MLB Draft: Cubs select Texas A&M OF Caden Sorrell in the 2nd round

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 balls 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 turned up at the end of the first round in some mock drafts, but I would have been very disappointed had the Cubs taken him in the first round. While the power and defense combination is enticing, the contact issues would have been too big a risk. But in the second round? Sorrell has the potential to be an above-average starter with power in right field, which is exactly the kind of upside you want in the second round. If his contact issues end up derailing his career, well, then the Cubs are only out a second-round pick.

Here’s a collection of Caden Sorrell highlights, mostly of him crushing baseballs.