Dan McDonnell Projects Who Will Return in 2021

Extended eligibility and a shortened MLB Draft could lead to the Louisville Baseball program welcoming back more players than normal, and head Coach Dan McDonnell has some idea as to who will chose to stay with the program.

Under normal circumstances, the University of Louisville baseball program would be gearing up for their annual roster shakeup thanks in part to both the MLB Draft and graduation.

However, these are far from normal circumstances. 

The 2020 edition of the draft has been cut to just five rounds as opposed to the normal forty, and the NCAA voted to extend the eligibility of spring sport student-athletes after the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of their respective seasons.

With those two factors combined, Louisville baseball has the potential to return a majority of the players they would normally see departing the program. So who's staying and who's going? Head coach Dan McDonnell has some idea.

As it pertains to next week's draft, it's easy to project the near-stone cold locks to go pro. In a recent mock draft released by MLB.com, junior left-handed pitcher Reid Detmers and junior right-handed pitcher Bobby Miller were both projected as first round picks. Detmers was projected to be a single digit pick, going No. 9 overall to the Colorado Rockies, and Miller rounded out the first round to go No. 29 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But those two are far from the only ones who could be selected. INF/OF Lucas Dunn, OF/C Zach Britton, LHP Michael Kirian and RHP Luke Smith had all been previously projected to go somewhere in rounds 5-10, and any one of them could easily be selected towards the end of the draft.

However, even if a player is not selected, they could still opt to go pro. According to ESPN's Jeff Passan all draft eligible players who go undrafted would be eligible to sign with organizations for a maximum of $20,000 as an undrafted free agent.

So if a Louisville player does not get drafted, who could we see go this route? Coach Mac has some idea.

"Today, we don't feel like a junior will sign if he doesn't get picked in the top five rounds from everything these guys are telling us," McDonnell said in a teleconference with reporters Thursday.

It seems that barring a change of heart from any of Louisville's juniors not selected, the Cardinals could potentially welcome back a boatload of third-year players.

But what about the seniors? Louisville currently boasts four of them in the form of LHP Adam Elliott, OF Danny Oriente, INF Justin Lavey and RHP Luke Smith, and each of them have the option to come back thanks to extended eligibility. But who will choose to come back, and who will chose to go pro if given the chance?

"We feel like the two position players, Lavey & Oriente, will sign if they get an opportunity even outside the top five rounds," McDonnell said. (Adam) Elliott's an interesting one because as he just keep setting better in his role, it keeps increasing. Luke Smith seem to be the guy if he doesn't go in the top five rounds, from what he's said he act like he's coming back."

If the latter is true, it would be a huge boost to a pitching staff already guaranteed to lose 2/3 of the starting rotation. As for Lavey & Oriente, it would make since for them to jump on professional opportunities considering how deep Louisville will be next season.

Day 1 of the 2020 MLB Draft is scheduled to start on Wednesday, June 10 at 7:00pm EST, with Day 2 starting at 5:00pm.

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