Jim Callis and Ben Badler of Baseball America released their final Top 500 MLB Draft Preview complete with analysis and scouting reports on each player for subscribed users.
The Mets have the 11th overall pick in the draft, which is where BA has Hunter Renfroe going. MMO’s Craig Lerner profiled Renfroe two weeks ago as a potential Mets selection.
OF HUNTER RENFROE, MISSISSIPPI STATE
Player Profile:
Position: OF/C
Height: 6-1
Weight: 216
Bats/Throws: R-R
Birthdate: Jan. 28, 1992
College: Mississippi State
Projected Draft Round: 1
Scouting Grades:
Hitting: Present 35 – Future 55
Power: Present 70 – Future 70
Speed: Present 60 – Future 60
Fielding: Present 55 – Future 60
Arm Strength: Present 60 – Future 60
John Sickels Says:
Renfroe packs a big punch at the dish. He has massive power. He has quick wrists and a short powerful swing. He sells out for power most of the time but in his summer league runs, it has paid off. He was named Cal Ripken League MVP in both 2011 and 2012. He hit ..395 with a .581 SLG in 2011, followed by a .366 mark with an .866 SLG in 2012. Renfroe is a good athlete with above-average running speed. He also has a quality throwing arm.
Player Summary
Renfroe is a high-impact college bat in a draft that has few of them, with a big, athletic build and the potential for three or more plus tools, but despite the strong junior year still has a ways to go with the bat.
He can show you three plus tools on the field — power, running speed, and throwing arm — with the power more like a 70 (on the 20-80 scouting scale) and the others grading out at 60.
At 6-foot-1, 216 pounds, he already looks physically developed enough to play in the upper levels of the minors. His swing is very rotational, with a good stride into the ball and excellent follow-through to generate all of that power. He lifts his back foot off the ground at contact, which isn’t ideal since it means he’s hitting entirely off his front foot, something a few good big league hitters have done, but that most don’t.
His pitch recognition right now is a weakness, and pitchers can get him out just by changing speeds effectively. Renfroe hit just .252/.328/.374 last year with 51 strikeouts in 230 at bats after going 4-for-26 his freshman year, so while he was a known entity coming into college — Boston took him in the 31st round in 2010 — he came into this year without any strong history of performance, appearing in a second-tier summer league last year rather than on Cape Cod or in the Northwoods League.
In a deeper draft, he’d be a sandwich-round guy because of that history, as scouts and execs asked why he didn’t hit in his previous two years in the SEC, and why he didn’t play in a tougher summer league. In this year’s draft, however, he’s clearly one of the top five college bats, and offers more raw power potential than anyone other than Kris Bryant.
2013 Stats and Accolades
On May 3rd, Mississippi State’s Hunter Renfroe was named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list. The award is given to the top amateur baseball player in the nation.
Renfroe leads the Bulldogs in batting average (.352), home runs (15), RBI (54), total bases (137), stolen bases (9), on-base percentage (.445) and slugging (.652). He also 15 doubles and 49 runs scored, both second on the team.
