Editor’s note: College Baseball Nation is joined by guest writer, Owen Surett. Owen Surett is a college student who resides in North Carolina. Owen covers College Baseball for his media outlet, College Baseball USA (@ColBaseUSA on Twitter), which was founded in Fall of 2019. He is passionate about various aspects of the game, including analytics, player development, and player evaluation.
Below are two scouting reports for some of North Carolina’s 2021 MLB Draft prospects, compiled after attending this past weekend’s series between UNC and Duke in Chapel Hill. UNC prevailed over Duke in the rubber match on Monday evening, by a blowout score of 21-8.
SS Danny Serretti, UNC
Governor Livingston HS (NJ)
6’1” 195 lbs
Hitting just .229, hits have not come easy to Serretti this spring. Part of the struggles are due to a limited approach at times, but Serretti, the switch-hitter, hits the ball hard regularly. He has the bat control, with his quiet line drive-geared swing, to turn into an average bat on the major league scale. Serretti has 45 raw power and his current swing is not one that will get him big homerun numbers.
Serretti has plus footwork and actions at shortstop with hands and overall range around average. His glove alone would easily be good enough to play in the majors but his overall arm strength may force him to move to second base, where he can be a plus defender.
Despite the slow start, he is heating up lately. He can rebound his draft stock via improved offensive performance. Serretti plays hard and plays the game the right way. His on-field demeanor is that of a big leaguer, and that is where he will ultimately end up.
Hit 35/50
Game Power 30/40
Raw Power 40/45
Speed 50/50
Defense 45/60 (2B)
Arm 45/45
Projection: 3rd round pick, bench second baseman with a chance to start, can be serviceable at SS
OF Justice Thompson, UNC
King HS (FL)
6’4” 205 lbs
With a long, athletic frame that scouting departments across major league baseball salivate over, Thompson immediately stands out for his projectability. He should fill out to the tune of 60 raw power from the right side. The key question is will he learn how to consistently get to that power in games? He can feast on fastballs, but Thompson’s swing is on the long side and his approach at the plate is a bit of a work-in-progress, especially versus breaking balls.
A premium athlete, Thompson is a plus runner who can stick in center field. There is some rawness to his offensive game that will take some work to improve, but his ceiling is a big league regular. A team that is willing to take a risk on a high-level athlete with a projectable frame that can play center field may consider signing Thompson early on day two and hope that they can develop him into a serviceable-enough bat.
Hit - 20/40
Raw Power - 55/60
Game Power - 35/50
Speed - 55 or 60
Defense - 45/55
Arm - unknown
Projection: late 3rd round, has a chance to become a starting CF hitting .240 with 30 HR, but most likely scenario is a bench player that would produce a .225 AVG with 25 HR over a full season with above average defense
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