6:02: Just got home, so sorry for the tardiness of this post. I will be liveblogging the 1st and 2nd rounds of the draft on this thread, so feel free to discuss the picks, rant, comment, or ask questions in the comment section. Here’s hoping for a huge draft, and some exciting picks tonight. The draft should start any minute. You can watch on MLB Network (channel 174 for Time Warner) or on mlb.com, which will continue to have coverage once the TV coverage ends.
6:10: Tino’s in the house representing the Yankees, and Bud Selig is giving a snooozer of an opening speech. Washington is on the clock. Will the Nationals use their entire 4 minutes before deciding to pick Strasburg? I hope not. One thing I like about the MLB draft is that there are only 4 minutes per pick, as opposed to 10 in the NFL draft (used to be 15, I think). In addition to liveblogging here and watching the MLB Network coverage, I will also be checking out mlb.com’s DraftTracker as well as reading Nomaas, RAB, and nyyfans, among others. I’m psyched.
6:15: More Steven Strasburg talk, boring. The pick is coming up, and I can’t see it being anybody else (he’s been the guy for about a year now). #2 is almost definitely Dustin Ackley, and it might get interesting at 3, as the Padres are the first team who might be interested in Donavan Tate.
6:16: Yup, it’s Strasburg. What a shocker. Now let’s see if they can get him signed for less than 20 million.
6:24: At #3, the Padres took HS outfielder Donavan Tate, certainly a ballsy move. The fact that they were willing to take him at #3 means that they are likely willing to shell out a big bonus for the 2-sport stud, and I imagine they will have him signed on August 15 as long as they don’t lowball him. #4 could also be an interesting pick, as it is possible that the Pirates might overdraft someone (believed to be BC catcher Tony Sanchez) who they could sign for below slot, to save money for a big IFA expenditure on ss Miguel Angel Sano.
6:29: So the Pirates make the first overdraft with Tony Sanchez, congrats to SJ44 over at LoHud, who is Tony’s uncle. It’s worthy of note that BA is now predicting that USC shortstop Grant Green will fall out of the first round, and he would be another potential coup at #29 if he makes it, or could be a later-round overslot pick.
6:34: Another overdraft at #5, as the Orioles take Matt Hobgood. He’s a legit first-round pitching prospect, but he’s not in the same class as Matzek, Purke, Turner, etc. He should be signable, and he has helium recently, but I think the Orioles should have taken Matzek. Each overdraft makes it more likely that a big name falls to the Yankees. I imagine the Giants will not make a big reach here, Matzek or Zack Wheeler wouldn’t be a surprise. They do need position players more, but they have been great at developing pitchers.
6:30: It’s Wheeler to the Giants, who seemed to be a slam-dunk at #7 if he fell to the Braves. This will be an interesting pick for the Braves, who might have lost the guy they wanted.
6:50: 2 signable college pitchers go off the board at 7 and 8, Vanderbilt lefty Mike Minor to the Braves, and Arizona State righty Mike Leake to the Reds at #8. The Tigers are next at #9, and they could be a good landing place for one of the potential overslot guys. Their pick could set the tone for how the other overslot players fall. Tyler Matzek, maybe?
6:55: Jacob Turner to the Tigers, as the first of the potential fallers is taken. This is a pretty good pick for Detroit here, though I would have preferred Matzek. Maybe Matzek’s demands have gotten out of control. The Nats pick next at #10, and I would expect a signability guy since Strasburg will cost mega bucks.
7:00: The Nats do go signability with Stanford reliever (and former Yankee draftee) Drew Storen, Stanford’s closer. No word on whether he will stay as a reliever, but apparently he wants to stay a closer.
7:03: The Rockies get great value with Matzek at #11, who probably should have been taken in the top 5. The Royals at 12 could also take a big-ticket guy.
7:08: Crow goes off the board to the Royals, who also get some nice value. The Rangers at #14 are likely the next team to look at one of the signability guys.
7:15: I was wrong about the A’s, who took USC shortstop Grant Green at #13. Texas is next, and Shelby Miller has been the rumored pick for them.
7:17: And there goes Purke to Texas, who takes the local kid with the big pricetag. Maybe they’re hoping to get a hometown discount. A very good pick for them if they can get him signed. At this point Scheppers and Gibson are the guys I’m hoping for at 29, with Slade Heathcott still as my predicted pick.
7:22: Cleveland gets a nice value pick who will probably sign for reasonable money in UNC ace Alex White. Up next is Arizona, with consecutive picks.
7:32 The D’Backs select HS 3b Bobby Borchering and athletic Notre Dame outfielder AJ Pollock with picks 16 and 17. Both are solid picks at this spot who should sign for slot, and the D’backs should be happy with these selections, especially Borchering, who looks to be the best high school bat in the draft.
7:41: 2 more high school arms go off the board in Chad James and Shelby Miller, to Florida and St. Louis. Division rival Toronto picks next.
7:50: College pitcher Chad Jenkins and high school shortstop Jiovanni Mier go to Toronto and Minnesota. More signable picks. The Twins and White Sox are next.
