The Fast Track: Miami's Walters can leap from the MLB Draft into the MLB Playoffs
July 7, 2023
For good reasons, advanced college prospects – especially the advanced pitchers among them – have always been some of the quickest moving players through the minor leagues and into the MLB over the last decade.
You’re seeing it almost every year, and especially recently. In 2020, we saw Tennessee flamethrower LHP Garrett Crochet (Ocean Springs HS, MS, 2017; Tennessee, 2020) go from the the first round and slot directly into the White Sox's bullpen without throwing a single pitch at the minor league level, though granted, this was due in-part to the strategies navigating COVID protocols. Regardless, big stuff plays, and Crochet had been considered a pitcher capable of injecting life into a big league bullpen right away, and so he did.
How about since 2021? There’s already been 11(!) players from the first six rounds of the '21 Draft who have debuted and made quality impact at the Major League level. Even looking at just last year, the Los Angeles Angels have called up three of their first five picks to the majors in less than a year since being selected. Whether it’s big stuff, battle-tested results, or even out of the occasional necessity, it’s becoming evident that the traditional path through the minors can become an express lane in an instant.
Enter RHP Andrew Walters (Bayside HS, FL, 2019; Miami), one of the few players, I believe, can have an MLB impact as soon as this fall.