2021 MLB draft rankings 3.0: Two shortstops lead race to be next month’s top pick

• ESPN MLB Insider
• Kiley McDaniel covers MLB prospects, the MLB Draft and more, including trades and free agency.
• Has worked for four MLB teams.

We’re five weeks out from the 2021 MLB draft with college regionals starting Friday and high school seasons winding down or already wrapped up, so some consensus is building. In other words, it’s time for a refresh of my draft rankings that now include 150 prospects.

Two of the hottest names in the country are Connecticut prep left-handed pitcher Frank Mozzicato, who now has some late first-round buzz, and Maryland prep shortstop Jackson Merrill, who has some interest in the top 50 picks. Two American Athletic Conference standouts — East Carolina second baseman Connor Norby and Houston left-handed pitcher Robert Gasser — have also steadily moved up since my last ranking, while Oregon right fielder Aaron Zavala now looks like he could go as high as the second round.

This is my ranking of what order I would select players given what I know right now, while the mock draft is what order I think the teams will actually pick the players, and I’ll get into some of that below. Instead of blurbs on each player I’ve ranked, I’ll focus on the top handful of players at the top, how they compare, and how the draft might play out.

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