MLB Draft Preview: How high could Methuen's Keegan rise?

Jul. 17—Dom Keegan is one of the most interesting prospects in this year's MLB Draft.

Undrafted out of Central Catholic, the Methuen resident went on to have an outstanding college career at Vanderbilt. He was a reserve as a freshman on the school's 2019 College World Series championship team, overcame both a frightening blood clot and the pandemic and became one of the top hitters in the powerhouse SEC.

Keegan was drafted in the 19th round of last year's draft by the New York Yankees, but that was in large part because it was already known he planned on returning to school. Now coming off another brilliant season in which he returned to his natural catcher position and an eye-opening performance at the MLB Draft Combine, Keegan has potentially elevated himself into an early round selection.

But how early? That's the big question worth potentially millions of dollars.

The projections on Keegan are all over the map. MLB Pipeline is particularly high on Keegan, ranking him as the draft's No. 97 prospect, equivalent to a third-round pick. Prospects Live pegs him at No. 187, equivalent to a sixth-round pick, and Baseball America has him at No. 213, which would be in the seventh-round range.

But one thing everyone agrees on is Keegan has a serious bat.

"Keegan is exceedingly strong and the ball jumps off his bat to all fields despite what looks like an effortless right-handed swing," his MLB Pipeline scouting report reads. "His ease of operation allows him to provide consistent hard contact and he has made adjustments to do much more damage against breaking balls this year than he has in the past. Though he's a fourth-year college player, he won't turn 22 until August and his track record in the Southeastern Conference is hard to ignore."

"There is almost nobody in the class who can rival his exit velocities," Prospects Live writes. "And he doesn't sacrifice too much swing and miss for the slug either."

Keegan made a particularly strong impression at the combine last month when he went 9 for 9 on hard-hit balls and finished first in average exit velocity (106 mph) during his batting practice session. and while defense isn't necessarily Keegan's calling card as a prospect, the fact that he successfully transitioned back to catcher after previously playing first base at Vanderbilt certainly won't hurt his case either.

Will all of that help push Keegan into the top 100? If Keegan can crack that mark he would become just the seventh player in area history to be selected that high in the MLB Draft. The others are Methuen's Steve Bedrosian (53rd, 1978), North Reading's Dennis Livingston (23rd, 1984), Windham's Jay Yennaco (73rd, 1995), Haverhill's Carlos Pena (10th, 1998), Methuen's Jacob Wallace (100th, 2019) and most recently North Andover's Steve Hajjar (61st, 2021), Keegan's former high school teammate at Central Catholic.

When will Keane go?

As a pitching prospect, there is a lot to like about North Andover's Sebastian Keane.

The 6-foot-3 righty boasts a live fastball that touches mid-90s along with a nifty curveball, and in terms of physicality Keane has everything a club could possibly ask for. He's been on the professional radar for a while now, going back to when he was drafted in the 11th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of North Andover High by the hometown Boston Red Sox.

"Keane has been a big deal in scouting circles for years," his Prospects Live scouting report reads.

Will Keane's gifts ensure he earns a favorable landing spot in this weekend's draft? That's difficult to say, because while nobody denies Keane's talent, he has seen his stock fluctuate wildly in the past few months after he endured a disappointing junior season at Northeastern University.

Right now Keane is ranked No. 269 by Prospects Live and No. 493 by Baseball America, suggesting a wide range of opinions on the former Scarlet Knight ace. Given that uncertainty, a good outcome for Keane would likely be a mid-to-late Day 2 selection somewhere between Rounds 7-10, which would be an improvement on his original draft position three years ago and ideally land him a solid signing bonus too.

Sox interested in ex-Vandy star RockerOne of the most intriguing prospects in this year's draft is Kumar Rocker. The former Vanderbilt ace was drafted No. 10 overall by the New York Mets last summer but didn't sign after health concerns raised by his physical spooked the Mets front office.

After negotiations broke down Rocker spent the ensuing season playing independent ball, and now he's once again projected as a first-round pick. A pair of recent mock drafts by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel and The Athletic's Keith Law even projected him going No. 24 to the Red Sox, and while there is a chance he'll be gone well before then, the Red Sox did confirm this week they remain interested in the big righty.

"We liked him a lot as a high schooler, we liked him last year and we like him a good amount this year," said Red Sox director of amateur scouting Paul Toboni. "Just a tremendous kid, a tremendous talent, player, obviously unique circumstances last year but we're going to put our board together and see where he falls and address it from there."

