The third and final day of the MLB draft on Wednesday started in Round 11 and ended in Round 40 after the Chicago Cubs selected pitcher Jeffrey Passantino of Lipscomb University with the 1,215th pick. Not all of those players taken will turn pro; many will go to college. Many in this stage in the draft will merely serve as organizational players to fill out rosters in the minors. Some selections in these rounds are high schoolers with some upside that teams will try to buy out from their college commitments.
These are also the rounds when a scouting staff can really earn its pay. Just look at the Cleveland Indians, last year's AL champs. In 2011, Cody Allen was a 23rd-round pick out of High Point University. The Indians moved him to the bullpen, his stuff ramped up, and he was in the majors a year later. Starter Josh Tomlin was a 19th-round pick out of Texas Tech. Catcher Roberto Perez was a 33rd-round pick out of a Florida junior college. Ryan Merritt, who threw 4 ⅓ scoreless innings in his ALCS start, was a 16th-round pick out of McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. There is talent out there in the later rounds; you just have to find it.
Maybe Chris Singleton will become one of those late-round success stories. The Cubs took the outfielder from Charleston Southern in the 19th round after he hit .276 with four home runs and 18 steals. His numbers tailed off a bit from his sophomore season, but that's somewhat understandable. Singleton's mother, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, was one of the victims in the 2015 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, where she was a pastor. Singleton has since served as the parental figure for his younger siblings, Camryn and Caleb, as he balanced baseball, school and looking over them. E:60 profiled Singleton last year.
Some other third-day happenings:
One of the highest-ranked prospects to fall was Garrett Mitchell, who was No. 36 on Keith Law's big board. The Oakland Athletics selected the outfielder from Orange Lutheran High School in California in the 14th round. Mitchell was regarded as one of the best athletes in the draft but has a strong commitment to UCLA and also wears an insulin pump to help manage his Type 1 diabetes.
Right-handed pitcher Tanner Burns (No. 44 on Keith's board) has a commitment to Auburn and fell to the New York Yankees in the 37th round. If a team drafts a player in the first 10 rounds and fails to sign him, they lose that slot money from their bonus pool.
The Minnesota Twins took shortstop Adam Oviedo (No. 46 on Keith's board) in Round 35. He's committed to TCU.
Teams love players with big-league bloodlines. The Padres tabbed Cole Bellinger, younger brother of Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger, in the 15th round. Cole is right-handed pitcher headed to Grand Canyon University if he doesn't sign.
Peyton Glavine, son of Tom Glavine, is a left-handed pitcher whom the Los Angeles Angels took in Round 37. He's committed to Auburn.
The Washington Nationals drafted Darren Baker, son of Dusty, in Round 26. The speedy infielder is headed to Cal and is unlikely to sign given his draft round.
Another interesting pick by the Nationals was RHP Bryce Montes de Oca from Missouri in the 15th round. He has hit triple digits when healthy but had Tommy John surgery in high school and missed most of the 2016 season after elbow surgery. He pitched 61 innings for Missouri this year, striking out 61 but also walking 43.
In Round 22, the Tigers tabbed 3B Colby Bortles from Mississippi. His brother is Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles, the third pick in the 2014 NFL draft. Colby is a 6-foot-5 senior who hit .269 with 10 home runs at Ole Miss.
Fans of "Major League" will appreciate catcher Jake Taylor. Unfortunately, the Braves, not the Indians, took him in Round 25. How could the Indians miss that opportunity?
The New York Mets took RHP CJ Van Eyk in the 19th round, which is fun because he's from Steinbrenner High School in Lutz, Florida. Yes, George M. Steinbrenner High School.
Oregon State LHP Luke Heimlich, initially a top-100 prospect, went undrafted after The Oregonian newspaper discovered last week that he was a registered sex offender. Oregon State, the No. 1 team in the country, reached the College World Series but didn't pitch Heimlich in its Super Regional sweep over Vanderbilt after learning of his past. As of Wednesday, it wasn't clear whether Heimlich would travel with the team to Omaha.
Finally, this guy better be a junkballer: The Yankees' 22nd-round pick was RHP Janson Junk from Seattle University.
Finally, one last thought on the Twins drafting high school shortstop/center fielder Royce Lewis with the first overall pick: Did they make the right pick? We don't know! While Keith had prep right-hander Hunter Greene as his No. 1 prospect and most mock drafts leading into the draft had the Twins going with Louisville LHP/1B Brendan McKay (as a pitcher), the consensus is there wasn't a clear No. 1 pick and Lewis was right there with Greene and McKay.
There is a logical reason for the Twins to go with Lewis over one of the pitchers, however. Hitters taken in the first five selections have panned out at a much higher rate than pitchers. The difference over the previous 20 drafts is so startling it makes you wonder why a team would draft a pitcher so high:
Position players: 713.2 WAR; Pitchers: 255.4 WAR
That's the reason Theo Epstein used all those high picks on position players for the Cubs. Albert Almora, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ were all taken with top-10 picks (as was Javier Baez by the previous regime).
So why take a pitcher in the top five? Well, great pitchers have to come from somewhere. David Price and Stephen Strasburg were first overall picks, and Justin Verlander went second. Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner weren't top-five picks but were the seventh and 10th picks in their drafts. Every scouting director is confident they can identify the next great pitcher. Maybe it will be Greene, who went second to the Reds, or MacKenzie Gore, another high schooler taken third overall by the Padres, but history tells us projecting pitchers is much more difficult than position players. In that regard, without a clear-cut No. 1 like Price or Strasburg, the Twins went the safer route.