D-backs take Druw Jones with No. 2 pick of The Athletic’s mock draft

The Arizona Diamondbacks have a big decision to make sitting near the top of the upcoming 2022 MLB Draft.

With draft day set for Saturday, Keith Law of The Athletic has the Diamondbacks taking a former big leaguer’s son in outfielder Druw Jones out of Wesleyan High School with the second overall pick.

I think Arizona wants Jones, and if he’s not there, they’ll take Holliday rather than Green. I’d bet heavily on this being a high school pick, either way.

Jones is the son of Andruw Jones, and his game bears many resemblances to his father’s, not least in the outfield, where Druw is already a plus defender and could work his way up to an elite level with experience. At the plate, he shows 70 power thanks to the strength in his wrists and forearms, with more power possible as he fills out further. And he has shown some bat control against amateur competition, with some understanding of when to pull the ball and when to try to go the other way. He’s a plus runner right now but may lose some of that down the road as he gets bigger, as his father did by age 24-25. The real question on Druw is whether he’ll hit — if he does, he’s a superstar, with 30/30 potential and a glove that should save 10 or more runs a year in center. If he’s more of a 45 bat, he still has plenty of major-league value due to the secondary skills, so he could be worth several WAR per year even with a .300ish on-base percentage. He’d have to be a worse hitter than even that to be something less than a regular, and the unlikeliness of that outcome combined with his very high ceiling make him the top prospect in this year’s draft class.

Jones was named the 2022 Georgia High School State Player of the Year after he slashed .570./675/1.702.

He also hit 13 home runs last season.

The Vanderbilt commit led his high school to an undefeated 35-0 record, capped off by a Georgia Class A Private State Championship.

If the D-backs were to select Jones, he would join highly touted prospects Alek Thomas, Daulton Varsho and Corbin Carroll.