With the first pick in the 5th Round of the 2014 MLB Draft (136th overall) the Astros select Jacob Nix out of Los Alamitos High School in California.
Nix was on the same U18 World Cup Winning team as Brady Aiken. Baseball America wrote that the 6'4" 205lb RHP has a 90-93mph fastball that can hit 94mph.
One of his coaches told the Press-Telegram that "Any accolades he receives at the end of the year will be well-deserved. He's a very hard working young man. Talent is a very relative concept, but I tell you what...his work ethic and maturity in handling this has been very good and we are proud of him."
Future Fenway Stars did an interview with Nix this past February.
Nix has committed to UCLA.
MLB.com's scouting report says:
After a summer where Nix and his power arm were in top form, the big high school right-hander looked like a sure-fire top 100 type talent heading into the spring. A rough season has put a down arrow next to his name, but he still has the raw tools many scouts like to see. The UCLA commit can light up the radar gun, touching as high as 96 mph, but the rest of his pitching game remains a work in progress. He shows some feel for a changeup, though he doesn't need it all that much. His breaking ball is inconsistent and tends to be slurvy. Big and physical, there is projection to all of his stuff, with the chance of him having three Major League-average or better pitches when all is said and done. It may take him a while to get there and it might be a team that had a decision-maker who saw him over the summer that selects him in the earlier rounds of the Draft.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
