With the top overall draft pick for 2014, the Astros chose Brady Aiken, a left handed pitcher. Brady Aiken has a long road ahead of him to reach the Major Leagues, but many are confident that he will have a bright future in MLB. Aiken is 6ft 4 and 210 lbs who appears to be everything you could want in a pitcher, poise, size, and speed. At 17 Aiken was drafted out of a Catholic High School in San Diego.
What is notable is that Aiken is the first high school pitcher taken with the top overall pick since 1991. As a lefty he has made great progress with his curve-ball as well as his fastball. Aiken's fastball is between 96-97mph. It is incredibly rare to find such a refined package at the age of 17. His high school ERA is 1.06 and out of the 228 batters he faced 111 were struck out.
Aiken's signing bonus is over $7 million and was chosen over college prospects like Carlos Rodon and Aaron Nola. What was surprising was that Aiken was chosen over Tyler Kolek who is considered by many to be one of the hardest throwing high school pitchers (right handed).
The Huston Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said "This is the most advanced high school pitcher I've ever seen in my entire career."
Copyright (c) 2014 MLB-Gear.com. All rights reserved.