The Red Sox landed one of the most highly regarded players in this year’s draft, selecting Texas A&M outfielder Braden Montgomery with the No. 12 overall pick.
Montgomery, a junior outfielder, was widely expected to be taken within the top 10 and wound up slipping to Boston at No. 12. He was ranked as the draft’s No. 7 prospect by Baseball America and No. 8 by MLB Pipeline, and now he’s set to join a Red Sox system that’s already packed with talented position players.
“To get picked by anyone today means a lot to me and my family, for it to be the Red Sox means a whole lot,” Montgomery said. “I’m excited to get to work.”
Standing at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, Montgomery is a switch-hitter who boasts a cannon for an arm and projects as a big league right fielder. He spent his first two years of college at Stanford before transferring to Texas A&M, earning First Team All-SEC honors for the eventual College World Series runner-ups.
“Braden is someone we have been a fan of for a long time, dating back to high school,” said Red Sox director of amateur scouting Devin Pearson. “His skillset fits perfectly into what we are trying to do here. He had a huge year in the SEC, and we believe he has even more development left. We are excited to bring in that type of player and, equally as important, that type of person.”
This past spring Montgomery batted .322 with 27 home runs, 85 RBI and a 1.187 OPS in 61 games for the Aggies. His season came to an abrupt end when he suffered a broken ankle in the Super Regionals, but the 21-year-old still entered the draft as one of the top college position players in his class and should immediately slot in alongside Roman Anthony as a potential outfielder of the future.
Pearson said Montgomery will soon report to Fort Myers where he’ll be evaluated by the club’s medical staff, but once he’s healed up and ready they expect he’ll get a chance to play all three outfield positions.
“We see a really athletic switch-hitting outfielder with the ability to drive the ball out of the ballpark from both sides,” Pearson said. “Elite swing decisions and just a guy that really fits our development philosophies and a chance to continue to develop with all the things we do at the minor league level.”
“We can continue to attack his swing from both sides of the plate and just what he did this year compared to last year he continued to get better, and I think he will continue to get better,” Pearson continued. “There’s not any glaring holes in his game, he has all the tools we would want, we’re just going to continue to attack his development so he’s prepared to have an impact at the big league level.”
Bazzana goes first
Oregon State infielder Travis Bazzana was selected No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Guardians. A left-handed hitting second baseman from Australia, Bazzana was a Golden Spikes Award finalist this past season for the Beavers after hitting .407/.568/.911 with 28 homers and 16 steals as a junior.
Bazzana was followed by Wake Forest right-hander Chase Burns at No. 2 to the Reds, Georgia outfielder Charlie Condon at 3 to the Rockies, Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz at 4 to the Athletics and Arkansas left-hander Hagen Smith at 5 to the White Sox.
