Name: Tyler Kolek
Age and School: 18, Shepherd High School, Texas
Height: 6'5''
Weight: 240 lbs.
Position: Pitcher
Sentence Summary: The hardest throwing arm in the draft, Tyler Kolek is a hard-to-miss talent who should go in the top five of the 2014 MLB Draft.
Tyler Kolek is an electrifying right-handed pitcher from Texas. What stands out first about Kolek is his fastball, which has been clocked in triple digits on multiple occasions. Kolek also throws a slider and a curve, both of which have room for improvement but are already good pitches. Kolek's changeup is what you'd expect from a high schooler who throws in the upper 90's, which is to say not very good. However, once he starts throwing it more often, I expect that it will catch up to speed. Kolek's pitches show just how high of a ceiling he could have and why teams are considering drafting him so early.
Reasons why the Marlins would consider Kolek:
- The last time they took a high school flame-throwing right-handed pitcher in the first round went pretty well (Jose Fernandez).
- If he's still on the board at third, most teams would consider taking Kolek to be the easy or right choice.
- The Marlins have recently taken a lot of quick rising pitchers with their high draft picks. Kolek would be a long-term project whom they wouldn't have to rush because of the plethora of arms in front of him.
- Kolek is one of the hardest throwing high school pitchers ever and to pass up on a talent like that could potentially come back to bite the Marlins.