Interesting interview. He sounds like a good (albeit hyper-religious) kid. Kinda bummed me out when he talked about not needing an agent; that is probably naive and usually guarantees that he left some money on the table. I suspect he will get 8th round money (2 rounds below slot) since he admitted in the interview that he told teams he would accept slot up to the 8th round. But his development path to this point (along with Houston’s track record in pitcher development) makes me think he probably has quite a bit of upside.
Big kid that already throws in the mid 90s. Supposedly has 4 pitches so I think there is definitely some upside. Our coaches generally can add some mph? He didn't walk a lot of batters in college so it looks like he has decent command.
Just because he's religious, doesn't mean he doesn't know what the 6th round slot money is. He just told them he'd sign for slot anywhere above the 8th round and might not below it. It simply made the draft more certain for the teams by taking some risk out of the picture. The question isn't whether an agent might get him more, it's whether it's worth the difference in a slot environment. If he was a football player, he'd be a great fit on the Texans.
