​Bo Lowrance models his game after Freddie Freeman, making it fitting that the Dodgers selected the 6-foot-5, 200-pound high school infielder — ranked No. 21 among MLB.com’s overall prospects — with the 40th pick in this year’s MLB amateur draft on Saturday. “He’s obviously a first baseman, and I’m on the left side, so defensively it’s a little different,” Lowrance said during a conference call with the media. “But he’s still unbelievably athletic, and a big thing that I’ve watched for years is his approach and how he uses the whole field. … Freeman is somebody that I’m always trying to emulate.”
Last season, Lowrance hit .435 with 12 home runs at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, South Carolina. Like Freeman, he is a left-handed batter who throws right-handed and is being groomed as a shortstop, with a potential future at third base depending on how his frame fills out. He noted that former Dodger Corey Seager has a “super smooth” defense at 6-foot-4, and Lowrance hopes to mirror that level of proficiency as he develops. “Yeah, definitely want to be a shortstop,” Lowrance said. “I believe I’m capable of it. I think I have the glove skills and the athleticism. I think it’s just going to turn into who I want to become at the plate in terms of my overall size and frame. If I ultimately put on a bunch of weight and kind of grow out of the shortstop position, then maybe that’s where that’ll change.”
Lowrance connected with the Dodgers’ front office in June at the draft combine in Phoenix, and while the Dodgers didn’t explicitly frame the comparison to Freeman in those terms, they would be thrilled if he develops into a player of Freeman’s caliber, a ten-time All-Star. “Bo was definitely our main target coming into the day,” Dodgers amateur scouting director Zach Fitzpatrick said. “If you’d asked me in the morning, I’d have said there was a pretty low chance we could get him. As the picks started coming off the board and we saw a little more opportunity to land him, our excitement level climbed. And then to actually be able to call his name was a home run for us.”
“I’ve been in communication with them for a while,” Lowrance added. “I’ve loved their scouting staff. I have a great relationship with them.” The Dodgers entered the draft with the smallest bonus pool among teams, at $3,951,900, while the White Sox boasted the most cash with $20,489,500 to work with. Fitzpatrick emphasized that the Dodgers’ strategy focused on taking the best player available, a philosophy they carried through to their second and final pick of the day, Florida right-hander Russell Sandefer at No. 132. Sandefer went 3-2 as a junior in 20xx, and the team is hopeful he will develop into a contributor on the mound.