During his most recent college season Rocker was an All-American and First Team All-SEC selection who led the nation in wins (14) and strikeouts (179). He famously threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter against Duke during Vanderbilt's 2019 College World Series run, and health permitting he's widely viewed as the most big league ready prospect in the draft and as someone who could fly through the minor league ranks.

If not Rocker, who else might the Red Sox have a chance at drafting? Baseball America's final mock draft has Boston selecting James Madison outfielder Chase DeLauter at No. 24 and Lutheran High (California) shortstop Mikey Romero at No. 41 using the compensatory pick they received after failing to sign Jud Fabian last summer. Prospects Live is projecting Tennessee outfielder Jordan Beck.

As far as Boston's resources go, the Red Sox have $8,078,300 in bonus pool money to work with, which ranks 18th out of 30 clubs. The Orioles, who pick No. 1 overall and have four picks in the top 67, lead the way with $16,924,000 in bonus pool funds.

The draft kicks off Sunday at 7 p.m. with the first two rounds plus a number of competitive balance selections and compensation picks covering the first 80 selections. Rounds 3-10 will be held Monday and rounds 11-20 on Tuesday starting at 2 p.m. each day.

The first round will be televised by ESPN and the entire Sunday slate by MLB Network. Monday and Tuesday's coverage will be carried by MLB.com.

White shines at FenwayLooking ahead to next year's MLB Draft, Rowley's Thomas White ranks among the top professional prospects to ever come out of our region in any sport and in all likelihood will become a top pick in next year's draft. The rising Phillips Andover senior, a 6-foot-5 lefty, ranks as the top pitcher in the Class of 2023 and last Monday showed off his stuff against top college competition in a Cape Cod Baseball League showcase at Fenway Park.

Pitching against the Orleans Firebirds, whose roster boasts a who's who of Division 1 college stars, White threw two scoreless innings while allowing no hits, three walks and two strikeouts.

White currently ranks as the nation's No. 4 high school prospect in the Class of 2023 according to Baseball America and as the No. 10 overall prospect in the 2023 MLB Draft, college players included. He's coming off an outstanding junior season in which he earned Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year honors after going 6-1 with a 0.21 ERA, 70 strikeouts and 10 hits allowed over 33 innings pitched.

Groome promoted to Triple-AJay Groome hasn't had an easy journey since being drafted No. 12 overall by the Red Sox in 2016, but after missing nearly three years due to injury and the pandemic the big lefty's career is finally gaining momentum.

Earlier this week Groome was promoted to Triple-A, earning the call-up after posting a 3.56 ERA with 81 strikeouts in 76.2 innings with Double-A Portland. Groome has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last seven starts dating back to early June, and now he is just a phone call away from achieving his big league dream.

Groome made his Worcester debut on Friday, tossing six shutout innings while allowing five hits and three walks with five strikeouts in Worcester's 6-2 win over the Norfolk Tides.

For all of the bumps and detours his career has taken, including Tommy John surgery and the lost pandemic season in 2020, Groome is still only 23 years old. If he performs well in Worcester he may have a chance to factor into the big league equation by early next season, if not sooner.

Yaz goes yardAndover's Mike Yastrzemski had himself a moment he'll remember for the rest of his career on Friday night, hitting a walk-off grand slam to lead his San Francisco Giants to an 8-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the first walk-off grand slam by a Giants player since Bobby Bonds hit one in 1973.

Yastrzemski's slam capped off an epic ninth inning in which the Giants homered three times off Milwaukee's all-star closer Josh Hader to erase a 5-2 deficit. Overall the 31-year-old outfielder and St. John's Prep alum has nine home runs and 38 RBI on the season.

Home Run Derby field setCan Pete Alonso make it three in a row? The back-to-back Home Run Derby champion is set to defend his title once more as the Home Run Derby kicks off this week's All-Star festivities at Dodger Stadium.

The New York Mets slugger leads a loaded field and will serve as the No. 2 seed, facing off against Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. in the first round. The other early matchups feature Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber, the top seed, against St. Louis legend Albert Pujols, Texas' Corey Seager takes on Seattle rookie Julio Rodriguez in the 3-6 matchup, and Cleveland's Jose Ramirez will face Washington's Juan Soto in the 4-5 match. All seeds are based on the players' regular season home run totals so far.

Similar to last year, each batter will have three minutes in the first two rounds to try and out-homer their opponent, and the final round will be two minutes. The winner will take home a $1 million prize, the runner-up $500,000 and the other participants $150,000 each. There will also be a $100,000 bonus awarded to the player who hits the longest home run of the night.

Email: mcerullo@northofboston.com. Twitter: @MacCerullo.