clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Blue Jays select OF D.J. Daniels in the 6th round of the 2016 MLB draft

In the 6th round of the 2016 Draft, selected David (D.J.) Daniels 192nd overall, a 6'3", 210 pound outfielder from David Fike High School in North Carolina. This pick is more typical of the Blue Jay playbook in recent years, as he's an athletic off-the-board high school pick having not appeared on either Perfect Game's or Baseball America's top 500 lists, or even appearing on Baseball America's North Carolina state list which went 58 deep (25 in the top 500).

He's committed to James Madison University to play both baseball and football (on a football scholarship) so it's a little curious to see him picked this high. That said, he doesn't appear to be a truly elite football recruit, with 2-3 star rankings. Presumably the Blue Jays know he's signable, theoretically it could be a deal where he can still play college football for a couple years and baseball on the side. This worked out with Anthony Alford, though the similarities really end there as Alford would have have in the first round mix in 2012 if he had been willing to focus on baseball and was an extremely sought after football player.

So Daniels is likely a development project, a more raw athlete with some plus tools that can hopefully converted into baseball skills. He attended a major Perfect Game event last year, the WWBA (woodbat) National Championship, and was named to the all-tournament team (as were 1,078 others of 8,000+ attendees), hitting .375/.400/.500 in 20 plate appearances. He was also an honourable mention for the Rawlings pre-season Atlantic Region All-American team, which frankly is also a very long list so there's little to infer from it. It's a little surprising to see a "dual threat" QB described as just an average runner.

Here is an interview from last season with Impact Baseball.