MLB Draft Profile: Georgia Bulldogs pitcher Emerson Hancock
It's nothing that sports fans don't already know, but individual leagues' seasons, if they happen at all, are cut short. Major League Baseball officials elected to shorten the 2020 draft as well, dropping from 40 rounds to five due to circumstances surrounding public health concerns. Teams are permitted to sign an unlimited number of undrafted players following the abbreviated selection process.
Despite a trimmed collegiate baseball schedule, Scott Stricklin and the Georgia Bulldogs offer an almost guaranteed first-round draft pick in RHP Emerson Hancock.
According to the latest mock draft from MLB.com, Hancock is projected to go sixth overall to the Seattle Mariners and is currently rated as the #4 overall 2020 draft prospect by Baseball America, Fangraphs, and MLB Pipeline.
At six-foot-four and with the ability to throw a fastball topping out at 99 miles per hour, the towering right-hander is among the highest caliber pitchers available in 2020’s draft.
He throws heat.
Because I used to live a few blocks from Georgia baseball’s Foley Field, I personally refer to Hancock as the “Friendly Neighborhood Sliderman.” The prospective starter tosses a gnarly breaking ball and possesses the arm strength to translate such a pitch into a cut fastball or hard slider, as Georgia fans saw over the last three years.
One of the most intriguing things about Hancock from a scout's perspective his is command over the fastball; he has the control to paint the corners of the strike zone against both left- and right-handed batters.
Elite with his fastball and slider, Hancock's changeup and curveball are still well above collegiate average and kept batters guessing any time he stepped foot on the mound.
The junior out of Cairo, Georgia was initially selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 38th round of the 2017 MLB draft but chose to enroll at the University of Georgia to further his education while increasing his draft stock. After a strong freshman season in Athens, Hancock earned a spot on USA Baseball's collegiate national team.
Three years later, one of the most polished collegiate pitchers is "seeming like a Top-10 lock" according to Carlos Collazo of Baseball America.
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