SS, but I think that with his frame and a bit of a lengthy injury history, I like Lee to slide over to 3B where he’d be able to provide above-average defensive value.
Lee posted OPS’ above 1.000 in every season at Cal Poly including a .357/.462/.664 line in 2022, along with 46 walks compared to only 28 punch outs while hitting 41 extra-base hits, 15 of those being homers. Lee is a switch-hitter who employs similar strokes from both sides of the dish. He hits out of a balanced setup and uses an abbreviated leg lift trigger. He has a very compact stroke from both sides and the LH swing has a hint more loft in it. He has plenty of hand-eye coordination, which explains his plus bat-to-ball skills which he uses to spray hard contact to all fields. He has an advanced approach and doesn’t chase out of the zone often, so he also projects to have additional on-base ability. The bat path isn’t one that looks like it’d be able to elevate the ball with authority very often, but he has a knack for squaring balls up and back spinning them. I think most of his game power will show up in the form of doubles at the ML level, but he’ll still elevate enough to put up average HR production too. He’s an average runner at present and I expect him to be a fringey runner for most of his ML career once his frame fully matures.
Lee has solid-average arm strength which is enough for either position on the left side of the infield. He has average lateral mobility at present and with his body still looking like it has weight to put on, the hot corner seems to be a better fit for him range wise, but would also maybe take a small amount of stress off his body, which has had some injury concerns in the past. His soft hands and solid instincts make it easy to see a future above-average defender at 3B.
Future Value: 55
Pick #11 (New York Mets)- Kevin Parada (Georgia Tech, C)
Parada obviously fell much further in the draft than many of the mock drafts had predicted, which I would think was a welcomed sight for the Mets. There’s the huge question mark about whether he stays behind the plate defensively or not, but what isn’t a question mark is his offensive abilities. Parada has a pretty mature frame at present and has plenty of strength in his legs already. He’s only 20 and still has some man-strength to grow into, but it’s not an overly projectable frame. In 2022 at Georgia Tech he posted a .361/.453/.709 slash, with 26 pumps, and nearly as many walks as strikeouts (32/30 K/BB).
Despite his unorthodox setup position, he otherwise has a loose and fluid swing in which he controls his body well throughout. He uses a leg kick trigger and consistently stays balanced from start to finish. He has a knack for squaring up baseballs and juices balls to all fields routinely. His bat path has some natural loft in it but is not overly steep, along with above average bat speed. In the video I watched, he occasionally gets pretty top-hand dominant, but nothing that calls for concern. His power production shows up in game action without him needing to sacrifice contact ability and that’s always a special trait for a hitter to have.
With Parada, you’re going all-in on the bat because I don’t see him staying at the catcher position. He shows rough, rigid actions and only has a fringe-average arm with below average throwing accuracy. He has a 45 defender ceiling as a catcher for me and is extremely far from reaching that level of defense. When you have the potential to be a plus-plus hitter with solid-average power production, it’s easier to deal with defensive uncertainty. I see Parada having to slide way down the defensive spectrum, but providing middle of the order production with his bat.
Future Value: 55
Pick #12 (Detroit)- Jace Jung (Texas Tech, 2B)
–Age on Draft Day: 21.8
I saw a lot of Jung in person during his sophomore year at Texas Tech and always came away impressed and high on his offensive profile. He put up superb and consistent numbers throughout his collegiate career posting OPS’ of 1.042, 1.159, 1.093 in his three years in Lubbock. Jung has a bit of room for added strength in the future, but it’s far from a projectable frame and on the mature side. His only real hiccup at the college level was an underwhelming and very brief stint in the Cape during the 2021 summer where he posted a .671 OPS over 34 PA’s. Jung is a threat at the plate but also has some concerning holes and lack of versatility in his defensive game that I’ll touch on further soon.
Jung hits out of a slightly open, upright stance with a slight bend in his knees and high hands. He uses a leg lift trigger and stays in his legs well throughout the swing. His bat path is steep and is geared towards elevating the baseball, but he’s also able to handle fastballs up in the zone when he’s anticipating them. He’s got easy plus raw power during BP and taps into that to produce juice to all-fields during game-action. Jung drew more BB’s than K’s in 2022 and projects to also bring solid-average on-base ability to the table long term. When I saw him for a few series his sophomore year, I was impressed by how well he stayed in and handled high caliber left-handed pitching, most notably from Jordan Wicks of Kansas State. Jung also improved his K% from 17% in 2021 to 14.2% in 2022. He truly has plus hit, plus power potential.
