Mike Nikorak is a high school pitcher who plays sat Stroudsburg HS in Stroudsburg Pennsylvania. He’s listed at 6’5” and weighs roughly 224 pounds. In their recent draft postings for top prospects Baseball America has Nikorak at #9, MLB has him at #6, Kiley McDaniels has him at #10 and Keith Law has him at #12.
Stuff:
Fastball: Nikorak came out of nowhere to hit 97 last year on the showcase circuit and while the velo was down a bit to start the spring he’s been up to 98 this spring. Most of the time Nikorak is sitting 92-96 mph with that which is plenty good enough to dominate hitters with.
Curveball: The curve is Nikorak’s primary secondary pitch right now and most have it showing flashes of being a plus pitch.
Changeup: The changeup lags behind the other two pitches just because you don’t need to throw it in high school. Now he did throw it last year on the showcase circuit and struck out a guy with it at the Under Armor game in Wrigley. It was high but showed decent velocity and fade.
Now you are probably thinking that the Yankees have no shot to get this kid as he is very highly rated with his lowest ranking being #10 prospect in this draft. The command has backed up a bit over the last month and that is when the big hitters (Scouting directors, national crosscheckers) will come in to see a kid. Because of that most teams seem to be shying away right now. Of course that is still a bit of time away from the draft so things can change. Most teams will being multiple kids in for private workouts so he could sharpen up the command in one of those outings and a team before the Yankees could take him.
My take:
If he is available I would take him with the 16th overall pick. You don’t get chances to take kids with this type of potential very often. The command falling apart is an issue but most thought his command was very good before this last stretch with MLB grading it out to 55 future grade on it. The other very important aspect is Nikorak is from a cold weather state which means he doesn’t have the same wear and tear on his arm that other high school prospects have. That means more bullets for the team that drafts him. To me this all goes into my belief that if he is available the Yankees should grab him at 16.
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