Sean Manaea

Manaea broke out in the Cape Cod League last summer as its pitcher of the year and top prospect. He struck out a league-high 85 batters in 52 innings while holding opponents to a .119 average, thanks to an explosive mid-90s fastball that never seemed to find the barrel of a bat. His first pitch this spring was 96 mph, but he has mostly pitched at 88-93 mph and not held his velocity deep into games. He rolled his right ankle celebrating a dramatic win over Minnesota ace Tom Windle on March 15, an injury that led to hip problems. To his credit, Manaea has tried to pitch through it, but in his first start in May, he topped out at 91 on a rainy day against Evansville and worked at 84-87 mph in the fourth inning before the game was called. The 6-foot-5, 235-pounder has to rely on his fastball, which features plenty of life and deception when he's right, to help his secondary pitches play up. He'll flash a quality slider and uses a split/changeup as his offspeed pitch, but neither gives him a consistently above-average No. 2 pitch. His command and control, which were sharp last summer despite his low three-quarters arm angle, also have regressed. Manaea continues to post quality numbers (1.61 ERA, 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings, .192 opponent average), but he has been far from the guy who overmatched the Cape. Teams are trying to figure out whether last summer's version or this spring's is the true Manaea. As one scouting director said, "He'll be the most-scouted player in the draft over the last month." There's still time for him to work his way as high as No. 3 to the Rockies, but teams that never thought they'd have a shot at Manaea are making sure they do their due diligence.