Two Hogs taken on Day 1 of MLB Draft
HawgBeat's coverage of the Razorbacks' Road to Redemption in Omaha is brought to you by Arkansas Oral Surgery, which has offices located in Conway and Russellville.
It took more than five hours, but Arkansas finally had a pair of players taken on Day 1 of the 2019 MLB Draft with back-to-back picks in competitive balance round B.
Dominic Fletcher was the first off the board, going to the Diamondbacks with the 75th pick, and Isaiah Campbell was picked immediately after him by the Mariners and 76th overall.
The picks have slot values of $831,100 and $818,200, respectively, and are the highest drafted Arkansas players since Andrew Benintendi went seventh overall to the Red Sox in 2015.
A top-100 prospect coming out of Cypress, Calif., Fletcher was a Freshman All-American in 2017 and has been named to the SEC’s All-Defensive Team as a center fielder each of the last two seasons.
Known more for his highlight reel catches in the outfield, he has enjoyed his best year at the plate as a junior. Fletcher is hitting .312/.378/.526 with 23 doubles, 10 home runs and a team-high 56 RBIs heading into the super regionals. He hit .290/.346/.480 over his first two seasons.
As for Campbell, he took a bet on himself by returning to Arkansas for another year after slipping to the 24th round because of health and signability concerns as a redshirt sophomore last year.
A heralded 6-foot-4 right-hander out of Olathe, Kan., South, Campbell actually started six games as a true freshman in 2016. However, an elbow injury pretty much erased the following season and his redshirt sophomore year was plagued by inconsistency.
Despite a 5-7 record and 4.26 ERA, he was still considered the No. 109 draft prospect by MLB Pipeline last year because of his potential. Armed with a fastball that can touch 98 miles per hour on a steep downhill plane, Campbell struggled to land his off-speed pitches with regularity.
Instead of trying to put it together in the minor leagues, he decided to return to Arkansas for his redshirt junior season. It worked out for both sides, as Campbell climbed into the second competitive balance round and has anchored the starting rotation for the No. 5 national seed that just clinched a spot in the super regionals.
The selection comes just days after he limited TCU to one run on four hits and one walk while striking out eight. He actually outshine the Horned Frogs’ ace, Nick Lodolo, who went seventh overall to the Reds earlier in the draft.
That outing improved Campbell to 11-1 with a 2.27 ERA, 108 strikeouts and only 19 walks in 103 innings, while holding opponents to a .207 batting average this season. That helped him get drafted 11 spots higher than last year’s ace, Blaine Knight.
Incredibly, he is not the only inconsistent member of Arkansas’ 2018 pitching staff to be taken on Day 1 of the 2019 MLB Draft.
Jackson Rutledge, a hard-throwing 6-foot-8 right-hander, went 17th overall to the Nationals in the first round. He struggled with command in his lone season with the Razorbacks.
In his final appearance, Rutledge threw just 11 pitches and walked both of the batters he faced with three wild pitches. That raised his ERA to 3.45 in 15 2/3 innings, with five wild pitches and 11 walks.
Before the Razorbacks were done playing in the postseason, he announced his decision to transfer to San Jacinto C.C., a national powerhouse at the JUCO level. He put up monster numbers for the Gators, going 9-2 with a 0.87 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings.
