LOS ANGELES — The Baltimore Orioles made high school shortstop Jackson Holiday the first pick in the Major League Baseball draft on Sunday, but the biggest shock came with the No. 3 pick as the Texas Rangers selected Kumar Roker, the highly touted pitching prospect who went unsigned. with the New York Mets last season.
Rocker now joins former Vanderbilt teammate Jack Leiter, who was drafted second overall by the Rangers last year.
Drew Jones, the son of five-time All-Star Andrew Jones, went second overall Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The 22-year-old Rocker was drafted 10th overall last summer, but the Mets ultimately did not offer a contract after some concerns about his medical. Instead of returning to Vanderbilt, Rocker made five appearances for the Tri-City ValleyCats of the independent Frontier League, posting a 1.35 ERA with 32 strikeouts and four walks in 20 innings, reportedly hitting 98 mph with his fastball. He was expected to go late in the first round, but the Rangers clearly see enough upside to move him high in a draft that doesn’t boast much tilt.
The Rangers are expected to be able to sign Rocker for about $2 million less than the $7.59 million set for the No. 3 pick, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Rangers general manager Chris Young said the organization was “extremely comfortable with the medical.”
“The risk for Kumar is medical; we’re aware of that, but we’re happy with what we’ve seen,” Young added. “This is an elite competitor, an incredibly strong, tough guy who, if you talk to anyone who’s been around him, he’s just a winner. We’re happy with the medicals, we’re excited about where he is physically, and we look forward to a great future with the Texas Rangers.”
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Rocker was named the 2019 College World Series Most Outstanding Player and was a finalist for the 2021 Golden Spikes Award along with Leiter, leading Division I with 14 wins and tied for the lead with Leiter with 179 hits while adding 2 .73 ERA in 122 innings . (Arkansas pitcher Kevin Copes won the 2021 Golden Spikes Award.) Rocker had shoulder surgery shortly thereafter in September 2021, but the procedure was deemed minor and did not involve his rotator cuff or labrum.
Rocker spent the next 10 months trying to prove himself again, but said he always believed he would be a first-round pick again.
“I think my talent speaks for itself,” Rocker said during a video conference.
Asked if he has an extra chip on his shoulder based on what he went through last year, Rocker said, “I wouldn’t necessarily call it a chip on my shoulder, but I have a renewed motivation to keep going just to attack my work at a different speed , in a different way.”
Holliday, the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday, is an elite forward who made significant strides in several aspects of his game during his senior year at Stillwater High School in Oklahoma. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound lefty finished his senior season with a .685 batting average and was named the Baseball America High School Player of the Year.
Holliday previously committed to Oklahoma State, where his uncle Josh is the head coach, but now he’ll likely jump straight into professional baseball, where his improving speed and arm strength are expected to keep him on pace. Holliday’s business card, however, is his hit. The 18-year-old already has an advanced approach in the box, racking up 89 hits in 41 games last season and breaking the high school record previously held by Philadelphia Phillies catcher JT Realmuto.
• Son of 7-time All-Star Matt Holliday• 2022 Baseball America High School Player of the Year• .685 BA, 17 HR, 79 RBI this season• Oklahoma State commit
“I got it while they were saying it,” Holliday said when he realized he would be the first player selected. “That was really cool. My dad didn’t actually tell me. He was kind of on the phone and then he said, “Okay, you’ll just find out.” It was really, really cool and something I’ll probably never forget. To be honest, I didn’t know there was an option going into the high school season. I just wanted to help my team win and hopefully put myself in a good position today.”
There was a lot of uncertainty about who the Orioles would take No. 1 overall, with Jones, Georgia high school shortstop Termar Johnson and Cal Poly shortstop Brooks Lee — selected eighth overall behind the Minnesota Twins — among the rumored picks. Orioles general manager Mike Elias likened it to “deciding what to order at a five-star restaurant.”
“It was a very good class,” Elias said. “We got it down to five players. We had defenders and a rationale to take any of the five players; but in the end you’re only allowed one of them and we picked our favorite.’
Jones, a Vanderbilt commit, is a top-notch defensive center with five-tool potential, just like his father. The younger Jones is 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds and won the Gatorade Georgia Baseball Player of the Year award while leading Wesleyan School to the Georgia Class A private school state championship.
