|
The Cardinals take a first baseman at the seventh overall pick in Baseball America's latest mock draft.
7. Cardinals — Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest
I realize that I’ve now had Kurtz mocked to the Cardinals in each of the three in-season mock drafts I’ve done this year. Please don’t confuse that with some extreme confidence that I know Kurtz is their guy if he’s available. I don’t. But I do think they’d be excited about his fantastic lefthanded swing, raw power, batting eye and consistent top-end college production. He’s a career .313/.512/.732 hitter with Wake Forest with 61 home runs, a 16.4% strikeout rate and an absurd 24.1% walk rate.
It feels like Kurtz’ hitting chops are simply too good to fall this far in the draft, but someone has to. Unlike all the players in front of this pick—sans Cags—he is likely limited to first base. The track record for college first baseman in the first round isn’t great. Perhaps that and his injury history are enough to push him down into this range.
|