Kjerstad is No. 99 in Baseball America’s post-draft prospects ranking. This is the ranking of the best minor league players.
Kjerstad is the lowest rated of the 12 recent draft picks who made the new list. Spencer Torkelson, the No. 1 pick this year, is already rated the No. 11 prospect.
It will be interesting to see how Heston hits the ball in the minors and how quickly he can move up. It would be nice to see him in the Majors!
I’d bet, if we could have had a full baseball season, he’d be ranked much higher than #99. The way he was hitting the ball this past season, was exactly the way he hit on the USA team which was filled with all stars. He has one of the smoothest left handed swings you’ll see. He’ll probably never hit with the power of Torkelson (few will), but his batting average plus power will make him just as valuable.
I think Heston’s power will continue to develop. Nate Thompson told me this winter that Heston had never tried to back spin the ball to his pull side until last fall. His power jumped to right center when he did that. He’d just hit line drives to the right field alley until then. He would back spin it the opposite way, the reason he had some many big flies out to the opposite field. But he wore out the base of the wall in right center until learning to back spin to his pull side. Of course, there isn’t any doubt about some of his line drives – like the walk off homer he hit into the breeze late in this shortened season on Sunday against South Alabama.
HK, #2 in the most recent draft is the #100 prospect. How dumb. And, the #1 pick in the draft being only the #11 prospect is just preposterous. Interesting take, you’re better before you can prove it.
Most agree Kjerstad was not the second-best prospect in the draft, even if he was drafted second overall. The belief is that he was picked there because the Orioles liked him (obviously), but also because they believed they could sign him for well under slot value and use those savings on other players in the draft.
Draft projections, which are typically a precursor to the prospect rankings, had him going between seventh and 10th overall prior to the draft.
It’s not draft picks, it’s all the players in the minor leagues
Do you know how prospect rankings work? Do you think Heston should be ranked ahead of Luis Robert or Nolan Gorman?
Do they factor in the organization that drafted or has that player in the minor leagues? Baltimore is in a complete rebuild and minor league talent will be needed faster than other players for more established teams. Of course, he must develop and enhance his skillset to get that opportunity but the projection is about getting a shot in the majors.
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