The Major League Baseball Draft is such an interesting entity when considered against its peers within the other three major sports. Whereas fans are watching the NFL or NBA (as well as the NHL to an extent) draft in anticipation of seeing a player in their favorite team’s lineup early on, we may not see some of the names selected in the MLB Draft for quite some time. As impressive as no. 1 overall pick Dansby Swanson may be as a shortstop, we aren’t going to see him taking groundballs for the Arizona Diamondbacks for quite some stretch of time.
However, there are players that we might see on a Major League roster before the 2015 season comes to a close. This will likely take place primarily in the form of September callups, with 2015 draftees making their Major League debut predominantly in the form of pitchers. We saw it with Brandon Finnegan last year, as a college arm that was able to contribute to the Kansas City Royals bullpen when the postseason rolled around. Such could be the case this season, with at least a couple of early first round selections.
Finnegan came out of the bullpen for the Royals in seven games at the end of last season, before going on to make seven short appearances throughout the playoffs for Kansas City. Though he projected as a starter, and was subsequently sent to the minors this year to be stretched out as such, the Royals were able to take advantage of his high upside in getting him some Major League time early on.
Such could be the case with a pair of hurlers that were taken in the first ten selections of Monday night’s first round. Tyler Jay out of Illinois and Carson Fulmer from Vanderbilt were each pegged as types that could grace a big league mound by the end of the season. Unlike Finnegan, though, there isn’t a whole lot of certainty as to whether either of them will be a starter in the longer term.
Nonetheless, Jay and Fulmer represent the most likely candidates to find their way onto a big league roster before the end of the season. In the case of Tyler Jay, you have a player with potentially three plus pitches. He has a fastball that can touch 98 to go along with a slider that’s also considered plus. His curve will likely serve as his third pitch, with a change also finding its way in there. It’s the arsenal, in terms of quantity, that could have him as a starter, but the raw stuff and power he brings up on the bump have him more likely to be a reliever in the bigs, as soon as this year for the Minnesota Twins.
With Chicago White Sox selection Carson Fulmer, you’re looking at a similar situation. Fulmer, even more so than Jay, projects as a reliever primarily due to his delivery, which is violent in nature. Nonetheless, he can sit high 90s with his fastball and has an effective mix of breaking stuff to go along with it. Given the White Sox disastrous bullpen situation, with a group that ranks 25th in the league in bullpen ERA, it wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see Fulmer get some run out of the ‘pen by the end of the year, especially if the Sox find themselves in a position for a potential wild card spot.
In a draft that was so heavy on position players in the first round, especially early, that’s essentially where the list begins and ends. A couple of high upside college arms are likely all we’re going to get by the end of 2015. Dillon Tate, the only other college arm (and the third of just four pitchers selected in the top 15) is likely going to require a bit more development. We could see some of these bats, particularly those of the college variety, fight their way through the minor league ranks relatively quickly, but it isn’t going to be before the end of the year. Even if it ends up being Jay and Fulmer reaching the bigs, and only them, they’ll still provide plenty of intrigue at the tail end of the season, especially if their respective clubs are in contention at that point.
