Local stars Keegan, Keane make their case at MLB Draft Combine

Jun. 26—This isn't Dom Keegan or Sebastian Keane's first rodeo.

Both Merrimack Valley baseball standouts have been drafted before. Keane was previously picked in the 11th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of North Andover High by the hometown Boston Red Sox, but opted against signing so he could play collegiately at Northeastern. Methuen's Keegan wasn't drafted out of Central Catholic but was chosen in the 21st round last year by the New York Yankees before he decided to return to Vanderbilt University for a fourth college season.

They learned a lot from those experiences, but this time it's for real. Whichever club calls their name in next month's 2022 MLB Draft will very likely become their new professional home.

Those were the stakes last week when the two traveled out to San Diego for the biggest job interview of their lives.

Keegan and Keane were among the roughly 300 players who took part in this month's 2022 MLB Draft Combine, which was held at San Diego's Petco Park and brought together the top high school and draft-eligible college players in the country. Much like the NFL Combine, baseball's talent showcase is designed to give players an opportunity to raise their stock and clubs a chance to gather more information as they work to identify who might become their building blocks of the future.

"It was definitely a cool experience to go see some of those guys and to see the competition," said Keane, a right-handed pitcher. "It's definitely in a cool spot, it's right in San Diego, they put us in a sweet hotel and we were walking distance from Petco Park. I've never been there before so that was beautiful and obviously the whole week was a blast."

All participants must receive an invitation from MLB, and in addition to the workouts players also have a chance to interview with various clubs who might be interested in their services. Participants also got to work with a number of former MLB stars, including outfielder Adam Jones, pitcher Jake Peavy, closer Trevor Hoffman and others.

Unlike the NFL Combine, which has existed for decades and features workouts familiar to most fans, the MLB Combine was only created last year and features a much wider variety of activities. Position players can take batting practice, do fielding drills and participate in a number of activities designed to showcase their physical abilities, while pitchers typically throw bullpen sessions and take part in exercises designed to showcase their strength and flexibility.

"I was actually the first kid to throw in the combine," Keane said. "I hadn't realized I was the first one so I didn't have a lot of time to warm up but it was a solid pen."

While Keane planned on attending all along, Keegan initially declined his invite but wound up changing his mind at the last minute.

"I felt like I was a senior and there really wasn't much for me to showcase out there, but after we lost in the regional I thought why not?" said Keegan, who successfully transitioned from first base to catcher this spring. "Just go out and have that experience and be with the best of the best and have those conversations with the teams out there."

That wound up being a good call, as Keegan stole the show and emerged as one of the combine's top overall performers. He was a perfect 9 for 9 on hard-hit balls during his batting practice session and finished first in average exit velocity (106 mph), and his hardest hit ball (108.8 mph) ranked sixth overall for the entire combine.

"He hammered balls with less exertion than most of the hitters, letting his prodigious strength do most of the work for him," wrote MLB.com's Jim Callis.

Between that showing and his impressive season at Vanderbilt, Keegan has flown up the draft boards and put himself in position to be an early-round pick. He currently ranks as the No. 95 prospect on MLB Pipeline's Top 200 prospects list, which would potentially put him in range to be third or fourth round selection.

Keane is currently ranked No. 490 on Baseball America's Top 500 draft prospects list, which would make him a likely second or third day selection. His stock has fluctuated over the past year due in part to what he acknowledged was a disappointing 2022 season, but both players said they aren't sure how the draft will ultimately go and are hoping for the best.

Now with the combine behind them, the two said they plan to stay home and work out locally over the final weeks leading up to the draft, which will be held July 17-19 in Los Angeles.

And once they hear their names called, it'll be off to the races from there.

Unvaccinated player issue isn't small matter

I get it. By now a lot of you are sick of hearing about players' vaccination statuses. I'm sick of writing about it too, it's an uncomfortable conversation to have with players and no subject more reliably fills my inbox with angry messages.

But for those who reflexively say "it's no big deal," as many who reach out often do, that just isn't true.

With the New York Yankees running away with the AL East, the path to the playoffs for the rest of the division's contenders will have to run through the Wild Card. That means there is a real possibility the Red Sox could have to play their first-round playoff series in Toronto, where any unvaccinated player would be ineligible to compete under current Canadian law.

