Monday, June 9, 2008

Amateur Draft Review - AL West

Los Angeles Bruins

1-14 - Dick Bailey - Will be an absolute steal at 14 IF his control reaches near his projections. His stamina obviously incrases is OVR, but lots of people were surprised he fell this far. Will be a top f the rotation pitcher if he reaches projections.

1-38 - Joaquin Almanzar - Definitely not a SS at the ML level, but still a slid pick. Has the bat to produce well as a 3B or corner outfielder.

2-49 - Marcus Perez - Decent pick. Again, has a good bat, but his batting eye is below par. Some owners don't care about BE and others do. Will be fun to see how he does.

2-62 - Daryl Smith - With those splits is almost certainly a career minor leaguer. Could have gotten much more value here.

3-94 - Anthony Hines - Didn't scout and hasn't signed

4-126 - Junior Palmeiro - Career minor leaguer

5-158 - Vinny Glover - Not a bad selection at all for a fifth rounder. The Bruins rolling the dice to see if his excellent power can overcome those splits.

Impact: Mild\Moderate - If the Bruins had added one more solid guy, this definitely would have been a Moderate Impact class. Bailey is a steal at 14 and the next two picks are solid if not spectacular.

Oakland Cardinal

1-7 - Luis Santana - Nice selection and should be a really good #2 starter in the league for many years.

1-28 - Al Gomez - Not a huge fan of this pick strictly because of that righty split which probably means he won't be very effective. Definitely a reach.

1-36 - Karim Ramirez - On the other hand, I really like this pick. Will be very interesting to see if his control and splits can overcome two average at best pitches. Probably will need to be pared with a high PC catcher.

3-87 - Brian Pagnozzi - Hasn't signed and doesn't look like Oakland is going to give him the money he wants. Probably a good idea, as he doesn't look like he would be worth the investment.

4-119 - Scot Moore - Hasn't signed and I didn't scout.

5-151 - Met Smart - Hasn't signed and even if he does will probably only be a career minor leaguer.

Impact: Mild - With two first round picks and a comp pick I think the Cardinal could have gotten a little more out of the second of those picks. Also, akland has pretty much ignored the rest of their draft.

Salem Beavers

1-18 - Stu Ford - Definitely a nice pick, but definitely not a SS. Could be a standout 3B though and will have a very nice bat.

1-39 - Buster Gordon - Gordon seems to be a bit of a reach here because his control and splits aren't great.

2-56 - Bob Marshall - Very good value selection here. Would have thought the same thing if Salem chose Marshall with their comp pick. Should be a nice catcher if the Beavers can live with average PC.

2-66 - Martin Davis - Another great value selection as Davis definitely has the bat to not only make it to the bigs, but do well.

3-98 - Craig Stechschulte - Third great value selection in a row. Not sure how many innings they can get out of him due to that stamina\durability combo, but when he pitches he should be really solid.

4-130 - Stu Farnsworth - Great fourth round selection. Whenever you can get possibly ML contributors here you are having a good draft. Should hit some homeruns in the bigs one day.

5-162 - Juan Gomez - Career minor leaguer

Impact: Moderate\High - Salem had one of the best drafts in NCAA this season. If his second pick was a little better than this would be a full High Impact draft (although I can definitely be proved wrong)

Seattle Huskies

1-6 - Tracy Nen - Should be a great player eventually. Seattle already has some bad luck as Nen tore his groin muscle even with a great health rating.

1-35 - Benny Taveras - Will be interesting to see if Taveras can overcome that awful lefty split. It seems like with this high a pick, Seattle might have wanted to go in a different direction as this is a definite roll of the dice.

2-54 - Harry Moya - Solid choice here. Probably won't pitch a ton of innings, but when he is in there he should do a great job.

2-58 - Damian Matsuzaka - Didn't scout and hasn't signed.

3-86 - Jay West - Might have been able to get better value here. Suspect control and splits might hurt him too much to be anything but the 12\13th pitcher in the bigs if that.

4-118 - Tommie Stone - At best is a long reliever\mop up because of those splits. Probably a career minor leaguer.

5-150 - Rudy Callaway - Didn't Scout and hasn't signed

Impact: Mild\Moderate - Other than Nen with the first pick, this draft has questions. However Nen is good enough to be a perennial all star and thats enough to push the impact up.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

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.