Here’s an interesting pick from the Tigers in the eighth round, as they take Cal-Baptist OF Nick Dumesnil. He was an early top 50 prospect for the draft but slipped as the season went on as the strikeouts crept up. Finished ranked 70th on Keith’s board.
Here’s Keith’s scouting report: Dumesnil hit 19 homers as a sophomore for California Baptist and looked like he might end up in the first round as a high-contact hitter with power, but he went backward this year, with his strikeout rate soaring from 12.9 percent to 19.8 percent. He didn’t face any top-shelf pitching this year, either, only seeing a handful of pitches over 93 mph, one of the hazards of going to or staying at a mid-major school in the portal-NIL era. He’s a solid athlete who’s a 55 runner and could end up sticking in center field, and what might save him in the end is that he was so good on the Cape, hitting .311/.377/.489 in that wood-bat league, chasing too often (41 percent) but also showing some power to all fields. It’s probably more third-round than first at this point, with quality fourth outfielder the most likely outcome.