Jung was drafted as a second baseman and that’s the position he played most in college, outside of some innings at 3B. However, his fringey arm is short for the left side of the infield in pro ball and he also shows some rough, rigid hands and occasionally sloppy footwork. Jung projects to be a 40 defender at the keystone position.
Jung projects to produce plus value on the offensive side of the ball in his future Major League career, but because I project him to be a future below average defender, it does limit his overall future value a tick. I have Jung projected to be a future 50 2B with all of his value coming from the stick.
Future Value: 50
Pick #21 (Seattle)- Cole Young (Pennsylvania HS, SS)
–Age on Draft Day: 19.0
Young is a lean, athletic, and left-handed hitting shortstop who upon first glance you can tell has a projectable frame with plenty of room for adding strength to his bones, without endangering his ability to stay at the premium defensive position.
Young has incredibly sound footwork for a high school infielder and everything he does on the infield dirt is fluid and in rhythm. He has a quick release when he needs it and also projects to have plus arm strength to rely on as well. He controls his body, moves well laterally, and often makes tough plays on the run look easy. I don’t see him having difficulties staying at shortstop long-term and being an above average defender on top of it.
The most appealing aspect of Young’s offensive profile to me is his ability to draw very high contact rates. He hits out of a pretty tall, square stance and utilizes an abbreviated leg lift trigger. There’s natural loft in his bat path while also staying in the zone for an extended period of time. He has a true all-fields approach and although he projects to have below average power output at the ML level, I do see him developing into a hitter who can rack up a significant amount of 2B’s/3B’s power, especially with his solid run tool to leg out some additional extra-base hits. The contact ability is going to be much more a part of Young’s game than his power production will be, and I ultimately believe he will have a plus hit tool in the future.
Young doesn’t have a glaring weakness in his game, makes a ton of contact, and projects to stay at shortstop long-term. I don’t see nearly the ceiling on Young that I do in most other players on this list, but I think he’s a safe bet to be a ‘Steady Eddy’ 50 grade shortstop during his MLB career.
Future Value: 50
Pick #24 (Boston)- Mikey Romero (California HS, 2B/SS)
Age on Draft Day: 18.5
This seemed to be a very popular pick for many to scoff at in the first round, but Romero’s bat is the real deal and despite his inevitable move off of the position he was drafted at (shortstop), I believe the Red Sox got a first round caliber stick with this pick. Romero has a very lean, projectable frame that is easy to envision significantly more strength on as his body matures.
I saw a lot of Romero on the summer circuit during 2021 against a lot of high caliber amateur arms, and Romero’s bat stood out in a crowded field for his ability to consistently barrel up pitches and win at-bats. Romero hits out of a balanced stance with a slight bent knees setup. He uses a generic leg lift trigger and has a slight hitch during his hand load, but still has a high-slot entry in the stroke. There’s plenty of loft in his smooth stroke and at times there’s some length in the path, but his advanced ability to control the bat along with solid-average bat speed has covered that up. At times, Romero tries to do a bit much at the plate, and his willingness to expand the zone will be exploited by more advanced arms. Despite Romero having not really hit for a ton of power as an amateur, I think much of that can be chalked up to his frame lacking significant strength. As mentioned above, his path has plenty of loft to it and he also does a nice job of making contact out front, which I believe will result in average power in the future once his frame gets more strength on the bones. I know that’s on the high side of the projections on Romero’s future power, but there are so many Several elements in his swing that tend to produce hard, elevated contact, and with the amount of balls he barrels up, I think he really taps into that more during his pro career than he did as an amateur.
Even if Boston starts Romero out as a shortstop, I have very little doubt that a move over to second base is in his near future. Romero has fringey arm strength that is well short of what is necessary for him to stay at shortstop, but his hands project to be at least average, and the shorter throw will allow him to cover up the biggest weakness of his defensive game. Overall, I think Romero projects to be a ML average defender at second.
I think Romero’s future is that of an above average hitter, average game power, and an average defender at second base. I have Romero projected to be an everyday, average player throughout the best years of his MLB career.
Future Value: 50
