K.J. Harrison | C

Background
Harrison attends Punahou High School in Honolulu, and his father Kenny played briefly in the minors after being an All-American at Hawaii. He is one of the youngest high school players in the draft class (won’t turn 18 until August) and is committed to Oregon State.

Scouting Report
At 5-foot-11 and 190 lbs., Harrison stands out for his strong and accurate arm behind the plate. He has good footwork and is a very good receiver for a high school backstop, showing no trouble catching premium velocity during showcase events. Harrison shows power in batting practice and gets his bat through the zone quickly, but he needs to improve his approach to fully tap into his offensive potential. Like most catchers, he can’t run all that well. Harrison is also said to be a very intense competitor.

Miscellany
In their latest rankings, Baseball America and MLB.com ranked Harrison as the 138th and 172nd best prospect in the draft class, respectively. He did not make Keith Law’s (subs. req’d) most recent top 100 draft prospects list. Last week, however, Law said the Yankees were targeting high school catchers and mentioned Harrison by name. That makes sense, they love hoarding catchers. The team’s first pick is in the second round (55th overall), but Harrison is a better fit for their third (91st overall), fourth (122nd), fifth (152nd), or possibly even sixth (182nd) round pick. Catchers almost always get drafted higher than expected because of position scarcity though.