WSU baseball commit Parker McFadden not yet selected in MLB draft

The first 10 rounds of the MLB draft are in the books and, despite Sam Treice getting taken in the 10th round by Tampa Bay, some of the best news for WSU may have been about someone who wasn't selected.

Washington State commit Parker McFadden, who was number 155 on SBNation's Minor League Ball's list of draft prospects and number 81 on Baseball America's list, is still available. McFadden is a right-handed pitcher out of Yelm high school who signed with the Cougs last November.

Because of the way the college baseball/MLB draft systems work, this may greatly boost the chances the McFadden ends up in Pullman. Unlike other sports, if a player commits to a college, they are still free to be drafted by a pro team. That player then has the choice to sign the contract, or uphold their commitment. The higher a player is drafted, the more of a signing bonus they usually get. If that player thinks they can get better draft positioning in 3 years, they may decide to go to college and improve.

Scouts say that McFadden has an arm that isn't seen very often in the Northwest. He's strong and throws very fast. Last season his fast ball topped out at 97 miles per hour, though it usually settles in the 95-96 range. One scout told the Olympian that McFadden has "Something you don't see in a high school kid... he's one of those kids that doesn't come around that often." You can watch an official MLB.com scouting video here.

One of the reasons for the fall in draft stock may be due to a recent hamstring injury that kept the 2015 Narrows League MVP out of the district playoffs. However, while he's not at 100% yet, he did take part in pre-draft workouts and wasn't affected by the injury.

We'll almost certainly see McFadden get picked on Wednesday, as teams make their 11th-40th round selections.

If McFadden does remain unsigned and winds up in Pullman, new head coach Marty Lees will be getting an important building block on his journey to building up the Cougar program.

Mike Leach

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