Alex Kielar | June 7th, 2020
The Major League Baseball amateur draft will begin on June 10th at 7pm ET. We continue our series of MLB draft profiles with another top ten ranked hitter: Garrett Mitchell.
Check out our other draft profiles here.
Garrett Mitchell, OF, UCLA
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 204 lbs
Age: 21
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
2018 Stats: 44 G, .280/.337/.331, 0 HR, 31 RBI, 19 R, 11 BB, 40 SO, 5 SB
2019 Stats: 62 G, .349/.418/.566, 6 HR, 44 RBI, 57 R, 27 BB, 41 SO, 18 SB
2020 Stats (Prior to cancellation): 15 G, .355/.425/.484, 0 HR, 9 RBI, 18 R, 6 BB, 3 SO, 5 SB
Garrett Mitchell was born on September 4, 1998, in Orange, California. He attended Orange Lutheran High School where he was a three-year varsity starter, with playing time in his freshman year. Over his high school career, he put up a stat line of .318/.420/.441, 0 HR, 40 RBI, 69 R, 47 BB, 69 SO, and 35 SB. Highly regarded as a high ceiling player with a lot of tools, and he made it to the Perfect Game Showcase in 2017. Going into the 2017 Draft, there were concerns whether he could tap into his very solid tools, so this, in addition to already being committed to UCLA, caused him not to be selected until the 14th round by the Oakland Athletics.
Mitchell didn’t really show off his full potential until his sophomore season at UCLA when he hit well over .300 and stole 18 bases. He also hit six homers, which was a lot for him, as he didn’t hit any in high school or his freshman year. During that sophomore season, he was finally able to show consistency and that he can tap into his great tools. After that season, he was selected to Team USA but he, unfortunately, injured his leg and was unable to show off his tools for the Collegiate National Team. Prior to this season being canceled, Mitchell was off to a great start and was showing his plus power in BP to impress scouts while he came back from the injury. Being able to show the ability to transfer his power to games was important to make him a top prospect.
Check out Mitchell’s UCLA hitting highlights:
Strengths
Mitchell is a five-tool player with a very high ceiling and a lot to still tap into. He has shown he can hit very well to all fields and rips the cover off the ball. He is strong and still has a lot of power to bring to the table as he grows. Mitchell hit just six homers in college. A concern coming out of high school for the former UCLA Bruin was his swing. He’s made really good strides though and has shown the ability to control the strike zone well.
He is very fast, with a 70 scout grade, which helps on the basepaths as he can steal plenty of bases as he swiped 28 bases over the 2+ seasons at UCLA. He has shown the ability to stretch singles into doubles and can consistently run triples out with 15 triples in his college career; 12 of them came in 2019. Being a centerfielder, his speed helps him cover a lot of ground and be a consistent fielder at a premium position.
He also has a pretty strong arm, which is important to man center or any outfield spot full time, and he should turn into at least an above-average outfielder over the course of his career. Mitchell was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in third grade and has been able to fight through it and play baseball at a top-level. He has the energy and the drive for a future star in the league.
Weaknesses
The only real weakness Mitchell has is the fact that he hasn’t fully tapped into his game power yet. As I mentioned, he showed off his plus power in batting practice but wasn’t much of a consistent power threat in games. As of now, he is mainly a hard contact, line-drive hitter, but with his big frame teams will look for him to take advantage of that in the future. He will need to prove his consistency at the plate and continue to put up numbers similar to his sophomore campaign.
The leg injury he suffered makes teams wary of his durability in the future, but he is back to full health right now. Since his game relies heavily on his very good speed, the injury to his leg could be a concern as he gets older and loses some speed.
Pro Comparison
A good comparison for Mitchell is Victor Robles of the Washington Nationals. Mitchell is a speedy outfielder like Robles, with a similar build at 6’0, 190 lbs, who can steal his fair share of bases. Robles has also never been much of a power hitter but has the potential to grow. The most homers he has hit in the Nationals organization was 17 last season, never hitting more than ten before that. Robles and Mitchell are also good defenders who can cover a lot of ground in the outfield.
Draft Projection: Round 1 Pick 10: Los Angeles Angels
Based on his raw tools and the uncertainty that comes with him, Mitchell is such a hard player to project. Scouts project him to go anywhere from eighth overall to 21st. The team that selects him will be banking on his very high ceiling and promise. He is certainly not as pro-ready as some of the other hitters in the top 30 players. The Angels already have Mike Trout locked up through 2030 and some very solid outfield prospects including Jo Adell who is their number one prospect. If they draft Mitchell and he reaches his potential, they could one day have a strong outfield of him, Adell, and Trout. That’s an outfield I would not want to mess with. They also have outfielders Brandon Marsh and Jordyn Adams in their system, who are their second and third-ranked prospects.
Questions and comments?
thescorecrowsports@gmail.com
Hit us up on the Socials:
Twitter @thescorecrow
Reddit at u/TheScorecrow
Facebook at The Scorecrow
Instagram at The Scorecrow
Check out our Facebook Group where you can read and post articles at The Scorecrow
Reddit Group where everyone can post without fear of being banned at The Scorecrow
Follow Alex Kielar on Twitter @AlexKielar
Main Credit Image: [getty src=”1150392337″ width=”594″ height=”396″ tld=”com”]
