Kumar Rocker, Once Rumored To Be The #1 Pick In The 2021 MLB Draft, Signs With The Tri-City ValleyCats After Not Signing With The Mets Last Year
He's back baby! Kumar Rocker, once the presumed #1 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft has signed with the Tri-City ValleyCats of the MLB Partner Frontier League. After concerns about his medicals surfaced before the draft last year we saw Rocker slip to the 10th pick where the Mets picked him. He was talked about as one of the more polished and best college pitchers we've ever seen. Then the Scott Boras medical dilemma muddied all the water after the Mets saw something in his throwing elbow. Boras said he was healthy but the Mets yanked their offer and is eligible to be drafted again this year. Of course Boras has declared that Rocker is fully healthy and good to go, but we know that agent talk. I'm sure he is fine and someone will get a steal if they pick him, we just have to see where he'll get picked. MLB.Com has him as the 30th ranked prospect in this seasons draft class, a far drop from last season. He had the chance to go back to Vandebuilt but declined, instead saying he wanted to just focus on the 2022 draft. Now we know where that will take place. His plan is to show out with the ValleyCats and prove to MLB teams that he is healthy for the draft. Again, someone is going to get a very good pitcher.
His freshman year was incredible, it was must see TV for College Baseball fans. The 19 strikeout game vs Duke was unbelievable. We all thought he'd be a star almost instantly. And that can still happen, he very well may get drafted, shove in the minors, and come up and make an impact for a big league team. It'll just be a year later than we thought it would. The Mets not offering him a deal last year was huge news, but when we found out all the information it made sense. I just hope the kid is healthy and Boras isn't completely screwing with him to get more money or something. All I want to do is watch a healthy Kumar Rocker throw darts, now we can do at ValleyCats games. I'm sure those games will be flooded with scouts and I'd almost wish that Boras pays to get their games streamed or something so more people could see. Someone is going to get him much later than we thought they would and it could be a damn steal and a half.