It's more than a possibility, actually. As of this writing FanGraphs lists the Blue Jays and the Red Sox as the two favorites in the Wild Card race, and under MLB's new expanded playoff format, the top Wild Card finisher will host the runner-up in a best-of-three series. That means a playoff series in Toronto isn't just some hypothetical concern, right now it's actually Boston's most likely playoff scenario.

At full strength the Red Sox have five big leaguers who are known to be unvaccinated and unable to play in Toronto. Closer Tanner Houck and outfielder Jarren Duran won't be eligible to make this week's trip, and down the road Boston could also have to contend with being without pitchers Chris Sale, Josh Taylor and Kutter Crawford.

Duran and Crawford wouldn't be locks to make the playoff roster anyway, and the Red Sox have gotten by without Taylor in the bullpen with lefties Matt Strahm, Jake Diekman and Austin Davis on board. But Houck has become an indispensable late-inning weapon for a club that made an art form of blowing close games early on, and the reports on Sale have been very encouraging since he got back on the mound.

Sale and Houck's availability could easily swing a playoff series against Toronto one way or the other, and considering that Boston also plays in Toronto the second-to-last series of the regular season, they could play an outsized role in where the teams ultimately finish in the Wild Card standings and whether a playoff series is held in Canada in the first place.

You can feel however you want about vaccination and Canada's COVID-19 policies, but not having your ace and closer available for the first round of the playoffs? That's a big deal. Time will tell if the worst case scenario ultimately unfolds, but the Red Sox unvaccinated player situation is a ticking time bomb that threatens to blow up what is proving to be a promising season.

Whitlock not ready yetDespite optimism that Garrett Whitlock (hip soreness) might be ready to start Monday's series opener in Toronto, Alex Cora made it clear that won't be happening as Whitlock's recovery hasn't progressed as quickly as originally hoped.

"He wasn't feeling good. Not moving well," Cora told reporters, including The Boston Globe's Peter Abraham, prior to Friday's game in Cleveland. "It's not that he took steps back, but he didn't recover the way we wanted him to. We just have to be patient."

Whitlock last pitched in a big league game on June 7 and with him unavailable, Houck expected to go on the restricted list and Crawford ineligible to pitch in Toronto, Boston's options for Monday are limited. One option is to call up Triple-A starter Connor Seabold, who is 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA in 11 starts with the Worcester Red Sox this season. Seabold started Friday but was pulled after one inning and 21 pitches, meaning he'd be in position to start Monday if needed, and he or another call-up could also contribute in a bullpen game if the Red Sox decided to go that direction instead.

Seabold has made an emergency spot start for the Red Sox once before, making his big league debut last September during the team's COVID-19 outbreak.

Sale on schedule

Chris Sale (rib) made his second rehab start in Fort Myers on Saturday morning, pitching 2.2 scoreless innings in a Florida Complex League game while allowing three hits, no walks and a hit by pitch against six strikeouts. His fastball reportedly hit 96 mph on the radar gun.

Barring any unforeseen issues, Sale should be ready to progress in his rehab and make his next start at either Double-A Portland or Triple-A Worcester later this week. Portland is scheduled to host the New Hampshire Fisher Cats while Worcester is scheduled to spend the upcoming week in Rochester, N.Y.

The club's goal is for Sale to ultimately work his way up to five innings before returning to the MLB club. He is currently expected to make his season debut in mid-July around the All-Star Break.

Binelas called up to PortlandAlex Binelas, one of the prospects acquired in the Hunter Renfroe trade last fall, has been promoted to Double-A Portland.

Binelas, originally a third-round pick out of Louisville by the Milwaukee Brewers in last year's MLB Draft, earned the call-up after smashing 14 home runs with 42 RBI over 58 games with the High-A Greenville Drive. Over his last five games in Greenville prior to the call-up he'd hit .364 with two home runs and three doubles, and overall his OPS of .851 ranked among the best in the Red Sox system.

Binelas becomes the latest intriguing bat to reach Portland. A few weeks back outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela was promoted and has continued to rake at the higher level. Through his first 16 games with the Sea Dogs Rafaela hit .286 with an eye-popping .980 OPS, fueled in large part by his five home runs, five doubles and two triples.

Email: mcerullo@northofboston.com. Twitter: @MacCerullo.