Video: MLB Draft Pick Nolan Gorman O'Connor slugger had a teammate Jayce Easley taken at No. 149.
The annual second-day slowdown took place at the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft as fewer high school players were chosen per round compared to a big first day.
A total of 17 high school players were chosen in the first round of the draft on Monday — the most preps chosen since 2000. The run on high school players continued into the compensatory and second round with close to 40 high school players chosen among the first 78 selections.
However on the second day, teams tend to focus more on signable players, which usually translates to college-level draft picks. Case in point: Only 28 high school players were chosen between picks 79 and 314 over the third through 10th rounds on the second day.
As a result, a number of talented high school players are still available heading into the third day of the draft.
Cole Wilcox of
Heritage (Ringgold, Ga.), ranked No. 19 by Baseball America, is still available, as are No. 23
Kumar Rocker of
North Oconee (Bogart, Ga.) and No. 55
Nander De Sedas of
Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.). Mock drafts leading up to the MLB draft had all three going somewhere in the first two rounds.
Several schools had multiple players chosen on the first two days of the draft.
O'Connor (Phoenix) had
Nolan Gorman taken at No. 19 by the St. Louis Cardinals and
Jayce Easley selected at No. 149 by the Texas Rangers.
Meanwhile,
Magnolia (Texas) also had two players selected — both by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Jordan Groshans went No. 12 overall while
Adam Kloffenstein went No. 88.
Florida leads the way with 10 high school players chosen through the first 10 rounds while California has eight players and Texas has seven.
Jayce Easley was taken at No. 149 by the Rangers, making him the second player taken from O'Connor (Ariz.) in the 2018 MLB Draft.
Photo by Mark Jones
