With their third pick of the 2017 MLB draft, selecting at #61 overall the Blue Jays chose catcher Hagen Danner out of Huntington Beach High School in California.

 

 

Danner has a slew of accolades to his name already including a Little League World Series championship and playing for the US 18-and-Under National team twice. Baseball America tells us that most scouts “prefer him on the mound,” but the Blue Jays seem to be leaning towards using Danner behind the plate. Throwing in the 90-93 mph range off the mound, there is no questioning Danner’s arm strength from behind the plate.

 

 

 

Danner was chosen as the Los Angeles Times’s Player of the Year, hitting .350 with 12 home runs and 40 RBI while also going 11-1 with a 1.22 ERA as a pitcher. MLB.com thinks that he “has a chance to [be] a special catcher,” priasing his hands and arm, projecting his power to be average while Baseball America thinks that he “lacks elite bat speed and shows a pull-heavy approach.”

 

Danner comes from Huntington Beach High School, the same school that produced current Jays’ minor leaguers Christian Lopes, Tim Lopes and Dom Abbadessa and he has a commitment to UCLA for college next year.

 

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