Kevin Merrell

In a light college position player class, Merrell has been one of the few players to move in the right direction this spring. His best attribute is his elite speed; Merrell is an 80 runner underway and has turned in run times as low as 3.9 seconds from home to first base. He's a lefthanded hitter and has made positive transformations with his swing, ditching a deeper load to make his swing more compact. Merrell's approach of putting the ball in play has paid off; he was batting .392 with a week left in the regular season. Defensively, Merrell lacks flashy hands and body control at shortstop, but he's a quality athlete and some evaluators would like to give him a chance to stay there at the next level. His pure arm strength is near average, but he has a quick release and some scouts think he may have some more untapped arm strength in the tank. If he doesn't develop into a regular at shortstop, Merrell could move straight to center field, or he could be developed into a super utility player. His top-of-the-scale speed and excellent performance could lead to him being selected on the first day of the draft.