MLB Draft 2021: Former Fremont pitcher Kyler Bush, Layton pitcher Cam Day should be drafted, maybe very early
In this Feb. 20, 2021, photo, former Fremont High pitcher throws in a college baseball game for Saint Mary’s College against Utah Valley.
Layton High's Cam Day throws a pitch to catcher Boston Holyoak during a high school baseball game against Northridge on Monday, May 3, 2021, at Northridge High School in Layton.
Things are quite different for this year’s MLB Draft than last year, and even years prior.
It’s connected to the All-Star Game festivities in Denver, the draft is 20 rounds instead of five last year and 40 in previous years, and two former area high school pitchers might hear their names called in what could be a landmark day for Northern Utah baseball.
All indications from conversations with scouts, mock drafts and sources familiar with the process point to pitchers Kyler Bush and Cam Day getting their names called at the draft this year.
And not just getting called, but perhaps getting called early.
Bush, a Fremont High graduate in 2018, wrapped up his junior season at Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference, posting a 2.99 ERA in 78 1/3 innings with 112 strikeouts against 19 walks issued.
The Gaels finished the season 25-26 and Bush was named First Team All-WCC as he led the conference in strikeouts. Bush has been popping up on prospect ranking leaderboards all throughout the spring and his name is high up on some mock drafts in the closing days before the draft.
Day, a 2021 Layton High graduate, pitched 71 1/3 innings and struck out 126 batters against eight walks with a minuscule 0.49 ERA this season for the Lancers. He’s signed with the University of Utah, but indications from Day’s busy summer schedule have given credence to a chance of the prep right-hander getting picked, possibly early.
“With the amount of stuff I’ve heard and seen and how I’ve played, it’s been absolutely unreal because I actually have a really good shot at getting drafted for a lot of money,” Day said in an interview earlier this summer.
Day was one of 88 draft prospects invited to last month’s inaugural MLB Draft Combine in North Carolina, where he pitched in front of dozens of pro scouts
He also pitched at a pre-draft showcase in Southern California where he did well, and the Kansas City Royals flew him out to Kauffman Stadium for a pre-draft workout in front of the team’s entire front office earlier in July.
Three years ago, Bush was drafted out of high school in the 40th round by Kansas City and chose to play at Washington State his freshman year of college.
After WSU fired its coach, Bush transferred to Central Arizona College where that season was cut short due to COVID-19. Then, he found success with the Gaels this season.
Bush is being called a late riser in terms of his draft stock. He’s always been a big left-hander — he’s listed at 6-foot-6, 240 pounds now — who throws hard, and that’s what scouts who watched him at Fremont really liked. But he really made a name for himself at Saint Mary’s this season.
According to MLB Pipeline, Bush’s fastball now sits 90-96 mph, his slider is best secondary pitch and he’s the No. 67 prospect in the draft. One mock draft from MLB.com even has Bush going in the first round at pick No. 28 to Tampa Bay.
The assigned slot value, or possible signing bonus, for that pick in the first round is $2,493,900. Typically, teams sign their first-round picks for lower than the slot value — Milwaukee signed its No. 28 pick in 2019, college pitcher Ethan Small from Mississippi State, for $1.8 million — so they can use more of their signing bonus pool later in the draft.
Another mock draft from FanGraphs lists Bush as a possible pick to Tampa at No. 28, while another mock draft puts him in the competitive balance first round.
For context, Utah has had four first-round picks in the draft, according to Baseball Reference. Those are Bruce Hurst (1976, Dixie High, Boston Red Sox), Cory Snyder (1984, BYU, Cleveland Indians), Mark Pawelek (2005, Springville High, Chicago Cubs) and CJ Cron (2011, University of Utah, Los Angeles Angels).
For more context, there have been few MLB Draft picks from Weber and Davis counties who have gone in the first 10 rounds.
The highest draft picks from Weber County are understood to include Bob Kaiser (Weber High, third round, 1968, Cleveland), Kyle Boyer (Bonneville High, Dixie State, fourth round, 2002, St. Louis) and John Bush (Ogden High, fourth round, 1977, Los Angeles Dodgers).
Where Kyler Bush’s name is showing up high in prospect ranking leaderboards and pretty much every mock draft, Day is a little harder to pinpoint. His pitching metrics — 90-94 mph fastball, mid-80s changeup — are similar to other right-handed pitchers who threw with him at the MLB Draft Combine.
Baseball America has Day as the No. 3 prospect in the state of Utah. MLB Pipeline doesn’t have him listed in its top 250, but PerfectGame lists Day as the No. 251 prospect in this year’s draft class.
The 251st pick would theoretically put him late in the eighth round with an assigned signing bonus slot value of $163,400 — teams can and normally do spend more than the assigned value in these spots — should he get picked there.
For that amount of money, the decision is a little more difficult to make since it’s weighed against three years of college at Utah, where he’d be on scholarship.
Utah’s longtime coach Bill Kinneberg retired earlier this year only to be replaced by pitching coach Gary Henderson, who was one of the big reasons Day picked Utah for college ball in the first place.
UTAH DRAFT NOTES
It’s a pitcher-heavy year for the MLB Draft in the state of Utah. MLB Pipeline lists the best draft prospect from Utah as Janzen Keisel, a 6-foot-3 right-handed pitcher from Gunnison Valley High who’s ranked the No. 242 prospect in this year’s draft.
Keisel has a big fastball with a funky delivery and is committed to BYU should a team not want to pick him. Baseball America also lists two other pitchers from Utah as draft prospects: BYU right-hander Jack Sterner and recent Stansbury High graduate Colton Sundloff.
Sterner started 14 games for the Cougars and pitched 56 2/3 innings with a 3.81 ERA and 50 strikeouts. Sundloff, who stands at 6-5, was committed to Cal State Fullerton until last month after longtime coach Rich Vanderhook retired.
MLB DRAFT SCHEDULE
Sunday, July 11: First round, 5 p.m. on ESPN/MLB Network
Monday, July 12: Rounds 2-10, 11 a.m. streaming at MLB.com
Tuesday, July 13: Rounds 11-20, 10 a.m. streaming at MLB.com