Texas Baseball: 3 Longhorns to watch in 2020 MLB Draft

2. Austin Todd, Right Field

Potentially the only positional player that could be selected from the Longhorns in the 2020 MLB Draft, or the highest picked in the five rounds, could be rising senior right fielder Austin Todd. This 6-foot-1 and 190 pound Round Rock, TX, native was on pace to have a very good junior season through his first 17 games.

Todd registered a .375 batting average, .930 OPS, one home run, 15 runs batted in, five walks, two stolen bases, and 14 runs during his junior campaign. He was on pace for career-highs in most of those stat categories, most notably average and OPS. In each of the last two seasons, Todd dramatically improve his base running, timely hitting, and swing selection. For the first time in his college career, Todd registered more walks than strikeouts during the 2019 season.

The 2020 season also showed that Todd was continuing to be one of the most reliable outfielders defensively in the Big 12. He registered just one error, and a fielding percentage of .955. He never had a single season with a fielding percentage below .950.

There will be an important upcoming draft decision for the likes of Todd and Ellis. Those two are a couple of the most crucial pieces to the Longhorns success and potential roster construction for the looming 2021 season.

Last year, Todd had a good chance of getting selected in the later rounds of the draft. But he wound up returning to Austin for at least one more year without an MLB team ready to sign him. That could change this season.

If nothing else, Todd should be one of the players in consideration to be an undrafted free agent (they can receive up to $20K this year).