The Red Sox aren't messing around with this draft class. A day after popping UNC shortstop Jake Schaffner at No. 20 overall, Boston came back for his college teammate, Owen Hull, in the second round at pick No. 67. Now Hull is officially signed, and the price tag says a lot about how the front office views him.
Jim Callis broke down the signing, calling Hull one of the best physicality-and-athleticism combos in the college ranks.
Per Jim Callis, Hull inked for $1.2 million, tied to a $1,317,300 slot value listed for pick 67 — a clear vote of confidence for a supplemental second-rounder. Callis's scouting take was blunt: dynamic center fielder, plenty of speed, and a swing that got noticeably better as the spring went on. That's the profile teams dream on late in Day 1.
Hull's path here is a little unusual. This past season was actually his first at North Carolina after transferring in from George Mason, and all he did was hit .393 with a .500 on-base percentage across 69 games, finishing second in all of Division I in both hits and RBIs while driving in 87 runs and swiping 18 bags. He was a UNC All-ACC first-teamer and a fixture in every game of the Tar Heels' run to the College World Series championship series, picking up a hit in all 6 CWS games and landing on the All-Tournament Team.
That kind of production doesn't happen in a vacuum, and it's no accident Boston came right back for him after taking Schaffner. The two are reportedly close friends and were engine pieces of the same UNC lineup that nearly won it all, and the Red Sox clearly liked what they saw enough to try to reunite them in the same farm system.
Boston went position-player heavy on Day 1 of this draft before pivoting to arms on Day 2, and Hull's $1.2 million bonus fits the pattern of a team trying to buy up premium athletes early and worry about pitching depth later. If the bat translates and the speed plays in center, this is the kind of pick that looks like a steal in a couple years. For now, it's just another name added to a Red Sox farm system that's suddenly stacked with Tar Heels.