Top six 2020 MLB draft prospects from New England

Wake Forest pitcher Jared Shuster (New Bedford, Mass.) (Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images)

The list of New England homegrown prospects eligible for the 2020 MLB draft is not considered to include any top-round talent, but that’s not to say there won’t be high-end draft-eligible talent playing in the Northeast this fall into next spring.

Bryant pitcher Tyler Mattison (Fort Ann, N.Y.) is coming off a sophomore season in which he went 9-1 with a 3.47 ERA before making five solid appearances for Hyannis in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He potentially could be selected in the top five rounds of the 2020 draft.

Harvard also boasts two interesting 2020 prospects — Buddy Hayward (Plantation, Fla.) and Kieran Shaw (Los Gatos, Calif.). Hayward, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound right-handed pitcher, averaged 8.81 strikeouts per nine innings in 48 innings last spring. Shaw, a 6-foot, 205-pound right-handed pitcher, set an Ivy League record with 13 saves.

Those players will keep Northeast regional scouts busy over the next eight months, but in order to find the top prospects among New England natives, the scouts will have to dig a little deeper.