Dodgers take Emmet Sheehan with 6th round pick
The right-hander became the third BC player taken in the 2021 MLB Draft.
Entering the 2021 campaign, Eagles’ right-hander Emmet Sheehan had made just five career starts and had a 6.35 ERA over 28 1/3 innings. By the end of it, he was an All-ACC Second Team selection and a sixth-round draft pick of the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sheehan went 192nd overall on Monday afternoon, following teammates Sal Frelick (1st round, 15th overall) and Cody Morissette (2nd, 52nd) as the first trio of Eagles to all go within the first six rounds in program history.
It was a prolific rise up the draft boards for Sheehan, who dramatically improved his command in 2021 and overpowered ACC hitters with a fastball up in the zone that sat in the low 90s and reached 95-97 miles per hour. Sheehan made 13 starts—eventually taking over the Friday night role—and went 5-5 with a 4.23 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 76 2/3 innings of work.
Sheehan was at his best over a three-start stretch near the end of the season. He tossed 6 1/3 scoreless with 10 strikeouts against eventual Super Regional team Notre Dame, held Miami to one hit over six innings with nine strikeouts, and struck out a program record 15 against Pittsburgh in seven innings of work.
Here’s a round-up of what some MLB Draft analysts had to say:
Perfect Game’s Brian Sakowski
Dodgers take Emmet Sheehan from BC, up to 97 this spring and can sit 91-95 or so, strikes got better this spring, above average projection on changeup
The 6-foot-5 right-hander, who pitched in Boston College's weekend rotation in 2021, is a bit raw, but has a three-pitch mix and showed he can miss bats, striking out 12.4 per nine this spring. His fastball sat around 91-92 mph, but he often reached back for 95-96 mph, complementing the heater with a mid-70s curveball and an upper-70s changeup. He'll need to keep refining his command to have a chance to start at the next level.
Sheehan came into the year with less hype than Mason Pelio, but when Pelio struggled, Sheehan stepped into the Friday night starter role for Boston College by the end of the season. In his penultimate start, he set a single-game school record with 15 strikeouts against Pittsburgh, a Top 25 team at the time, and finished with 106 strikeouts in 76.2 innings. Sheehan's best pitch is his fastball, which at times sat 90-93 mph, though in some starts later in the year he worked more in the 91-95 mph range and touched 97. His fastball rides up in the zone longer than hitters expect, so he generates a lot of empty swings when he elevates with his heater, and that fastball is how Sheehan gets a lot of his swings and misses.
However, when his changeup is on like it was against Pittsburgh, that gives Sheehan another pitch to miss bats. It's mostly 78-81 mph, so it has excellent separation off his fastball and good sink when he keeps it down. It's inconsistent, though, and in some starts he didn't miss any bats with his changeup. Sheehan's curveball has decent shape to it, but it's a fringe-average pitch that lacks the snap and bite to get whiffs. Sheehan issued 4.0 BB/9 and needs to tighten his fastball command. Sheehan isn't raw, but he has some promising raw components in his pitch mix that professional coaches could help him iron out.
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