Dodgers might've gotten second-round MLB Draft steal in home run beast Jake Gelof

The Los Angeles Dodgers' 2023 second-round pick might've been as stupendous as their first selection was stupefying.

To open their draft, the Dodgers went with California kid Kendall George 36th overall. George is an absolute burner of an outfielder who was ranked 65th overall by MLB Pipeline, 114th by Baseball America, and unranked by The Athletic's ornery guru Keith Law. No one knows George better than the Dodgers, who've been able to keep tabs on him in their own backyard. LA's scouts are also innately trustworthy. Still ... to the naked eye, it felt funny.

The Dodgers' next pick came 60th overall, and they were able to come away with a far more conventional consensus selection. Jake Gelof of the University of Virginia Cavaliers is an absolute collegiate thumper; he broke the school's home run record this past season, wrapping his career with 48 blasts.

Early indications are that Gelof can also stick at third in the bigs rather than migrating elsewhere as a bat-first commodity. Need a blueprint for his potential success? His brother, Zack, also out of UVA and also ironically selected 60th overall, has been thriving in Oakland's system, slamming 12 homers with a .900+ OPS at Triple-A Las Vegas this season.

Dodgers' second-round draft steal of Jake Gelof should pay off

The third sacker, affectionately known as "Rake" Gelof, has big-league power tools. That doesn't mean he'll be an impact Dodger right away, or even a few years down the line. What it almost definitely means, though, is that he'll hit enough to learn how hard it is to break through into the Dodgers' remarkably stacked big-league lineup.

He'll mash to the point where fans begin to wonder where he'll fit in, and if he'll ever get that chance. He'll crush the baseball enough to inspire numerous columns about how he's "blocked" and should probably be considered an important trade piece in a deal for a now-45-year-old Max Scherzer.

Gelof may pay his dues and turn into a foundational piece for the Dodgers' next generation. He may get dangled in exchange for someone else's superstar. No matter his fate, it's not difficult to envision his bat pressing the issue, which is all you can hope for out of the 60th overall selection.