Former MLB GM Jim Duquette jumped on with the Sports Junkies Thursday for a lot of Shohei Ohtani talk, some chat about the Orioles’ resurgence, and Elly de la Cruz’s rookie season that included an epic performance in DC this week.
But, with the MLB Draft now less than a week away, the Junkies wanted to gauge Duquette’s thoughts on where the Nationals might go at No. 2 – and if Paul Skenes, aka Grant Paulsen’s guy, does go No. 1 overall to Pittsburgh, Duquette says you can’t go wrong with one of the top two outfielders, either fellow Tiger Dylan Crews or Florida’s Wyatt Langford.
“There’s something to like with both, but Crews reminds me a bit of George Springer in the ability to hit and hit for power, and play defense in center; he might need to move to a corner down the road, but that’s the closest comp I can come up with,” Duquette said. “Langford reminds me more of a better-hitting Hunter Renfroe, who is going to be a 10-year major-leaguer; he doesn’t have as much swing-and-miss, but I don’t think you can go wrong with either of those guys.”
If Skenes doesn’t go No. 1, Duquette might still go with either outfielder, just because of the risk involved in starting pitchers, and he’d prefer Crews if he had his druthers.
“Here’s the last thing that would convince me to take Crews: he was the consensus No. 1 overall pick from last summer, so he played all year in the best conference in college baseball with that labeled and he delivered,” Duquette said.
Skenes has drawn comparisons to Stephen Strasburg, one that Duquette also agrees with – but sees him as a possible comp to another
“If you were a scouting director and said Skenes will have the same pathway as Strasburg, I’ll take him for the first eight years of his MLB career,” Duquette said. “But Skenes could be Justin Verlander. I was with the Mets and missed out on Verlander by one pick in the 2004 Draft, and if he’s a cross between Strasburg and Verlander, man, sign me up for that!”
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Of course, the cautionary tale is that the Mets drafted Philip Humber, who had an eight-year career and pitched a perfect game but was no Verlander, who was one of just seven players in the 41 picks of the first round and supplemental first round to make an All-Star team.
Listen to Duquette’s entire segment above, with the Nats talk starting around 12 minutes into the clip!
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