...Derek Fisher, outfielder from the University of Virginia.
Fisher had surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his hand back in March.
Baseball America rates Fisher the nation's 31st-best prospect heading into the draft, behind only U. Va. closer/infielder Nick Howard among players in the Commonwealth. Taking less than five weeks to bounce back from the broken bone in his wrist has helped affirm Fisher's likely high draft status.
In 2014 Fisher hit .288/.349/.417 for the Cavaliers with 20K:11BB in 139 ABs.
Minor League Ball wrote:
Fisher is a bit of a tweener. Not the immediate profile of an impact prospect. He's not an impact guy but he could be an excellent MLB player. His floor is much higher than almost anyone else in the draft but defensively he may be limited to LF. He has the speed to handle center field at this point but lacks the instincts and the route running to make that work. His arm is usable but not the level of a good right fielder. Aggressive runners would test him and win in the majors often enough to be frustrating. I doubt he will stick there at higher levels of pro ball....There are a lot of questions with him, but in a draft that is weak on college hitters, he is one of the best and could easily go in the first half of the first round.
Two mock drafts had Fisher going to the Red Sox at 1-26, and Baseball America said:
He'll need the reps that pro ball can deliver to improve his raw route-running and defensive consistency, as he's a below-average defender presently with a below-average arm. Scouts give Fisher 70 raw power; he sticks to the gaps and staying inside the ball in games, as was the case in the Cape Cod League, where he hit .333 but with just six extra-base hits (all doubles) last summer.
Prospect Insider wrote:
Offensively, Fisher shows impact bat speed and hand quickness with a simple, almost passive bent ankle stride. In batting practice Fisher shows solid-average power, though he’ll collapse his back side to get to it. In games, his swing plane is much more contact/groundball oriented and level. Fisher showed some issues with recognition of secondary stuff on Friday but tracked well the rest of the weekend. There are mechanical adjustments to be made here — lengthen the stride, emphasize torque, cut out the soft front ankle roll that occurs during contact, maybe alter the bat path to squeeze more power out of him — which makes projecting Fisher’s offensive potential rather difficult. He appears to have the athleticism to make adjustments like this and be an average hitter with solid-average power.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
