O's grab high school backstop Sisco at No. 61
HOUSTON -- The Orioles -- the youngest team in the American League -- continued their youth movement in Thursday night's First-Year Player Draft, selecting high school catcher Chance Sisco with the 61st overall pick.
Sisco, out of Santiago (Calif.) High School, was Baltimore's third pick on Day 1 and joins prep pitcher Hunter Harvey (22) and Josh Hart (37) to round out a talented trio of high school players.
"We feel like we got three young players that we really like," Orioles scouting director Gary Rajsich said.. "We went into the day with a short- and long-term perspective. It didn't work out that way, but we do feel we got three players we really like."
The left-handed-hitting Sisco recently changed positions from shortstop, but has quickly shown the skills necessary to remain behind the plate long term.
"We like his bat a lot," Rajsich said. "He's got a chance to learn and be a real good catcher. He has a chance to be a frontline catcher. We are thrilled that we got three high school kids with upside."
As Sisco becomes more comfortable as a catcher, he should develop into a solid all-around defender. Offensively, he has an advanced hitting approach and makes a lot of good contact with his quick swing.
Sisco has an average arm and has good hands. Listed at 6-foot-2, 193 pounds, Sisco is still physically maturing. As he gets stronger, he has the potential to develop average power.
The slot value assigned to the 61st pick is $913,300, though the Orioles can negotiate another dollar value if desired. What the club is most cognizant of is the Draft pool of $6.388 million that it has to spend on its first 11 picks. Clubs spending more than their allotments will be taxed and, if the overage is high enough, penalized future picks.
Day 2 of the Draft continues with Rounds 3-10, streamed live on MLB.com on Friday, beginning with a preview show at 12:30 p.m. ET. And Rounds 11-40 will be streamed live on MLB.com on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m.
MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 100 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of Draft-eligible players. You can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft on Twitter. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.