As MLB draft continues, the Royals select high school pitcher Ben Hernandez at No. 41
The Kansas City Royals selected high school pitcher Ben Hernandez with the 41st overall pick of the 2020 MLB draft Thursday afternoon.
Hernandez, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-hander, played at Chicago’s De La Salle Institute. His fastball reaches 94-95 mph, and it’s coupled with a very good changeup in the low 80s with fade. His changeup graded a 65 on the 20-to-80 scale, according to MLB.com.
Hernandez, who turns 19 on July 1, was ranked as the 72nd-best prospect in the country by MLB.com and was slotted as the 86th-best prospect by Baseball America.
He impressed with his performance against some of the nation’s top amateur players at the Prospect Development Pipeline, a joint venture between MLB and USA Baseball.
“For a high school kid, he’s extremely polished,” Royals assistant scouting director Danny Ontiveros said. “Touch and feel guy. He’s got some power to his fastball. The changeup is plus now. The breaking ball is there. There’s still upside to his body.
“We were ecstatic to get him. The relationship our scout Scott Melvin had with him made that even easier.”
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 4:41 PM.
