Zach Watson

As a draft-eligible sophomore in 2018, no team came close to matching Watson’s asking price and he fell to the Red Sox’s final pick in the 40th round. This year, Watson is likely to hear his name called in the third or fourth round because of his wide array of tools. He’s a plus defender in center field (some scouts grade him as a 70 defender) with an average arm. He’s also a 70 runner who was 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts as of mid-May. He’s been one of the focal points of LSU’s offense for the past three seasons, hitting better than .300 in each of his three years in Baton Rouge while living up to the billing as the next in a long list of successful LSU center fielders. Watson also has some limitations, however, including an arm bar in his swing that makes him vulnerable to committing to his swing early. He can turn around a fastball and posts excellent exit velocities when he squares a ball up, but he struggles to recognize and hit breaking balls and he currently hits a lot of ground balls, which explains his relatively modest power numbers. He’s likely a fringe-average hitter at best, which limits his likely ceiling, but as a center fielder who can run, Watson provides value at a premium defensive position.