Where are the COVID draftees now five years later?
Introduction
Last year, I took advantage of the timing for the 2024 draft to do a little retrospective on the D-Backs’ 2019 draft given that most players take around five years to reach the majors. Following that same logic, those players that were drafted in 2020 should have already made their debut or should be approaching it. Of course, just everything about life in 2020 should come with an asterisk so we’ll give these draftees some additional grace as they likely missed out on at least part of their final amateur season and were tossed into an uncertain future with COVID precautions limiting their first professional seasons. One of those precautions (from the financial side) led the league to decide to limit the draft to just five rounds rather than the customary 40. However, even with the asterisks of a limited draft and curtailed training early in their professional careers, there’s been a pleasantly surprising amount of success throughout the draft – led by Garrett Crochet with 9.5 bWAR so far in his career. Our staff was relatively positive on the picks although we were somewhat surprised by how pitcher-heavy the team’s selections were. Still, with this year’s draft edition coming up on Sunday, it seemed a particularly appropriate time to stroll down memory lane for the 2020 draftees and check in on them.
Bryce Jarvis
Overall, the Diamondbacks have to be relatively pleased with their selections and the players’ development over the past five years. They drafted almost exclusively pitchers with third baseman AJ Vukovich representing the lone position player and all but Vukovich and Liam Norris have reached the majors and contributed to the big league club. Their first-round pick, Bryce Jarvis, has failed to stick in the rotation but has found plenty of success as a multi-inning relief pitcher (MIRP or swingman) so far in his big league career. When he was drafted, the industry saw him as a prime candidate for an underslot bonus so the team could put additional resources elsewhere, which is exactly what happened. Admittedly, in hindsight, there are other players that might have been more valuable – especially Pete Crow-Armstrong who went one pick after Jarvis, but that is a dynamic that is always at play in such scenarios.
Brandon Pfaadt
In a classic twist of draft-based fate, the team’s arguably most successful pick was their final one in Brandon Pfaadt out of tiny Bellarmine University in Kentucky for just a $100,000 signing bonus. First bursting onto the scene back in 2023, Pfaadt is now poised to be an important part of the Arizona starting rotation for the foreseeable future after signing that five-year extension before this season started. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the young righty, but as he demonstrated last night in an excellent performance in San Diego, there is still plenty of exciting potential that could be unlocked. If he could find a way to return to the form he revealed earlier in the season when he posted a 3.28 ERA and 1.24 WHIP over his first eight starts of the season rather than the 6.84 and 1.39 respectively he’s posted over the last 11, he could easily rocket up this list even more.
Slade Cecconi
Finally, the team’s second-round selection in Slade Cecconi has been more important to this point for acting as the key piece that brought slugger Josh Naylor out to the desert over the offseason. After a cup of coffee back in 2023, Cecconi was given a moderately long leash last year with an injury-depleted rotation desperate for arms and pitched to an ugly 6.66 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in 20 games and 13 starts. But since moving over to Cleveland, he has looked like a different pitcher, posting a 3.44 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in his first 10 starts for the Guardians. Unsurprisingly, the Cleveland pitching lab made some minor tweaks to the Floridian’s approach including raising his arm angle, increasing his curveball usage, and introducing a sinker to his pitching arsenal. Those changes have clearly made a difference so far in his Cleveland tenure, but there are some worrying signs of negative regression – particularly in the differential between his expected ERA (4.76) and his actual one. Still, the curveball changes alone have been impressive as it’s generated a 42% whiff rate and batters are hitting just .128 against it so far. If he can continue to progress, he could be a very valuable member of the rotation or act as another MIRP like Jarvis for the D-Backs.