Those around Maryland baseball know right-hander Mike Shawaryn as “The Unicorn,” but Perfect Game baseball draft analyst Jheremy Brown sees similarities between Shawaryn and a different animal.
Brown relates Shawaryn’s strength and durability to that of a bull and said both characteristics make the 6-foot-3, 211-pound pitcher a promising draft prospect in the 2016 MLB Draft, which starts Thursday and continues through Saturday.
Brown and Perfect Game baseball draft analyst Brian Sakowski project Shawaryn, the Terps’ ace the past three seasons, to be drafted between the second and fourth rounds. The pair also projects outfielder Anthony Papio to be drafted in the later rounds.
“He’s a big kid,” Sakowski said about Shawaryn. “You look for that kind of thing. You got to have a lot of strength, and you got to have a lot of durability in your body to hold up as a starting pitcher at the major league level. Shawaryn fits that mold of a guy that can stand up to those type of innings.”
Entering this season, multiple publications tabbed Shawaryn as a first-round selection after holding a 1.71 ERA and striking out 138 batters in 2015. Shawaryn was selected to pitch for the collegiate Team USA last summer, where Brown said he recorded Shawaryn’s fastball at 97 mph.
But Shawaryn’s draft stock fell after his ERA increased to 3.18 this season. The junior rebounded in his final two starts, throwing two straight complete games while combining to strike out a combined 22 hitters.
Sakowski described Shawaryn as a “safe pick.” He believes Shawaryn’s ceiling is a No. 3 starter in the majors while his floor is an average reliever.
“He’s always been a winner since he was at Gloucester Catholic,” Brown said. “That’s something scouts know about him, that he can win. Maybe it was a slow start from pitching so much last year or something, but he figured it out like you want to see a starting pitcher do down the stretch.”
Still, Shawaryn’s latest campaign left doubt with MLB scouts.
Sakowski said a lot of scouts believe Shawaryn’s arm slot dropped in 2016, making some believe he would be better fit as a reliever.
Pitchers who throw at a lower arm slot, scouts said, are less likely to hold up for more than 200 innings in a season.
While some scouts said this is a minor fix, others suspect the Carneys Point, New Jersey, native might have been hindered by an unannounced injury. Maryland coach John Szefc denied in April that Shawaryn’s arm slot changed.
If Shawaryn is viewed by most teams as a reliever, Sakowski predicts the hurler will be selected in the third or fourth rounds. Szefc said it would take time for Shawaryn to get comfortable coming out of the bullpen, but the fourth-year coach remains confident his pitcher will be able to thrive in any role.
“If they think that he dropped the arm slot a little bit … or if it’s something simple like that, that doesn’t necessarily impact their evaluation of him,” Sakowski said. “But if they think the velocity is down because he’s got an arm thing going on, if they think his delivery isn’t going to hold up and that’s causing him to be down this year, then that’s a different type of story. All it takes is one team to love him.”
Scouts who watched Shawaryn pitch at Cal State Fullerton on March 18 said his lower arm slot damaged the command and sharpness of his pitches. Even so, Sakowski said most scouts believe Shawaryn will be able to throw all three of his pitches for strikes in the major leagues.
Papio, meanwhile, is an attractive selection due to his athleticism. Sakowski said the Onley native will probably be picked on the third day of the draft.
Shawaryn, though, is the Terps’ top prospect. While Szefc said the Terps’ ace is one of the best pitchers in Maryland history, Shawaryn will look to prove he can be a productive starter at the next level.
“Good pitching gets guys out regardless of what role they’re in,” Szefc said. “He’s a very mentally tough guy and he has a lot of physical ability. When you combine all those things, that’s what kind of drives him into the pro
prospect category.”
