A closer look at a late round pick

Alex McCree, a senior from Georgia, was just drafted by the Dodgers in the 17th round. He is a former student of mine, so I took a closer look at his numbers and potential, and found some interesting things. To start, McCree is a very tall (6'6") left hander, with a plus fastball. Working as a short reliever this season, McCree struck out an incredible 38 batters in 22 1/3 innings while only 18 hits. Unfortunately, he also walked 32 and hit 6. Thanks to those numbers, an incredible 64% of the batters faced didn't put the ball in play.

Given how long a left handed reliever can have, plus how project-able McCree is, it seems like a good use of a 17th round pick by the Dodgers. The Dodgers clearly like his potential, as he was also a late round pick last year, as well, but instead he opted to return for his senior season. The key from here on out is going to be control; hopefully McCree will be able to return to his sophomore year form, when he posted a much more manageable 2.94/9 innings.