Jones is arguably the best defender, at any position, in this draft and has shown both elite foot speed and bat speed on the exhibition circuit. His swing isn’t a finished product yet — he’s 18, after all — but he’s steadily improving his plate discipline, and more raw power will come as he fills out his frame. Jones hit .570 with 13 home runs, 32 stolen bases and a 1.702 OPS his senior year.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Johnson at No. 4, and the Washington Nationals followed with Florida high school outfielder Elijah Green at No. 5, making it just the second time in draft history that high school position players went with four of the first five picks .
Others in the top 10 included LSU infielder/outfielder Jacob Berry (sixth for the Miami Marlins), Oklahoma pitcher Cade Horton (seventh for the Chicago Cubs), Virginia Tech outfielder Gavin Cross (ninth for the Kansas City Royals) and Gonzaga pitcher Gabriel Hughes (10th in the Colorado Rockies).
Johnson, 18, is considered the best hitter in this draft and is arguably one of the best high school hitters in history, with his bat drawing comparisons to Rafael Devers, Jose Ramirez, Wade Boggs and Vladimir Guerrero. A 5-foot-10, 175-pound lefty, Johnson already possesses the bat speed, power and hand-eye coordination that could eventually make him a consistent 30-homer threat in the major leagues. Johnson, an Arizona commit, played shortstop in high school but is thought to be better suited to second base at the professional level.
2022 MLB Draft Top 10 Picks
1. Orioles — SS Jackson Holliday2. Diamondbacks — CF Dru Jones3. Rangers — RHP Kumar Rocker4. Pirates — 2B Termar Johnson5. Nationals — CF Elijah Green6. Marlins – RF Jacob Berry7. Cubs — RHP Cade Horton8. Gemini — SS Brooks Lee9. Royals – RF Gavin Cross10. Rockies — RHP Gabriel Hughes
“The Pittsburgh Pirates got the best player in the draft,” Johnson said of the draft site on LA Live. “We’ll make it so.”
Green is the son of former Pro Bowl NFL tight end Eric Green. The younger Green, 18, is the epitome of risk-reward who many thought might slip into the first round of the draft. He’s 6-foot-3, 225 pounds and boasts the elite power, speed and arm strength that saw him develop into the No. 1 overall tackle in 2021. But Green has produced some worrisome fumble and turnover rates, while playing for IMG Academy in Florida the past two springs, though he ended up slashing .462/.592/1.000 in 25 high school games this season.
The Orioles picked No. 1 overall for the second time in four years after selecting Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman in 2019, and they’re just starting to emerge from a lengthy rebuild as players move through their system.
The Orioles, with Rutschman now among the bigs, recently went on a 10-game hitting streak to move into the American League wild-card race despite playing in the toughest division in the industry. In the previous five seasons, they lost a Premier League worst 64% of their games. Each of their past four first-round picks has been a college position player, with Baltimore going in descending order: outfielder Colton Causer (fifth overall in 2021), outfielder Heston Kierstad (second in 2020), shortstop Jordan Westberg ( 30th in 2020) and Ruchman.
The draft will be just 20 rounds long for the second year in a row (it’s usually 40 rounds), and the Orioles entered it with the second-largest bonus pool in history at $16.9 million. The Mets are the only team with two top-30 selections, one of which was compensation for not signing Rocker last year; and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only teams with zero, a penalty for the amount by which they exceeded last year’s luxury tax threshold. This year’s No. 1 overall pick comes with a slot value of $8.84 million, but the Orioles went under slot with their previous two first-round picks to use the savings elsewhere in the draft.
Each selection within the first 10 rounds of the draft comes with a certain value. In most cases, teams are free to allocate their entire bonus pool as they wish, but face overage taxes if they exceed their designated amounts. First-round picks begin to be forfeited if teams exceed their quota by more than 5%. Teams have spent their allocations 172 times in the 10 drafts with bonus pools, but never by more than 5%, according to MLB.com.
The first three pitchers taken in this year’s draft — Rocker, Horton and Hughes — all ranked higher than many draft prognosticators ranked them talent-wise, a nod to the relative lack of top pitching talent this year draft. The…
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