Lawrence High starter Bryce Montes de Oca delivers to the plate against an Olathe North batter during the second inning, Thursday, April 10, 2014 at Free State High School.

As power-pitching prospects go, it’s difficult to imagine a greater man of mystery in this summer’s Major League Baseball draft than Lawrence High graduate Bryce Montes de Oca.

On the one hand, the right-hander stands 6-foot-7, weighs 262 pounds, has a heavy fastball routinely clocked in at the 93-to-96-mph range and, despite having so little pitching experience compared to most peers, he managed to lock down a spot as a weekend starter for Missouri this season as a junior.

Montes de Oca went 4-5 with a 4.43 ERA, averaged a strikeout per inning and limited hitters to a .205 batting average. He was the valedictorian of his high school class and is one semester’s worth of credits shy of graduating with a degree in finance and banking.

So far, sounds like a prospect worthy of a second-round draft choice.

Except that some organizations won’t even have his name on their draft board, which has nothing to do with his character or potential and everything to do with his medical history.

Arm injuries are the reason he has so little experience.

Montes de Oca underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow as a junior in high school and estimates he pitched about 25 innings throughout his high school career. He missed his sophomore season at Missouri after undergoing nerve transposition surgery on his elbow.

Brad Stoll coached Montes de Oca at Lawrence High and for two summers in the prestigious Cape Cod Summer League, a wood-bat league packed with top college baseball prospects.

“He’s an unknown commodity,” said Stoll, who scouts on a part-time basis for the Milwaukee Brewers. “Such a big, strong guy with an intriguing frame with not a whole lot of innings in that arm.”

By unknown, Stoll didn’t mean a secret. He meant nobody quite knows what to make of where Montes de Oca will go in the June 12 draft. The 10th round would probably be as good a place as any to set the over-under on a pitcher who was drafted in the 14th round by the Chicago White Sox out of high school. But all it takes is one organization to be so high on his potential that they’ll use a much earlier pick and cross their fingers he can remain healthy.

Even Montes de Oca, reached by phone from Columbia, Mo., couldn’t offer any insight on how soon he’ll be scooped up in the draft.

“No idea,” he said. “The draft in general for Major League Baseball is kind of a crapshoot. I had a good year and put myself in a good position and the rest is out of my control. I’ll just sit back and wait and see what happens.”

Stoll was impressed with how consistently organized and committed Montes de Oca is when it comes to doing the exercise routine prescribed to pitchers to give them the best shot at staying healthy.

“Gigantic kid, 96 mph arm, unbelievably smart, very diligent with his work and has some other great baseball attributes. But then, there’s the lack of innings due to injuries over the past six years of his career,” Stoll said. “Nobody seems to know what to do (in the draft.)”

Another aspect that makes Montes de Oca tough to bypass, Stoll said, is the strong chance he would have of moving quickly through someone’s farm system in the event he is able to stay injury-free. For him to pitch as well as he did this past season for Missouri with so little experience makes Stoll believe that if Montes de Oca stays healthy, he’ll progress quickly.

Montes de Oca agreed with that take.

“Baseball is a game that when you play, you get a lot better naturally,” Montes de Oca said. “I haven’t had a lot of experience, but I showed this year that if I get the ball on a consistent basis, I throw better. I’m excited to see where the future takes me. I’m healthy and ready to go.”

Montes de Oca credited the instruction he received in the Cape Cod League and the arrival at Missouri this past season of former Rice pitching coach Patrick Hallmark, who cleaned up his delivery, as big keys to the progress he made his junior season.

Stoll has seen Montes de Oca through fits of wildness — he walked 42 batters in 61 innings for Missouri — and flashes of dominance.

“There were nights in the Cape it would all sync up and it was beautiful,” Stoll said. “And nobody wanted to catch him in the bullpen because his ball is so heavy and he just beats your thumbs up. His ball is firm and heavy, has such a nasty sink. It’s like he’s throwing a 96 mph bowling ball. It’s going to break a bat and it’s going to break a catcher’s thumb.”

Montes de Oca is working out in Columbia, where his phone will ring in a couple of weeks and he will be informed that someone has selected him in the draft.

“I hope the best for him,” Stoll said. “He’s a great kid. It’d be pretty cool to see him rifle through someone’s organization.”