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The Boston Red Sox's first-round pick of University of North Carolina shortstop Jake Schaffner was a surprise to many -- including to Schaffner himself.
On Saturday, Schaffner became the 20th overall selection in this year's Major League Baseball Draft, hosted in Philadelphia.
He was ranked a lot lower on most experts' draft boards, which meant the Red Sox were reaching somewhat to take him for what we have to assume will be a below-slot signing bonus.
Schaffner's reaction to the pick should fire up Red Sox fans, even if it's too early to predict what his future in Boston will hold.
What Schaffner said about coming to Red Sox I was definitely super excited when that call came, Schaffner said, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic.
I keep using the word grateful, but I really have no other word to describe it.
Its just such an unbelievable experience.
That call, when I got that call, I was like, Holy cow! I remember my hand was shaking a little bit.
As if Schaffner didn't have enough to be excited about, the Red Sox quickly used their next pick at No.
67 overall to draft Owen Hull, Schaffner's roommate this past season at UNC and self-proclaimed best friend.
Have a day, Tar Heels.
That 67th pick, incidentally, was the last piece of the return the Red Sox got from the Milwaukee Brewers in the Kyle Harrison-Caleb Durbin-Anthony Seigler trade back in February.
The reasons Schaffner wasn't regarded as a first-round talent were that he doesn't have a history of hitting for power (six long balls this past season) and might not have the arm strength to be an above-average defensive shortstop in the majors.
But he makes a ton of contact, is a good athlete with stolen base potential, and judging by the early reactions from Red Sox scouting types, he's seemingly got great makeup.
Production is king, so Schaffner has plenty to prove to justify his selection at No.
20.
But it's easy to root for a hard worker, and the appeal to a high-contact bat is becoming more obvious as pitchers continue to throw harder every season.
Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living.
A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey.
He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic.
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