With the 67th pick in the 2014 MLB Draft, the Boston Red Sox have selected Sam Travis, a power-hitting first baseman from Indiana University.
There's the college bat we'd heard the Red Sox were after. And by bat, I do mean bat. Travis, who is listed by Indiana at 6'0" and 210 pounds, isn't one of those maybe shortstop, maybe third basemen the Red Sox have been known to draft so often. He's a first baseman who could maybe play at third base if the situation absolutely necessitates it.
But the bat is something. Hitting from the right side of the plate, Travis has hit .327/.410/.544 in 184 games with the Hoosiers these past three seasons. His power numbers especially have been on the rise, with his career-high 12 homers this year coming in a career-low 59 games started. Add 18 other extra-base hits and you get an impressive .576 slugging percentage.
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There's little question that Travis can hit. And the right-handed contact bat should play well in Fenway Park. He won't set the world on fire, but the bat should work at the major league levels, and perhaps will even do so before too long.
Don't get me wrong: teams don't tend to draft based on need, and the Red Sox probably didn't make much of a reach here just because they might have openings for Travis in the near future. Still, given that the system is relatively light in terms of power bats that could adequately fill a spot like first base (and, dare I say it, DH?) in the long-term, Sam Travis fits comfortably into Boston's plans for the not-too-distant future.