With another pitcher-heavy draft, D-backs looking for starter depth

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ draft was once again pitcher-heavy. That was not by plan, but by selecting based on need, the organization improved its pitching depth, scouting director Deric Ladnier said on a conference call Thursday.

After drafting five pitchers in the first six rounds of the 2019 MLB Draft, Arizona took pitchers with four of the five total picks in the 2020 draft.

“We were just basically going down our board and trying to take the best player available. If it happened to be a pitcher, it was,” Ladnier said. “I just think we added even more depth to what we did last year, which I think puts us in a really good position.”

The D-backs took right-hander Bryce Jarvis with the 18th overall pick and righty Slade Cecconi with their competitive balance round A pick at 33. The team wasn’t on the board again until pick 90, where left-handed Liam Norris was selected.

In the fourth round, Arizona took a position player in A.J. Vukovich, before turning back to the mound to draft right-handed pitcher Brandon Pfaadt in the fifth round.

“We weren’t bouncing around our board, trying to take on need,” Ladnier said. “We really went down our board and drafted the players that were there when it was time to select.”

Jarvis was drafted in the 37th round of the 2019 by the New York Yankees before returning to Duke. It worked out well for him: Jarvis allowed only two runs and two walks while striking out 40 batters over 27 innings in the shortened season, and threw a perfect game against Cornell.

Cecconi, who pitched for Miami, had a 3.80 ERA and 30 strikeouts with seven walks in four starts. He is ranked as the No. 49 draft prospect by The Athletic’s Keith Law.

Ladnier was excited that the third pick, Norris, lasted until pick 90.

Arizona scouted him last summer and had strong reports about his size along with his velocity and breaking ball, but thought his command needed work. They scouted him several times early this season.

“Thank goodness we did,” Ladnier said. “Kind of a body transformation. Really got himself in good shape. Delivery was better, stuff was better, the command was two grades better.”

Ladnier said the Zoom call with Norris showed a high-IQ pitcher who was into analytics and tracking data.

“We just felt like the upside of a high school left-handed pitcher with the type of stuff that he had, we were really intrigued and actually really glad to get him where we got him,” Ladnier said. “The upside was too good to pass on him.”

Pfaadt, the fifth-round pick, can throw up to 96 miles per hour and has a plus curveball, Ladnier said, along with a developing changeup.

“To get him where we got him, we were pleased to get that because we had really good reports on him,” Ladnier said.

Every pitcher taken in the 2020 draft projects to be a starter, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will.

The Diamondbacks are more comfortable drafting players who may transition to the bullpen than the other way around.

“I think we always go into it with the approach that these guys are starters, understanding that not everybody develops into a starter, and if that doesn’t happen, to have the power stuff to ultimately end up still bringing value in some (bullpen) role,” Ladnier said.

Meanwhile, the lone position player drafted, Vukovich, has been a fixture in the national circuit for years, including playing on the USA national team in 2019 and the Perfect Game All-American Classic.

He has power potential, placing second in the 2019 MLB High School Home Run Derby.

The two-sport student showed his athleticism on the basketball court as well, breaking the 2,000-point mark over his career and averaging 27.8 points per game last season, according to the Journal Sentinel.

While Vukovich is a third baseman, Ladnier said he could wind up playing any corner position, infield or outfield.

“We see him as a third baseman, but he’s so athletic he could probably play anywhere,” Ladnier said.

“(He has) plus raw power, he performed exceptionally well during the summer. We obviously didn’t get very many opportunities to see him during the course of the season … but enough track record and history to where we felt like this was the guy that was certainly moving in the right direction.”

Now, the Diamondbacks move onto the undrafted portion, made more complex due to the vast amount of prospects who were not picked in this year’s five-round draft.

After a two-day dead period, teams will be allowed to contact players.

Ladnier compared this task to recruiting.

The Diamondbacks on Friday will put together separate plans for which pitchers and position players to target. With the potential of so many teams likely to rate similar players as high-quality prospects, Ladnier anticipates that many will turn Arizona down.

Ladnier does not have a firm number on how many players the team will sign. He said that depends on who is available and who wants to sign with Arizona.

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