Which players are the media pundits projecting to go to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the 18th overall pick?

With just two weeks left before the start of the 2020 MLB Draft, we may start seeing more of a consensus of who the team might target. From Kiley McDaniel’s mock seems to indicate that the team may be interested in taking a look at the top three prep arms (Jared Kelley, Mick Abel, and Nick Bitsko). This week’s set of mock drafts seems to follow that trend.

There seems to be somewhat of a consensus, with three of the five mocks having the D-backs take a high school pitcher at 18. Three of the five big name pundits have the team taking a high school pitcher with two of them selecting Nick Bitsko and the other taking Mick Abel. The Baseball America mock has the team take Cade Cavalli, who I’d give 80% odds of getting selected in the Top 15. The one position player left is Crow-Armstrong, who is somewhat redundant with top prospects Corbin Carroll and Alek Thomas.

Of the four players from that collection of mock drafts, there is a lot of volatility of potential range of these guys. Bitsko is one of the tougher projections in the draft given that he really didn’t participate much in the summer showcase. In the showcases he attended, Bitsko showed good enough stuff to be in Top-20 consideration and still has some projection left. Abel won’t nearly be as affected since he’s been in the summer circuit and teams got all the looks they needed at this point, although getting a look in the spring would have helped teams make a decision.

With each publication, we’ll likely see a new mock draft between now and the beginning of the draft and we’ll try to see if there is a bigger consensus on how the board may potential unfold.