Nick
Loftin

2020 DRAFT: A plus athlete and blue collar ballplayer, Loftin is an aggressive, instinctive defender who reads the ball well off the bat. He has a quick first step in all directions with sure hands. Shows above average arm strength with a quick release and plus accuracy. Not flashy defensively, he's very reliable and makes all the plays. An above-average runner underway, Loftin runs in the 4.2-4.3 range down the line. At the plate the right-handed hitter shows a quiet setup with a good load and sound swing mechanics. He sees the ball well, especially breaking balls, and rarely chases anything out of the zone. His barrel-to-ball skills are outstanding. During BP he uses all fields, hits through the baseball with a gap-to-gap approach, showing average bat speed and average raw power. His average batted ball exit velo in 2020 was 88.7 mph with a high of 106.8. He's been a consistent hitter for three years at Baylor, and his .883 OPS in the shortened 2020 season was the best of his career to date. He's the top college shortstop in this year's draft and a likely first-round pick.

7/12/19: Another blue collar ballplayer, Loftin is an aggressive, instinctive defender who reads the ball well off the bat. He has a quick first step in all directions with sure hands. Showed above average arm strength with a quick release and plus accuracy. Not flashy defensively, he was very reliable and made all the plays. At the plate the right-handed hitter showed a quiet setup with a good load and sound swing mechanics. He saw the ball well, especially breaking balls, and didn’t chase anything out of the zone. During BP he used all fields, hit through the baseball with a gap-to-gap approach, showing near average bat speed and fringe average raw power. During game action, he tended to stay on his backside a little too much and spin off the ball, hitting some cue shots to the right side. Yet overall, Loftin consistently put the bat on the ball with just one strikeout against five walks in 14 plate appearances during the Trials. He will need to continue to gain strength to drive the ball more often. An above average runner underway, Loftin ran a 4.32 down the line on a groundout to second base. With another solid season for the Bears, he will likely receive Day One consideration in 2020 as we noted last spring during Week Three at the Shriners College Classic. (Seifert)

3/3/19: Nick Loftin (Baylor) showed well all weekend. A fluid, instinctual defender at shortstop, he displayed first-step quickness to either side, and made all the plays in front of him with soft hands, a quick exchange and above-average arm strength across the diamond. At the plate, he showed feel for the barrel with a compact line-drive stroke that is direct to the ball, using the entire field in the process. If he continues to display a diverse skillset the rest of the spring and into the summer, it's easy to envision Loftin creeping into Day One consideration in the 2020 draft. (Granger)