North Carolina has made CF Rod Mosley the #1 overall pick.
It was a tough choice; most of the best hitters were terrible defenders and the top pitchers seemed 'meh'.
In the end, Rod Mosley's resume seemed the best among several similarly rated hitters I was considering.
Mosley spent two seasons with the Steamrollers at Fort Wayne College, and in each season he was an All-American (aka All-Star) and he also won the ACOL NC Outstanding Hitter Award in each of his two college seasons.
His position ratings are very average, but scouts like his Range (
, Errors (10) and his Arm is slightly above average (6), so I think he can develop into a pretty good defensive outfielder.
He hit .312 with 75 home runs in 731 college at-bats. Pretty impressive HR ratio if you ask me. How well it will carry over to the next level remains to be seen.
For the record, it marks the second year in a row that the Aviators selected an ACOL Outstanding Hitter Award winner with the first round pick. Last season, we took 1B Kevin Howard, winner of the 2021 ACOL AC Outstanding Hitter Award, which means we now have both leagues' winners from 2021. Kevin skipped rookie league and A ball and began his pro career at AA Greensboro, where he hit .303 with 8 homers in 27 games before being promoted to AAA, where he smashed 33 homers while batting .276 in 107 games. He earned a September call-up to the Aviators, where he struggled to a .192 mark at the plate, but he hit 3 more HR in 78 at-bats to finish his first pro season with a combined 44 homers between AA, AAA and the majors.
