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The latest 2021 MLB Mock Draft from Baseball America has dropped, and the two big name Vanderbilt pitchers, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, have dropped from previous incarnations of the mock.
BA has the Texas Rangers taking California prep shortstop Marcelo Mayer at #2, as Jordan Lawlar, the Dallas Jesuit product who the Rangers have been following closely this spring, goes to Pittsburgh at #1 in this mock. Jack Leiter, who had seemingly been anointed by some as the #1 pick a couple of months ago, drops to #4, while his Vanderbilt rotation-mate Kumar Rocker slides all the way to #7.
The top of the draft is described by BA (and a scouting director quoted in the intro to the updated mock) as “wide open,” and so while we have talked about Lawlar, Mayer, Rocker, Leiter and Louisville catcher Henry Davis as the consensus top tier, that appears to be set in pencil rather than stone right now, and Georgia prep shortstop Brady House sneaks into the top three in this permutation.
As a reminder, a lot can happen between now and the draft — which is still 48 days away — and so this is more giving us a general look at where things stand now than a firm idea of who is going where. I expect to see a lot of changes and movement in the coming days, and we could well go into draft weekend not having a clear idea who will be going off the board in the top few picks.