No marquee names at top of baseball’s draft list

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Most major league teams agree that there’s no Stephen Strasburg or Bryce Harper in this year’s baseball draft.

There’s not even a Gerrit Cole or Danny Hultzen, last year’s first two picks, at the top of the class.

So, without a clear-cut No. 1 prospect and several significant rule changes in place, teams face some intriguing decisions and an unpredictable first round in this year’s draft that starts tonight with the Houston Astros leading things off.

“It’s a below-average draft as far as drafts go, and it’s certainly down from last year as far as depth and premium players in the first round,” said Sean Johnson, Minnesota’s West Coast scouting supervisor. “It’s lean in certain spots.”

Allotted spending caps based on the number and placement of team’s picks, and an earlier signing deadline are among the changes clubs will navigate this year. The draft also is shorter now, pared down from 50 to 40 rounds.

“I’m old school,” said Seattle scouting director Tom McNamara, whose team picks third. “I wish it was 70 rounds. You may find a guy in the 55th round. I was an undrafted free agent as a player, so maybe I would have been drafted if there were 100 rounds.”

The Astros have the No. 1 pick for the first time since taking Phil Nevin in 1992 — one of five teams to pass on a young shortstop named Derek Jeter, selected sixth overall by the New York Yankees.

Stanford right-hander Mark Appel, Florida catcher Mike Zunino, LSU righty Kevin Gausman and Georgia high school outfielder Byron Buxton are expected to be among the players picked early.

“I think I can verify that it’s thinner than some, but there’s no excuse, though,” said Twins GM Terry Ryan, whose team drafts second.

Appel is considered the likely No. 1, which would mark the first time that the top draft picks in MLB and the NFL (Andrew Luck, Indianapolis Colts) have come from the same school. Appel has a mid-90s fastball and is 10-1 with 2.27 ERA for the Cardinal.