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Day 1 of the 2019 MLB Draft is in the books and rounds 3-10 will take place today.
The Tampa Bay Rays had four selections during the first day of the draft, taking SS Greg Jones (22nd), RHP JJ Goss (36th), RHP Seth Johnson (40th), and LHP John Doxakis (61st).
Following the completion of the first day, Tampa Bay Rays Amateur Scouting Director, Rob Metzler, spoke with the media about their first day draft selection.
Metzler on Greg Jones
“He’s a top-of-the-scale runner. Greg Jones is an excellent athlete. He’s a middle-of-the-diamond player. He’s somebody we think can contribute on both sides, defensively and offensively, and we’re very excited to have him.”
“His development path worked best to go to UNC Wilmington, and the coaching staff there did a great job. Give Greg a ton of credit for how much progress he’s made in two seasons there. We’re thrilled to have him continue his journey in the Rays organization.”
”We’re optimistic we’ll have him in the organization relatively soon.
You can hear comments from Jones himself here:
Metzler on JJ Goss
”[Goss] has athleticism, arm speed, good size. Fastball, slider, changeup, we think project as real Major League pitches. Some range from 50 to 60 on our scouting scale. … He impressed us with not just stuff, not just physical ingredients, but his ability to compete was really impressive to us.”
Metzler on Seth Johnson
”Seth Johnson is a unique college pitcher and he has a shorter track record, this being his first year of full-time pitching. But in terms of his arm action, delivery, body type, he really fulfills all the things we’re looking for in a young starting pitching prospect.”
Metzler on John Doxakis
”He’s a tested, strong SEC left-hander. Really good command, ability to pitch to both sides with weapons, fastball, slider, changeup. We were thrilled with that outcome.”
He mentions the slider only in passing, but read between the lines and it may be that slider that caused “Dox” to jump from a projected second day selection to No. 61 overall.
You can hear that audio in full here: