Deering High senior Trejyn Fletcher, center, is projected as a second- or third-round selection in Major League Baseball’s amateur draft, which begins Monday. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
Deering High senior Trejyn Fletcher may be faced with a difficult decision Monday or Tuesday. But no matter what, he can’t go wrong.
If Fletcher, an 18-year-old baseball prospect, is chosen high enough in the major league draft, he’ll likely be offered a life-changing signing bonus. His other option is playing at Vanderbilt, a perennial college baseball power currently ranked No. 2 in the nation.
“It’s going to be a positive experience no matter what,” said Deering Coach Josh Stowell.
“Now it’s just getting in shape for the next step, whether it’s professional baseball or probably Vandy,” Fletcher said last week shortly after his final high school game. “I’m strongly committed to them and that’s something I really want to do. Professional baseball is also something I really want to do. I guess I’m just going to take it as it comes.”
Fletcher, 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, is projected as an outfielder with good speed and a power bat. He also pitched in high school with a fastball that’s been clocked over 90 mph. His athletic talent and potential are enough that Baseball America projects him to be selected Monday night in the second round by the Colorado Rockies (62nd overall). Rounds 3-10 will be conducted Tuesday, with rounds 11-40 on Wednesday.
Another draft prospectus from MLB.com ranks him 87th, equivalent to a mid third-round selection.
Trejyn Fletcher batted .456 with three home runs this spring. He was 17-of-17 in steal attempts. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
“His tools stack up with a lot of the top players in the class. He has a very dynamic upside. He’s one of the most athletic kids in the class,” said Carlos Collazo, Baseball America’s lead writer for MLB draft content. “I also think most people expect him to be a pretty tough sign out of Vanderbilt. … If it’s not first- or second-round money I would expect him to go to college.”
Major League Baseball assigns “slot values” for each pick in the first 10 rounds. Clubs and players can negotiate for more or less than the slot value, but teams do have a limit on total signing bonuses without incurring penalties.
Slot values for the first round range from about $8 million for the overall first pick to over $2 million. Second-round slot values are roughly $1.8 million to $1 million. Third-round slots are approximately $900,000 down to $500,000.
The 62nd pick, Baseball America’s prediction of Fletcher’s landing spot, has a slot value of $1,102,700.
So what would it take to convince Fletcher he should skip going to Vanderbilt and start playing professionally this summer? While it’s likely he and his support team, which includes advisor Brett Knief of the Boras Corporation, have a hard number in mind, Fletcher stopped short of answering the question.
“I think how we’re addressing this is, Vandy has offered me this great value and if you can offer a value better than Vanderbilt, then maybe and we’ll see,” Fletcher said.
This season Fletcher batted .456 with three home runs, five doubles and a triple in 16 games. Batting leadoff, he turned 20 hits and 14 total walks into 24 runs and was 17 of 17 in steal attempts.
“He has plus raw power, plus arm strength, and he’s a very good runner,” Collazo said. “The biggest quesion is, ‘How good of a hitter is he really?’ Playing in the Northeast he just hasn’t played as many games as guys from the South.”
“He might be the best baseball player to ever come out of this area,” said Portland Coach Mike Rutherford. “I mean, Tre Fletcher is a man among boys out there.”
If Fletcher falls past the first two or three rounds, it’s likely he won’t be drafted at all. Clubs aren’t inclined to waste picks on players they can’t sign.
Last year the expected first-round pick, Kumar Rocker, made it clear the day before the draft he intended to enroll at Vanderbilt. Picked in the 38th round, he’s now in Vandy’s starting rotation.
“He posted a picture on Instagram even before the draft started (saying) pretty much, ‘I wouldn’t want to miss a step,’ ” Fletcher said. “And I have pretty much the same thought process right now. I really wouldn’t want to miss a step. I signed up for Vandy and I want to go to Vandy.”
Closer to home, Brendan Tinsman of Cape Elizabeth, now the starting catcher for Wake Forest, wasn’t drafted in 2018 despite being considered among the top 250 high school seniors.
“I set a really high number,” Tinsman said. “It was first-day money.”
When Fletcher transferred to Deering from a New York prep school in February and reclassified to the 2019 draft – he had been ranked as the No. 1 Class of 2020 prospect by rating service Perfect Game – it forced teams to scramble. Deering’s season opener drew 21 professional scouts.
“There have been several teams that have come around quite a lot, and with a lot of different guys in their scouting department coming around,” said Stowell, the Deering coach, noting the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers in particular.
“I think for him to go (pro), it’s going to have to be first or second round for sure. I think once we get out of that area, I don’t know that the money will be right for him to pass up Vanderbilt.”
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