Jake Schaffner, a speed demon of an infielder out of the University of North Carolina, was ranked just the 98th-best prospect in this draft by Baseball America. MLB Pipeline had him at #75. Keith Law of the The Athletic at #79. Craig Breslow, apparently, thinks he’s a lot better than that, as he made Schaffner the Red Sox’ first pick in this year’s MLB draft with the 20th overall pick.
Schaffner bats lefty and is known for his bat-to-ball skills, although his power is a significant question mark.
He was well-regarded defensively as a shortstop, though there are some questions about whether a mediocre arm will force him to second base sooner rather than later.
Could he end up surprising people and proving the pre-draft prognosticators wrong? Of course he could. This is the MLB Draft, not the NBA Draft, and no one knows anything. Moreover, this could simply be a classic underslot pick, whereby the team attempts to save bonus pool money to target harder-to-sign high schoolers later the draft. Either way, this is a major surprise, and probably the most shocking pick of the draft so far.
