Diamondbacks select RHP Bryce Jarvis in 1st round of 2020 MLB Draft
Jun 10, 2020, 6:14 PM | Updated: Jun 11, 2020, 10:01 am
In this June 8, 2019, file photo, Duke's Bryce Jarvis throws to a Vanderbilt batter in the first inning of an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)
(AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)
The Arizona Diamondbacks selected pitcher Bryce Jarvis with the 18th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft.
The righty out of Duke got off to a monster start in the shortened college baseball season, allowing two earned runs in four outings over 27 innings for a 0.67 ERA. He struck out 40 batters and walked only two. That included a perfect game against Cornell.
Jarvis broke out as a junior after being selected in the 37th round by the New York Yankees in last year’s draft and electing to come back to school. His father Kevin pitched for the D-backs in 2006 and was also a former scout in the organization.
General manager Mike Hazen has put in work restocking the D-backs’ farm system. The team has five prospects in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100, and all five are players the D-backs have drafted or signed themselves.
RELATED STORIES
The D-backs haven’t had much luck with first-round picks lately. The last first rounder that wound up playing for the D-backs was pitcher Braden Shipley, who was drafted in 2013 and had his contract run out after spending all of 2019 with Triple-A Reno.
Of the D-backs’ 18 first-round picks over 10 drafts from 2007-16, only four have played at least 50 games with the D-backs: Wade Miley (’08), A.J. Pollock (’09), Chris Owings (’09) and Archie Bradley (’11). That leaves out some names who had success away from Arizona, like Jarrod Parker (’07), Trevor Bauer (’11) and Dansby Swanson (’15).
Arizona made two first-round selections in the 2019 MLB Draft, picking outfielder Corbin Carroll 16th overall and left-handed pitcher Blake Walston at No. 26.
MLB shortened the number of selections this year to five rounds and 160 picks in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Before the pandemic, the draft had been scheduled to take place at Omaha, Nebraska, ahead of the now-canceled College World Series.
The D-backs picked again on Wednesday in the competitive balance round A at 33rd overall, choosing pitcher Slade Cecconi. They lost their second-round pick after signing Madison Bumgarner but pick in the third (90th), fourth (119th) and fifth round (149th).
