2019 Texas Rangers draft preview: Trejyn Fletcher

2019 MLB Draft Preview: Trejyn Fletcher scouting report

The 2019 MLB Draft is less than a week away — the first round kicks off on June 3, 2019 — so its time to start offering capsule looks at players the Texas Rangers could select with their top picks. The Rangers’ first round pick is at #8, their second round pick is at #50, and they have Milwaukee’s competitive balance pick, acquired in the Alex Claudio trade, which is #41.

Leading up to draft day, we will be doing writeups of some of the players who could end up getting selected by the Rangers with one of their first three picks. Today, we are looking at Portland, Maine high school outfielder Trejyn Fletcher.

Trejyn Fletcher is a 6’2”, 190 lb. righthanded hitting outfielder out of Deering High School in Portland, Maine. Like most cold-weather players, Fletcher hasn’t necessarily had the number of reps, or the number of eyes on him, that players in the Sunbelt or the Southwest have, and that situation has been exacerbated by the fact that he made a late change in classification that makes him eligible for the 2019 draft, rather than the 2020 draft which he was originally supposed to be in. Fletcher is seen as a quality athlete with good bat speed, and also pitches, though his future is seen to be on the mound.

Baseball America has Fletcher ranked #64 on their board, praising his power, speed and defense, but noting that his lack of exposure to quality pitching makes it hard to really judge his hit tool. MLB Pipeline has Fletcher at #87 on their board, and like BA, notes that there are questions about whether his hit tool will ever be good enough to really tap into his raw power potential. Fangraphs has Fletcher at #100 on their rankings, while Keith Law doesn’t have him on his top 50 list.

Figuring out where Fletcher might go is complicated, as his Vanderbilt commitment is seen as strong, and second round money probably wouldn’t be able to get him to give that up. Having turned 18 in April, he’s one of the younger players in the draft class, and his youth and lack of refinement mean that he’s someone who could see a big jump in his abilities once he gets to a pro program. On the other hand, he’s also someone whose hit tool may keep him from every really developing, and the combination of the late reclassification and the fact that he plays a shortened high school season means that there will have been fewer opportunities to scout him. That makes it risky to go aggressively after him.

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