Seven Tennessee Baseball players ranked in ESPN's final Top 250 before MLB Draft
Tennessee Baseball has seven players ranked in ESPN’s final Top 250 for the MLB Draft, with Christian Moore topping the list at No. 12 overall. The MLB Draft begins Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on MLB Network and runs through Tuesday.
The rankings, from ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel, also included Billy Amick at No. 36 overall, ahead of No. 61 Blake Burke, No. 63 Dylan Dreiling, No. 66 Drew Beam, No. 80 Kavares Tears and No. 225 AJ Causey.
“Moore went on a tear to finish the year,” McDaniel wrote of Moore at No. 12 overall, “with some simple offensive adjustments and has upside to hit 25-30 homers while playing second base, but his in-zone contact is 45-grade among college players, so some worry that will crater his profile in pro ball.
“You can see by the ranking that I have (James) Tibbs/Moore as a coin flip, one notch behind (Nick) Kurtz.”
Tibbs, the Florida State right fielder, is ranked No. 11 while Kurtz, the Wake Forest first baseman, is 10th.
Mock Draft: Christian Moore, No. 12 overall, Boston Red Sox
McDaniel’s MLB mock draft 2.0 last month had Moore projected to go No. 12 overall to the Boston Red Sox. Moore was also mentioned as a possibility at No. 8 to the Los Angeles Angels and No. 9 to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Amick was projected at No. 32 overall to the Baltimore Orioles but was also mentioned as a possibility as high as No. 13 to the San Francisco Giants. He was also mentioned at No. 20 to the Toronto Blue Jays, No. 22 to the Orioles, No. 26 to the New York Yankees and No. 27 to the Philadelphia Phillies.
MLB.com’s mock draft last week also had Moore at No. 12 to the Red Sox and Amick at No. 32 to the Orioles.
ESPN’s mock draft had Blake Burke at No. 63 overall to the Phillies and mentioned Tears and Dreiling among a list of players that “should go in the third round if they don’t sneak into the second.”
Tennessee’s MLB Draft history during the Tony Vitello era
Tennessee has had 36 players drafted during the Tony Vitello era, including four first-round picks.
Right-handed pitcher Chase Dollander went No. 9 overall to the Colorado Rockies a year ago, one of eight Tennessee players drafted.
Outfielder Drew Gilbert and third baseman Jordan Beck were both first-round picks in 2022, when a Tennessee record 10 players were drafted. Gilbert went at No. 28 overall to the Houston Astros while Beck went No. 38 to the Rockies.
Seven players were drafted in 2021 and three players were picked in the 2020 draft, which was limited to five rounds during the COVID pandemic.
Left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet was the No. 11 overall pick to the Chicago White Sox in the 2020 MLB Draft and on Sunday was named to the MLB All-Star game. He the majors in strikeouts (146) in his first season as a starter.
Tennessee had eight players drafted in 2018 and 2019, with two players picked in 2018 and six selected in 2019.
