Pitcher Kyle Wright #44 of the Vanderbilt Commodores celebrates with catcher Karl Ellison #25 after beating the Virginia Cavaliers 5-1 during game one of the College World Series (Getty)
Vanderbilt right-handed pitcher Kyle Wright is expected to be a top-pick in the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft.
Wright is expected to become the 10th Vanderbilt pitcher selected in the first round over the last 11 drafts, a trend that started when Tampa Bay made David Price the No. 1 overall pick in 2007, according to NCAA.com
Here’s what you need to know about Wright:
1. Wright Has Been Projected As the Top Pick
Kyle Wright (Twitter)
The 6-2, 220-pound, 21-year-old right-hander pitches between 92 and 97-mph and is on the Minnesota Twins’ short list for first overall pick, according to USA Today Sports Weekly.
Wright is set to become the fifth Vanderbilt pitcher drafted in the first round over the last four years. 2017 is shaping up as the seventh straight year in which least one Vanderbilt pitcher gets drafted in the first two rounds, according to NCAA.com.
Keith Law from ESPN has Wright slotted to be picked second. Law called him the best pitcher in the draft and said he can pitch up to 96-mph with a plus slider and a good feel for his change. He also showed much-improved command in the second half of his junior year, according to Law.
CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa said Wright has now stuff with his mid-90 fastballs and knuckle-buckling curveball, and he has a big-league body at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. Axisa also said that Wright projects to be a top-of-the rotation starter.
2. Wright Was a Standout At Vanderbilt
.@VandyBaseball RHP Kyle Wright joined #MLBCentral last week to discuss tonight’s #MLBDraft, his pitching repertoire and more. #VandyBoys
As a freshman at Vanderbilt in 2015, Wright appeared in 29 games with three starts and went 6–1 with a 1.23 ERA, 62 strikeouts and four saves. In 2016, Wright was promoted to starting-pitcher. He went 8-4 with a 3.09 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 16 starts.
The right-hander went 5-6 with a 3.40 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 103 innings in 2017. He got off to a poor start. His ERA was as high as 5.59 on April 1, but turned things around. He yielded one earned run or less in six of eight starts after, improving his ERA to 2.98 at the time, according to NCAA.com. He credited the improvement to a mechanical adjustment and his strength conditioning.
“It’s made it really easier to pitch and hold my velocity throughout the game,” said Wright. “It’s not like I have to reach down and throw it as hard as I can every time in order to stay in the 93-96 range. It comes easier now. If I really want to reach back later in the game, I feel like I can because my strength will allow me to do so.”
After the 2016 season, he played for the United States collegiate national team.
3. Wright Pitched In the College World Series
Vanderbilt has made the College World Series two out of the past four years.
In 2015, Wright helped the team Win the Nashville Regional and the Champaign Super Regional. The team was College World Series Runner-up after losing to Virginia in the Finals. The team went 9-2 in the tournament.
In 2016, Vanderbilt reached the NCAA Division 1 Baseball Tournament for the second time in as many years. The team was eliminated by Washington in the Nashville Regionals. Donny Everett died the night before the regionals started.
4. Wright Was Close With Donny Everett
https://twitter.com/Kyle_Wright44/status/832360978566111233/photo/1
Wright was close with Vanderbilt teammate Donny Everett, who died in a drowning accident on June 2, 2016. Vanderbilt players scribbled “DE41” in gold marker on their hats — signifying Everett’s initials and his No. 41 as a Commodores player, as a tribute to Everett their following game, but the game was canceled due to inclement weather, according to the Tennessean.
“Donny impacted my life in such a powerful way, he could make any place bright,” said Wright.
Coach Tim Corbin called Everett “a fun-loving teddy bear and a real Midwest American kid.”
Everett just finished his freshman year at Vanderbilt. He was one of the nation’s top high school pitchers and a projected first-round pick in the Major League Draft. But, Everett balked on a signing bonus of up to $2.5 million in June 2015 to instead play at Vanderbilt, according to CBS Sports baseball reporter Jon Heyman.
Everett was the second Vanderbilt student-athlete to die in a drowning accident in just over a year. On May 28, 2015, former Vanderbilt basketball player Dai-Jon Parker, 22, drowned in Indianapolis. His death also occurred on the night before the Commodores’ NCAA Regional, according to The Tennessean.
5. Wright Was a High School Standout
Wright attended Buckhorn High School in New Market, Alabama. In his senior year, he posted a 6-2 record with a .88 earned run average and 75 strikeouts.
Wright committed to Vanderbilt when he was a junior and was named the Huntsville Times Most Valuable Player.
Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn and Troy also pursued Wright, according to AL.com.
Wright played shortstop when he wasn’t pitching. As a sophomore, Wright went 12-1 with a 1.40 ERA, 99 strikeouts and 17 walks. He hit .356 with 37 RBIs, 11 doubles, two homers and 20 stolen bases, and was named Class 6A first-team All-State as a utility player.
