2017 Draft Preview: Austin Beck

OF Austin Beck (North Davidson HS, NC): 5'11", 175 lbs, born 11/21/1998.

Overall

Hit: 50. Power: 60. Run: 60. Throw: 60. Field: 55.

Among potential top ten picks, Austin Beck carries as much risk as anybody. However, his upside is also as high as anybody, so he absolutely should not be written off because of the risk. With his big time power, he could be a future star or even superstar at the plate. He missed the summer showcase circuit because of a torn ACL, so he was almost forgotten and was left off most top draft prospect lists at the beginning of the spring. However, he has jumped back in a big way, rising to #4 (then falling to #9) on Baseball America's list and to #9 on MLB.com's list after being left off the preseason lists for both. At the time I'm writing this, he sits at #8 on my list. Beck will likely be selected within the top ten picks, with a small chance of even cracking the top five.

Strengths
Austin Beck can hit. His explosive bat speed generates plus power to all fields from the right side, and it should play up as he rises through the ranks. While his bat path isn't perfect, he his bat speed plays up as well because of the whipping action he generates from his strong wrists. He has a good eye at the plate, too, though it's not as advanced as his power. In the outfield, he is a solid athlete who has a real shot at sticking in center field, and even if he moves to right, his plus arm will help him be a plus defender overall. He's an exciting prospect, one who reminds me a bit of Kyle Lewis from last year's draft, and he is one of those "no ceiling" prospects that tend to hang around the top the draft.

Weaknesses
With all that upside often comes risk, and that is present with Beck. Because he didn't get a chance to play the summer showcase circuit (through no fault of his own), he hasn't proven to scouts that he can handle even somewhat advanced competition. Instead, scouts have had to watch him play against his regular high school competition in central North Carolina, which isn't a bad region for baseball but certainly isn't south Florida, Los Angeles, Atlanta, or Houston. He's all projection, having proven nothing concrete. Though it's not quite "alarming," there is a decent amount of swing and miss in his game even at his current competition level. Swing and miss is one aspect of a player's game that tends to grow exponentially as he moves up in competition if no adjustments are made, so a team drafting him will have to be confident in their ability to streamline his swing without sacrificing power. He's also on the shorter side at 5'11", so despite his big bat speed, he likely won't hit more than 25-30 home runs per year even as a best case scenario. The two key words with Beck are risk and upside, with the former likely knocking him out of the top five but the latter making it hard to see him falling out of the top ten or twelve.