The Diamondbacks focused on pitching on the second day of the draft, selecting arms with five of their eight picks on Monday, including three pitchers whom they believe have a chance to develop as big-league starters.

On Sunday, the club took position players with each of its first four picks, tabbing two outfielders (Slade Caldwell, Ryan Waldschmidt), a shortstop (JD Dix) and a catcher (Ivan Luciano).

Of the five pitchers they took on Monday, all came from the college ranks. Diamondbacks scouting director Ian Rebhan said the club believes third-round pick Daniel Eagen, fifth-rounder Connor Foley and sixth-round selection Mason Marriott all have a chance to start.

'Super athletic': DBacks go with quick, diminutive prep outfielder with first pick

Eagen became the first player drafted out of Presbyterian College in South Carolina since 2013. He took big strides this spring, improving his pure stuff from the previous year and becoming the Big South Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Eagen, who had a 2.67 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 77⅔ innings, had been throwing in the 89-90 mph range as a sophomore before sitting mostly 93-94 and touching 96 this season as a junior.

Rebhan said the club’s analysts highlighted him early in the spring, and follow-up looks by the scouting department added to his appeal.

“You get in there and see him and he’s big and physical and throws strikes,” Rebhan said. “At the start of the year, you started seeing the performance and then we get in there and see the stuff, it made him pretty intriguing.”

Foley is a physical, hard-throwing right-hander who walked seven batters per nine innings at Indiana but the club believes he has developmental gains ahead of him. Foley has a 6-foot-5, 235-pound frame. He sits in the mid-90s with his fastball, touching 99 mph.

“Super athletic,” Rebhan said. “He was a high school football player who didn’t start pitching until his senior year of high school, so we think there’s some untapped potential and some upside there with Connor, because the stuff he shows is top-tier stuff.”

Marriott’s fastball tops out in the 94-95 mph range, Rebhan said, adding that the club was impressed by his ability to spin the ball, liking both his slider and curveball.

“Just a good, well-rounded package of arm strength and the ability to spin the ball to be a future starting pitcher,” he said.

Shortstop Tytus Cissell was the Diamondbacks’ fourth-rounder, a switch-hitter out of Francis Howell High in Missouri. Per MLB.com, Cissell drew mixed reviews about his ability to hit and his likelihood of remaining at shortstop, but the report notes that proponents see a potential 20-homer player who could stick up the middle at either shortstop or center field.

Rebhan said the club sees Cissell as a shortstop and believes he can impact the game on both sides of the ball. He said Cissell “scored off the charts” at the draft combine in the tests that evaluate athleticism.

“The 30-yard dash, some of the raw jumps, the stuff that measure twitch and explosiveness, speed, things like that,” Rebhan said. “He was right up there with some of the best athletes in this class.”

The Diamondbacks also took left-hander Luke Craig (seventh round, UNC Wilmington), left-hander Travis Garnett (eighth round, William & Mary), third baseman Ben McLaughlin (ninth round, Arkansas) and outfielder Trent Youngblood (10th round, Transylvania University).

Ryan Waldschmidt hoping to start pro career soon

Outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt, who spoke with Diamondbacks reporters on a video call on Monday, made it sound like he is close to finalizing a contract with the organization, which took him with the 31st overall pick on Sunday evening.

“I think by the end of the week I’ll be heading out to Arizona to go through just the signing process and just getting comfortable out there,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll be a few weeks of just being comfortable getting to know each other, getting to know the coaches and the organization itself, and then hopefully I’ll be heading somewhere to compete again and play some games.”

Waldschmidt not only posted impressive surface numbers — he hit .333/.469/.610 with 14 homers and close to as many walks (41) as strikeouts (45) this year at Kentucky — but his underlying data is said to be just as impressive, indicating that he makes loud contact while not expanding the zone or swinging and missing all that often.

“I think I've always kind of had the natural ability to just kind of differentiate balls from strikes,” he said. “When you swing at good pitches, you usually have a better chance of doing damage and having good results. So, for me, it’s just making sure that I swing at as many good pitches as possible and then take those bad ones.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Draft notes: DBacks target arms on Day 2; Waldschmidt could sign soon