After taking CA HS SS Matt McLain, the Dbacks go back to their bread and butter with a college position player. For the second year in a row, they tap the University of Virginia program by taking outfielder Jake McCarthy. McCarthy is a plus runner who projects to be a quality defender in center field with elite OBP and SB skills. His power numbers aren’t quite there, although scouts project more power in his bat as he retools his swing. Even without any increase in power, his OBP and speed skills makes him a potential top of the order hitter while playing gold glove caliber CF.
In his junior season, he had a broken wrist that really messed up his platform year for the draft which caused him to miss a lot of time although he put up decent numbers returning from the injury. McCarthy was ranked the #39 prospect on MLB Pipeline.