MLB’s recent draft includes players of color
Fred Jeter | 7/21/2022, 6 p.m.
The complexion of Major League Baseball may be changing.
Four of the first five picks in Sunday’s annual college/high school draft in Los Angeles were African-Americans.
• Outfielder Druw Jones, second overall pick by Arizona;
• Pitcher Kumar Rocker, third pick by Texas;
• Infielder Temarr Johnson, fourth pick by Pittsburgh;
• Outfielder Elijah Green, fifth pick by Washington.
Only about 10 percent of all big-leaguers are African-American, although there are many more players of color from the Caribbean and South America.
From the Atlanta suburbs, Jones is the 6-foot-4, 180-pound son of former major-league star Andruw Jones.
Rocker, a former Vanderbilt standout, is the son of former NFL lineman Tracy Rocker. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was drafted last year by the New York Mets but didn’t sign.
Johnson is a 5-foot-8 left-handed hitting middle infielder from Mays High School near Atlanta.
Green is a power-laden athlete from the IMG Academy in Florida. He is son of former NFL All-Pro tight end Eric Green.
The baseball draft differs from the NFL and NBA draft in that it includes both high school and college players.
It does not include the many talented players from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Venezuela who became free agents as teenagers.
There is an effort underway for a special international draft to select the young Caribbean players in a more organized manner.
