Will Craig | 1B/3B
Background
The 21-year-old Craig is from Johnson City, Tennessee, which is about 100 miles northeast of Knoxville. He was a 37th round pick (Royals) out of Science Hill High School in 2013 but did not sign and instead followed through on his commitment to Wake Forest. Craig has been one of the best hitters in the nation with the Demon Deacons. He’s a career .354/.463/.637 hitter with 34 homers, 95 walks, and 80 strikeouts in 147 games. This spring he’s hitting .417/.551/.826 with 13 homers, 34 walks, and 23 strikeouts in 40 games.
Scouting Report
The first thing that stands out about Craig is his size. He’s a big guy listed at 6-foot-3 and 235 lbs., and already the belief is he will have to move to first base in the near future. Craig has the arm — he closes for Wake Forest and has been up to 93 mph off the mound — and the hands for third, but he’s not very mobile. The hot corner requires quick reactions and he doesn’t have them. Craig can mash though. He’s an ultra-disciplined right-handed hitter who knows the strike zone and can read spin, so he makes consistent loud contact. The expectation is he will be a 20+ homer guy down the road, though that’s not the consensus. There is some concern about his long-term power potential because he had a hard time with a wood bats against premium velocity in the Cape Cod League last summer.
Miscellany
MLB.com ranked Craig as the 27th best prospect in the 2016 draft while both Baseball America and Keith Law (subs. req’d) ranked him 45th. The Yankees pick 18th. I absolutely believe Craig will come off the board in the first round and wind up with a stat heavy team, perhaps one with extra picks looking to save some draft pool space. The Yankees are said to be targeting college hitters, and while Craig is flawed defensively, he’s one of the best pure bats in the draft beyond the elite prospects likely to go in the top ten. That said, he’s pretty much a bat only prospect.
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