The 2022 MLB Draft begins on July 17, and there are still questions about the direction the Baltimore Orioles plan to go with the No. 1 overall pick.
There are four high schoolers — Druw Jones, Jackson Holliday, Elijah Green, and Termarr Johnson — who have been rumored to be in play for the 1:1 selection. Even infielders Brooks Lee (Cal Poly) and Cam Collier (Chipola Junior College) can be thrown into the mix as a possible selection by Baltimore.
Should Baltimore select Johnson first overall, it shouldn’t come to a shock. Experts regard him as the best hitter in the draft.
“Termarr Johnson probably has the best pure hitting ability of anybody in this draft,” MLB Pipeline draft expert Jim Callis said on Glenn Clark Radio June 30. “I think he’s going to be at least a 20-home-run guy, and he might be more because he’s a ridiculously good hitter, maybe the best high school hitter in the last two decades or so.”
“The comp I got from a scout on Termarr Johnson is [a] combination of Wade Boggs’ plate discipline with Vladimir Guerrero Sr.’s plate coverage … and from a style of play he resembles Robinson Cano, that would be a pretty good pick to get at one,” Callis added.
Johnson, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound left-handed hitter out of Mays High School (Ga.), doesn’t have the glove of Jones or Green, who both project as impact outfielders defensively. Johnson projects to play second base, but his potential with the bat has kept him in the conversation for the No. 1 overall selection.
“If you’re just picking purely based on talent I think you’d take Druw Jones,” Callis said. “But if you could take Termarr Johnson, who has a higher floor and a high ceiling but a lower ceiling than Jones and maybe save an extra $1.5 million and then spend that money wisely, I think you can make a case for that.”
In the previous two drafts, Orioles GM Mike Elias opted for cost-effective selections in Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad rather than taking the consensus best players available.
Baltimore’s draft pool is nearly $17 million, and the slotted bonus for the top pick is about $8.8 million. Like they did in 2020 and 2021, the Orioles could opt for an under-slot selection with their first pick and spread some money around to later picks.
This year, there is no clear-cut No. 1 prospect like an Adley Rutschman or a Bryce Harper. Instead, there are a handful of players who could turn out as the best player in this draft, and because of that, Baltimore can select a player who both fits a need and is cost-effective.
“I think they would prefer an infielder to an outfielder if it came down to it,” Callis said.
If Elias does decide to select Johnson 1:1, the infielder would be the first high school bat selected by Baltimore in the first round since 2015, when Ryan Mountcastle was picked 36th overall in the compensatory round.
Johnson is committed to Arizona State but will almost certainly forgo college no matter who drafts him. He is viewed as a lock to be selected in the top 10, possibly even first overall.
“If we just talked description, no names, and I said you could get the best hitter in the draft in terms of pure hitting ability and he’s going to play up the middle and he’s going to be at least a 20-home-run guy, that’s a really good player,” Callis said.
For more from Callis, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Perfect Game