2012 MLB Draft: Texas Picks OF Lewis Brinson At No. 29 Overall

With the 29th overall pick in the 2012 Rule 4 amateur draft, the Texas Rangers have selected 6' 4", 185-pound prep center fielder Lewis Brinson from Coral Springs High School in Florida.

Brinson was listed at No. 55 on Keith Law's draft board of the top 100 prospects in the draft, and at No. 52 on Baseball America's list. From the standpoint of draft prospect rankings, you could conceivably view this pick as a reach; the problem with doing so, though, is that the variation in talent diminishes the further down the board you go, meaning that this isn't the equivalent of, say, picking somebody ranked in the mid-20s with a top-five overall pick.

Brinson is seen as a very toolsy, very projectable young player, somebody who evokes comparisons to Cameron Maybin from a physique standpoint and who is viewed as a monster athlete, and boasts good bat speed, plus raw power, and plus speed/quickness. The downside here is that Brinson is regarded as very unpolished and is very much viewed as a project; Jason Parks remarks that the easy comp here is Greg Golson, who was a veritable toolshed that failed to pan out. One thing that I vividly recall was Law commenting in a chat a few years ago that he had never seen a first-round pick with less feel for the game than Golson; I certainly presume that the Rangers see Brinson as having more feel for the game than Golson did, and that they wouldn't have pulled the trigger on Brinson if they saw a sufficiently high probability of his story turning out like that of Golson.

The consensus seems to be that there's upside/promise/superstar potential with Brinson, but it's going to take considerable effort and some good fortune for the Rangers to get that promise to actualize into tangible results.

Here's some video of Brinson in action:

Anthony Andro shares this comment from Rangers amateur scouting director Kip Fagg on Brinson:

Rangers director of amateur scouting on Brinson: He is a player with great upside and makeup who can throw, run and hit with power.

— Anthony Andro (@aandro) June 5, 2012