clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

MLB.com mock draft has SS Jacob Gatewood to Dodgers in 1st round

Gatewood, a USC commit, is the son of a former Dodgers minor league catcher.

By Eric Stephen
Mike Ehrmann

We are now inside of three weeks until the 2014 MLB Draft, which begins on Thursday, June 5. We have already seen a few mock drafts in the last week, and here is one more. Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com projects the Dodgers to pick high school shortstop Jacob Gatewood at No. 22 in the first round.

The 6'4, 190-pound Gatewood, a shortstop at Clovis High in central California, bats and throws right-handed and is committed to USC. Mayo tabbed his power as "unsurpassed in this class."

Jim Callis at Baseball America in his second version of his mock draft still has the Dodgers taking Georgia high school right-handed pitcher Spencer Adams, same as last week. If you are keeping track, here are the players linked to the Dodgers through various mock drafts:

Spencer Adams rhp, GA (HS)
Jacob Gatewood ss, CA (HS)
Derek Hill of, CA (HS)
Sean Reid-Foley rhp, FL (HS)
Justus Sheffield lhp, TN (HS)
Luis Ortiz rhp, CA (HS)

Over at Dodgers Digest, Dustin Nosler delves even deeper into the draft waters with his version of the Dodgers' big board.

"Gatewood is one of those players that jumps out at you right away: a 6'4 shortstop with electric bat speed. His BP swing can get into lean back/uppercut/yank homers territory pretty quickly but if you had easy plus power at 17 years old, you'd probably do that, too," wrote Kiley McDaniel at Scout.com. "Gatewood's raw power comes from quick, strong wrists, leverage and bat speed; it's at least a 60 right now and may be a little better, with more on the way as he adds strength."

Baseball America rated Gatewoods' power even higher, saying it was at least 70-grade (on a 20-80 scouting scale) and adding, "He is likely going to be a below-average hitter for average but has special hands, looseness, bat speed and leverage in his stroke."

Because of Gatewood's frame, both Scout.com and Baseball America said he's likely to eventually move off shortstop to a corner spot.

He is the son of Henry Gatewood, a catcher picked by the Dodgers in the now-defunct January secondary draft (for players previously drafted who did not sign) in 1982. The elder Gatewood played four years in the Dodgers system before being dealt to the Twins in 1986. He reached as high as Double-A with Minnesota in 1987.

“He’s been my hitting coach, my defense coach, my everything,” said Gatewood about his father at a Perfect Game tournament in June 2013.

Here is video from Max Preps:

Which ever team picks Gatewood, he will be at MLB Network for the draft.

More From True Blue LA