After grabbing Mississippi right-hander Cade Townsend in the first round, the Cubs stayed in the SEC in the second round, grabbing one of the best available power hitters in Texas A&M outfielder Caden Sorrell
Sorrell was one of the better college power hitters last year, hitting 23 home runs for the Aggies, which tied for 14th in Division I. They weren’t cheapies either. Sorrell is a big, strong guy left-handed hitter at 6’3”, 210 lbs with a quick uppercut strong. It’s also a long swing that it geared towards pulling the ball to right field. So when Sorrell gets ahold of one, it goes a long, long way. He’s also a pretty good athlete with good speed and a solid defender in center field. He has a strong arm and could easily move over to right field where he could be a plus defender.
Sorrell hit .341/.434/.743 with 20 doubles, one triple and the 23 home runs for the Aggies. He also stole 11 bases in 64 games.
The downside on Sorrell is that he does have a lot of swing and miss in his game and will often swing through fastballs up in the zone. He also has a tendency to chase breaking ***** out of the zone. So for Sorrell to make it to the majors, he’s going to have to learn to see the ball better and learn to lay off bad pitches. He struck out 23 percent of the time in his junior year which isn’t terrible, but it’s also not good for a guy entering pro ball where he’s going to face a lot better stuff. Of course, if Sorrell didn’t have some issues, he would have gone in the first round.
MLB Pipeline ranked Sorrell as the 33rd-best prospect in the draft and Baseball America had him at 27, above first-round pick Townsend. So both of those evaluations are a great value for the Cubs at pick 62. On the other hand, Keith Law of The Athletic, who is more sensitive to swing-and-miss issues, had Sorrell down at 67, which is more in line with where he was taken.
Sorrell was one of the better college power hitters last year, hitting 23 home runs for the Aggies, which tied for 14th in Division I. They weren’t cheapies either. Sorrell is a big, strong guy left-handed hitter at 6’3”, 210 lbs with a quick uppercut strong. It’s also a long swing that it geared towards pulling the ball to right field. So when Sorrell gets ahold of one, it goes a long, long way. He’s also a pretty good athlete with good speed and a solid defender in center field. He has a strong arm and could easily move over to right field where he could be a plus defender.
Sorrell hit .341/.434/.743 with 20 doubles, one triple and the 23 home runs for the Aggies. He also stole 11 bases in 64 games.
The downside on Sorrell is that he does have a lot of swing and miss in his game and will often swing through fastballs up in the zone. He also has a tendency to chase breaking ***** out of the zone. So for Sorrell to make it to the majors, he’s going to have to learn to see the ball better and learn to lay off bad pitches. He struck out 23 percent of the time in his junior year which isn’t terrible, but it’s also not good for a guy entering pro ball where he’s going to face a lot better stuff. Of course, if Sorrell didn’t have some issues, he would have gone in the first round.
MLB Pipeline ranked Sorrell as the 33rd-best prospect in the draft and Baseball America had him at 27, above first-round pick Townsend. So both of those evaluations are a great value for the Cubs at pick 62. On the other hand, Keith Law of The Athletic, who is more sensitive to swing-and-miss issues, had Sorrell down at 67, which is more in line with where he was taken.
4 months ago
