The Blue Jays spent the 69th overall pick on Kellen Sweeney.
Follow the jump for his pre-draft report.
Kellen Sweeney Position: SS School: Jefferson HS State: IA Height: 6’1’’ Weight: 180
Bats: L Throws: R Birth Date: 9/14/91 Seiler Rating: 2C1 Commitment: San Diego
Kellen Sweeney is an offense-oriented high school shortstop from Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sweeney is the brother of current Oakland A’s outfielder Ryan Sweeney, and with those bloodlines, he’s hard to ignore. However, he went through a bit of a tough period starting last June, when he hurt his elbow and subsequently underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of the summer. Even though that cost him much of the fall, he came back strong with his bat this spring, and he’s been hitting everywhere he’s gone. He’s essentially been limited to first base since the surgery, and scouts have pretty much made up their mind that he’s going to have to move to third base as a pro when his arm recovers. He projects to be a Major League starter there, though, so that’s a fair tradeoff. At the plate, he’s an above-average hitter with solid-average raw power, and he could put up some good numbers if he’s developed the right way. He’s an above-average runner, too, so he could turn into a nice well-rounded offensive threat that is pretty polished at the plate. Defensively, he’s a fringe-average defender at short, but he profiles to be above-average at third, and he had above-average arm strength before the injury, so scouts think he’ll recover it if he’s cautious with his rehab. He’s expected to go somewhere in the third to sixth round range, where he’ll likely be signed away from playing at San Diego.