Locals could go early
Park Vista’s Smith, Royal Palm Beach’s McKenzie two of top 50 prospects in MLB draft
“It has been an awesome experience to know I am even being considered for the 2015 draft. It is really a blessing to see where I have come from.”
Austin Smith,
Park Vista pitcher
Austin Smith plans on being around his family, friends and Park Vista teammates. His Royal Palm Beach counterpart Triston McKenzie will play Call of Duty until it is time to be with his parents and younger brother.
Anything beyond that is a mystery. Both Smith and McKenzie will wait patiently Monday during Day 1 of the MLB First-Year Player draft. Both Smith and McKenzie have been rated by MLB.com as two of the Top 50 prospects in the nation.
While Smith, the No. 44 prospect, is rated six slots higher; McKenzie, MLB.com’s No. 50 prospect, is projected to go 32nd to the Pittsburgh Pirates, according to the latest Baseball America mock draft.
“It’s been an unbelievable experience,” Smith said. “These last couple of days have been very busy. It has been an awesome experience to know I am even being considered for the 2015 draft. It is really a blessing to see where I have come from, and for me, it is an honor.”
At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Smith started to draw MLB interest during his junior season at Park Vista. He went 12-1 with a 0.36 earned run average and had 96 strikeouts in 2014 to lead the Cobras to the Class 8A state tournament. Smith went 8-2 with a 1.03 ERA and had 98 strikeouts in 2015 and led Vista back to the state tourney.
His physically imposing frame coupled with a 97-mile per hour fastball is why the Florida Atlantic University signee is so coveted.
Park Vista coach Larry Greenstein, who has coached numerous draft picks over his 30-year career, said Smith has drawn the sort of attention he’d never seen before.
“We had our preseason game and he was only throwing two innings,” Greenstein
said. “Yet you look down and see there are 50 scouts watching him warm up. I’ve never seen that before. Not to say it is not happened before. I’m sure it has. I’ve just not seen it. I knew it was different right out of the shoot.”
As for McKenzie, he stands at 6-5 and weighs around 165 pounds.
He throws a 94 mph fastball, a big curveball and a change-up. McKenzie went 9-5 with a 0.62 ERA and 157 strikeouts to lead the Wildcats to the Class 7A state tournament for the first time since 2000.
Several scouts watched McKenzie down the stretch and with good reason. He threw five complete games between the district, regional and state playoffs. McKenzie only allowed four runs with three coming in 3-2 state semifinal loss to Sarasota.
“I feel like I got stronger toward the end of the season and I performed well for my team,” McKenzie said. “I think that was my biggest improvement. When I went out there, especially in late innings, I felt like I was as strong as I was in the beginning of the year. Maybe stronger.”
McKenzie is signed to play for defending national champion Vanderbilt.
Because of compensatory and competitive balance round A picks, there are 42 first-round selections. There’s a chance either could go in the first or early second round.
Either way. They’ll each be up for at least a $1 million signing bonus if their draft projections hold.
Signing with a team means each will have to forgo their college eligibility and go straight into a club’s farm system.
Smith said he wants to play professional baseball but, “I also want to be fairly compensated.”
McKenzie said he has not made a decision but will speak with his parents and advisor after the draft.
Royal Palm coach Kason Gabbard has been in this position. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2000. Gabbard had the luxury of the now-defunct draft-andfollow rule. Although Gabbard and the Red Sox couldn’t agree on his signing bonus, both sides were given nearly a year to come to an agreement.
This year, a team has until June 17 to sign a player. If an agreement is not reached for high school players like Smith and McKenzie, they become eligible again during their junior year of college.
“Playing baseball was what I wanted to do and it was the future I wanted to take,” Gabbard said. “I don’t really know where [McKenzie] is with all of that yet. He has a big decision to make.”