Last night the Indians made Bradley Zimmer their first-round draft pick, taking him with the 21st overall pick. Zimmer is a left-handed hitting outfielder from the University of San Francisco (hopefully he wins as many professional championships as fellow Don Bill Russell).
Zimmer, who is 6'5" and hit .368 this season, with 7 home runs, 31 RBI, and 21 stolen base in 54 games, was one of the top college position players available in the draft, with strong pitch recognition and contact skills, good baserunning abilities, the range to maybe make it as a center fielder, and the arm to play in right otherwise. If his large body develops muscle, he could be a 5-tool player. If you want to get way ahead of yourself, consider that Zimmer could be ready to help the Indians in 2017, perhaps joining Michael Brantley and Clint Frazier in a very exciting outfield.
Our full coverage of the 2014 draft is here
Here's what it looked like when the Indians drafted Bradley Zimmer with the 21st pick Thursday night:
A few minutes after h was selected, Zimmer (already wearing an Indians hat) sat down for an interview with the MLB Network:
Finally, here is the MLB.com scouting video on Zimmer:
Zimmer isn't quite as exciting a prospect as Frazier (not a surprise, given that Frazier was the #5 overall pick), but he's got a higher ceiling than Tyler Naquin. I'm not a prospect expert, but I was happy to hear Zimmer's name called last night, and I look forward to following his development.