Amateur Draft Review - AL South

Florida Gators

1-12 - Chance Austin - Very nice first round selection. Austin projects to be a top of the rotation pitcher. Maybe not a true #1 ace, but a very good #2.

1-45 - Pat Howington - Howington is an interesting compensation pick. Great splits and some nice pitches should make him be a very good setup A\closer. Even though he does project to high forties in stamina, his durability will mitigate that.

3-92 - Davy Jackson - Defensive specialist at shortstop that has a belw average bat. The glove is definitely ML material.

4-124 - Turner Torrealba - Poor righty split probably dooms him to career minor league status.

5-156 - Chris Blake - Scouts don't think Blake has the bat to make it to the majors. He makes above average contact, but his splits are really poor.

Impact: Moderate - First two picks are very strong especially the first rounder. Will be interesting to see what happens to Jackson. He has a great glove, but will be a very poor hitter at the ML level.

Jackson Rebels

1-15 - Stuart Hughes Looking forward to seeing how Hughes progresses. He has a really nice lefty split but not a great righty split. Also, 4 out of his 5 pitches project to below average to average. He does have fantastic control. He will definitely contribute on the ML level, but part of me feels he could have gotten more at 15.

2-63 - Wilt Curtis - Could be a decent role player, but probably not much more in the bigs.

3-95 - Alexander Herrera - At best, will be a long reliever\ mop up guy in the bigs and maybe just a great AAA pitcher.

4-127 - Bobby Sheffield - Probably can be a decent defensive replacement in the bigs. Not a bad selection at all for the 4th round.

5-159 - Phillip Ritchie - With those splits he'll be a career minor leaguer.

Impact: Mild. Decent draft, but no one sticks out as a great player and part of me still feels that taking Hughes at 15 was a bit of a reach.

Nashville Commodores

1-13 - Juan Delgado - If Delgado's glove rating was about 10 points higher than I would really like this selection, but as it stands now, I'm not sure he can be an everyday ML SS without making a lot of errors. Very nice bat, but his batting eye will hurt a bit.

2-61 - Guillermo James - James is a speedster and makes good contact when he actually hits the ball, but he swings at an awful lot of pitches outside the zone which hurt him. Might have been able to find better value here.

3-93 - Nate Fitzgerald - Really nice value for the third round. Definitely has the bat to be a player in the bigs. He might need to be moved to a corner outfield position as his glove probably won't cut it at third.

4-125 - PJ Harper - Would have been a great selection for the fourth round, but he still hasn't signed. Great power and batting eye.

5-157 - Ed Baez - Probably a career minor leaguer.

Impact: Mild. Not in live with the first two picks for where they were selected although I'm looking forward to seeing what Nashville does with Delgado position wise. Nice value in the 3rd round and it would be great for them if the 4th rounder signs.

New Orleans Privateers

1-30 - Juan Torres - Really nice value at the end of the round. Definitely a better pick than several others that went higher. Should be a nice bat in the bigs although he might have to mve to a corner outfield position.

2-78 - Philip Valdes - Another great value selection here. He'll have to get his durability up, but definitely projects to a big league bat.

3-110 - Hugh Moss - Interesting selection here. Great splits and pitches. Probably fell in the draft due to poor stamina and slightly above average control.

4-142 - Nolan Loewer - Probably a career minor league, but maybe a 25th guy on the roster type player. Also, he is one of the ugliest guys in NCAA world.

5-174 - Dan Graham - Probably a career minor leaguer

Impact: Moderate - Two definite ML starters in the first two rounds push this draft barely into the moderate impact category. It will be interesting to see how many innings\year the Privateers can get out of Moss.