Nationals select pitcher Cronin with 123rd pick in 2019 MLB Draft
On June 4, 2019, the Washington Nationals selected pitcher Matt Cronin with the 123rd pick in the 2019 MLB Draft.
Cronin, 21, is a 6’2″, 195 pound pitcher that will come out of University of Arkansas and will likely join the major league roster in the next few years.
“This is a guy who is a pure reliever,” MLB.com’s Jim Callis said while offering analysis on the pick. ”He’s one of the best in college baseball, so he can get (to the majors) pretty quick and if you like spin rates, you love Matt Cronin, because he’s got outstanding spin rates on both of his pitches. A 92-96 MPH fastball gets tremendous carry up in the strike zone, it’s one of those fastballs that seems like it rises, and then when you’re trying to deal with that, he has an over-the-top curveball, that could be a true hammer, in the mid-to-upper 70s, there’s effort and recoil in there, so you’re not going to make him a starter, Arkansas never really tried to do that. Had trouble throwing strikes early in his career, but he (did a) better job as sophomore, regressed a little bit this year. If he can throw strikes he can get to the big leagues very quickly.”
Cronin went 4 G, 0 GS, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 3 SV, .143 OBA, 5IP, 3H, 2 BB, 9 strikeouts this season.
Welcome to Washington, Matt!
