Maryland Baseball Likely to be Raided by MLB Draft
With Maryland baseball's season in the books following a 5-4 loss to Virginia, the Terps now transition to the off-season -- most notably the Major League Baseball Draft, which begins Monday and will claim a chunk of their draft-eligible players.
Maryland has five underclassmen ranked in Baseball America's top-500 ranking of draft-eligible players.
Alex Robinson, P (No. 74 overall)
Brandon Lowe, 2B (No. 98)
LaMonte Wade, CF (No. 264)
Zach Morris, P (No. 338)
Kevin Mooney, P(No. 445)
Notes: Of the five top-500 prospects, all are juniors except for Lowe, a redshirt sophomore. His negotiating leverage -- unlike the others, he'd retain bargaining power next spring because he could again return to college -- makes him by far the most likely to return. Among the others, the pitchers seem likely to sign, while there might be an outside shot Wade could return and bank on continuing to boost his stock after an abrupt climb onto the scouts' radars. Still, he seems more likely to ride the wave into the pros rather than roll the dice.
Five more juniors could be drafted. In order of their probable pro stock:
Jose Cuas, 3B
Jake Drossner, P
Kevin Martir, C
Jared Price, P
Anthony Papio, OF
Notes: All five players are juniors, so again, most who get drafted are likely to sign. Cuas is notable by his absence on the Baseball America list, as he could go in the fifth or sixth round. Maryland Baseball Network posted MLB scouting reports on several of Maryland's prospects.
What happens next year?
This should be Maryland's largest drafted class ever by a wide margin, which leaves plenty of holes to fill next season, with Lowe's decision the biggest wildcard. The core will be strong if he returns along with freshman shortstop Kevin Smith, a star in the making, and sophomore Mike Shawaryn, who will be among college baseball's top pitchers. Freshman catcher Justin Morris, a 35th-round pick a year ago, should step into Martir's role, and young pitchers Brian Shaffer, Willie Rios, Tayler Stiles and Taylor Bloom all have star potential.
