LeVon Washington – 2B – Buchholz High School – Gainesville, FL
- Left-handed bat
- Committed to the University of Florida
- Coming off arm surgery
- “One of the bets athletes in the draft.”
- Hit .388 with seven HR as a senior
- Represented by Scott Boras
This seems to be another of the typical athlete-types that the Rays have built their team on. A quote in the Gainesville Sun stakes claim that he is among the fastest high school players ever.
“Among those was that Major League teams covet speed, and he had more of that than anyone in the history of high school baseball, aside from his friend, current Kansas City Royals farmhand Derrick Robinson.
Just prior to his senior year at P.K. Yonge, Robinson wowed scouts with a high-school record time of 6.19 seconds in the 60-yard dash. That helped propel him into the fourth round of the 2006 MLB draft, where he made the difficult decision to forego a football scholarship from Urban Meyer’s Florida Gators to sign with the Royals.”
“Two summers later, Washington ran a 6.21 60 and suddenly, the kid who saw baseball as just a game to play for the enjoyment of it began to realize he might have a future on the diamond.”
The bio of Washington shows a lot of similarities to BJ Upton. Middle infielder who plays the outfield. Fast. Excellent arm. Perfectgame.org has several videos of him during the past few showcases for young baseball talent.
Keith Law of ESPN.com wasn’t quite as high on Washington:
“The Rays probably would have taken Fuentes, but Boston picked their pockets. Washington was a premium guy coming into the year, but had labrum surgery and didn’t throw well when he was able to take the field. He has the speed to play center and has played second in the past — I’d expect them to try him in the infield — but there’s definitely a downside risk here that he ends up in left. “
