Teams don’t typically draft for need in the first round of the draft, and the Indians didn’t necessarily do so Thursday. It just so happened that a need on the big league club coincided with the No.1 tool of the player the Indians drafted.
With the fifth overall pick in the first round, the Indians selected Georgia high school slugger Clint Frazier. Frazier was drafted as a center fielder and Indians scouting director Brad Grant says the Indians envision him staying there.
The 18-year-old Frazier, a 5-foot-11 right-handed hitter, was recently named the Gatorade National Player of the Year after hitting .485 with 17 home runs and 45 RBIs in 97 at-bats for Loganville (Ga.) High School.
“He has an impact bat and impact bat speed,” said Indians scouting director Brad Grant. “It’s a loose, whippy swing with tremendous raw power. He lofts balls out to all fields. The first thing you notice is his bat speed. It’s so quick and so fast. It’s a special swing, one you don’t see very often in a high school player.”
Frazier’s power is a welcome addition to the Indians’ organization. The team doesn’t really have any elite power hitting prospects in their minor league system, and at the major league level, the starting outfield of Michael Brantley, Michael Bourn and Drew Stubs have combined to hit just eight home runs so far this year.
Frazier has verbally committed to the University of Georgia, but all indications are that he will sign with the Indians, who drafted high school shortstop Francisco Lindor with the eighth overall pick two years ago. But Frazier is the first true high school slugger to be selected by the Indians in the first round of the draft since they took Manny Ramirez with the 13th pick in the 1991 draft.