2022 MLB Draft: Which team will select Arkansas Razorbacks baseball 3B Cayden Wallace?
The 2022 MLB Draft begins Sunday, and several Arkansas baseball players will be selected to the professional ranks as the event continues through Tuesday.
The Razorbacks have more than a dozen players eligible and are only expected to return one player from their regular lineup. One player could become Arkansas' 10th first-round pick: Third baseman Cayden Wallace.
Most draft experts only make mock selections for the first of 20 rounds. Wallace is far from a consensus first-rounder and doesn't appear in every mock. But with two years of excellent hitting and impressive defense, Wallace is a highly-rated prospect.
He joins right-handed pitcher Peyton Pallette and second baseman Robert Moore as the only Razorbacks on MLB Pipeline's list of top 250 prospects, coming in at No. 31. That doesn't mean he'll be selected 31st overall, however.
Here's a look at where experts say Wallace could be picked.
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Cayden Wallace MLB Draft projections
MLB.com: No. 37 to Cleveland Guardians
Slot value: $2,100,700
Wallace comes in at No. 31 in MLB.com's prospect rankings and appears as a first-rounder in its mock draft. Wallace played in the outfield as a freshman at Arkansas and could work at third base or in the outfield in the Guardians' organization.
ESPN: No. 38 to Colorado Rockies
Slot value: $2,051,300
ESPN places Wallace in the first competitive balance round to Colorado. Kiley McDaniel writes that the Rockies' farm system is strong in its everyday position players, and Wallace could fit right in.
Baseball America: No. 41 to Boston Red Sox
Slot value: $1,905,500
Baseball America ranks Wallace as the No. 53 prospect in the 2022 draft and has him going to Boston in the second round, calling him "one of the best infield arms in college baseball." He would be just the second Razorback selected by the Red Sox, joining Cody Scroggins from 2019.
Christina Long covers the Arkansas Razorbacks. You can email her at clong@swtimes.com or follow her on Twitter @christinalong00.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: 2022 MLB Draft: Who will select Arkansas baseball's Cayden Wallace?
