Paul Smyth, Kansas RHP, taken in 35th round by Oakland
Hello Athletic fans. Oakland drafted Kansas closer Paul Smyth in the 35th round this week. I've been covering Jayhawk baseball for the last three years at Rock Chalk Talk. I linked a short prospect profile of Paul above. Smyth pitched at KU for four years. He was mostly good. He has a lot of movement on his fastball when it is right. His velocity is in the high 80's to low 90's. He has a useful slider. He was frustrating in that he would go through rough patches and give up runs in bunches for 3-5 games in a row, and then be the model of pitching perfection for two or three weeks straight afterwards. Paul has good skills for a 35th round pick, a competitive mentality, and he still has more room to grow than one might expect from a 4 year NCAA starter with 129 games under his belt. He had an off senior year which may have been due to a non-chronic arm injury. I hope your coaching staff works with him and he makes it up the ladder.