7:54: There goes Gibson to the Twins, who might have gotten a huge steal here, assuming he’s healthy. This leaves Scheppers as the guy I’m hoping will be available at #29.
8:13: Jared Mitchell goes to the White Sox, and the Angels take consecutive high school outfielders, Randal Grichuk (a bit of a head scratcher) and Mike Trout. The Brewers follow up by taking Eric Arnett. 2 picks to go (Seattle and Boston) before the Yankees pick, and Scheppers is still there…
8:17: Seattle selects high school shortstop Nick Franklin, and the big bad Red Sox (excuse me, I meant the gutty, gritty, thrifty Red Sox) are up. I’ve heard them connected to high school catcher Max Stassi, but they are tough to predict.
8:22: Boston takes high school outfielder Reymond Fuentes (Carlos Beltran’s cousin), a bit of a surprise pick. Fuentes has great speed and a high ceiling, but to be honest he is not the type of player I was expecting Boston to take. If it were any team other than Boston picking him, analysts might be calling this an overdraft. So now the Yankees pick at 29, with Scheppers, Heathcott and Renfroe sitting there, along with college outfielders such as Tim Wheeler and Brett Jackson. This will be an interesting pick, there’s no real front-runner. If Scheppers doesn’t go here, he could fall a while…this is getting intense!
8:26: And the moment of truth…it’s Slade Heathcott, the toolsy high school outfielder from Texas (and, not to toot my own horn, my prediction for this pick). I’m a fan of this pick (if you couldn’t tell already), but I hope the Yankees have their eyes on some overslot picks later, since Heathcott should be signable. I will try to post a writeup of Heathcott soon.
8:41: Levon Washington and Brett Jackson are the next 2 picks, and the Rockies are on the clock now to end the first round. Tanner Scheppers is still there, and he could fall further.
8:52: And there goes Tim Wheeler to the Rockies at 32. I’ll keep blogging the supplemental and 2nd rounds if there are interesting picks, and I’ll try to get a writeup done for the 2nd-rounder as well.
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22 Responses to MLB Draft Day 1 Liveblog, the 1st Round
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TIQ IQ
Hey Eric, got a prediction? If I was forced, I’d say Heathcott and Renfroe, but they could surprise with one of the arms.
Heathcott was my projection last night, and I’m going to stick to it, although my hope is for one of the Scheppers/Crow/Gibson trio.
Hobgood and Sanchez= sgnability= top guys falling.
So far, 3 guys taken at the expected slot, 2 reaches.
Keith Law thinks Maztek could slip to mid-20s.
He was a likely top 5 guy, so he’s slipped some already. I can’t see how he makes it to the Yankees, and I would be annoyed if he is taken at 28 by Boston.
Colorado- at least it is not Boston.
Matzek, Crow, Purke all in 4 picks. :(
Oh well. Scheppers and Gibson are still available though.
And now White. it seems that the rumors of crazy demands are scaring nobody.
Ok lets get Scheppers here.
Fuentes and Heathcott will be linked for a long time- Yankees and Sox take CF’ers back to back. I wonder what happens to Scheppers.
I wouldn’t have touched him with a 10 foot pole.
BAD UPBRINGING WHICH COULD NOT POSSIBLY HAVE LEFT HIM EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY, ACADEMICALLY INELIGIBLE, WHICH SPEAKS TO HIS DISCIPLINE OR LACK THEREOF, FLAWS IN HIS SWING AND RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY ON A KNEE ALREADY.
WOW, who needs that brain damage.
What’s with the caps? He shot up draft boards, and I trust that the Yankees did research on the personal stuff. Your philosophy would have Joba pitching elsewhere.
Do you know him personally? I think this character issue stuff is overblown. So his parents are in jail. Does it mean that he is a bad person. Maybe he was raised by his grandmother. Who knows?
Check this quote from an interview with Lane Meyer: “My favorite is Josh Hamilton. He’s an athlete. In my opinion he’s one of the best athletes to ever come through Major League Baseball. I read the book he has out now, his biography, and it’s really good.”
You see that? He read his biography. So you would think that he would learn from Hamilton’s mistakes…
My philosophy was developed following the NFL draft very closely for 20 years.
For every Joba there’s 4-5 failures when you select a player with a history of injury and questionable background and personal behavior.
You choose players like this in the 2nd rd when they fall for the obvious reasons, then they are bargains instead of gambles which you don’t do in the first rd where you IMO try to find a starting caliber player with few flaws.
This was a reach and questionable selection, whether he makes it or not.
Really? BA and Keith Law did not think it was a reach. Slade said the Yankees had been in contact with him a lot over the last few days, so they obviously were doing some research on his personality. He had some poor grades, big deal. And he doesn’t have a history of injury, he has one injury, and he has shot up the boards while playing since the injury, so it does not seem to be an issue.
One injury?
What, a hangnail?
Nope.
Reconstructive surgery on an ACL, that’s pretty darn major.
Will I root for the kid to make it big?
Of course but there’s a reason some kids end up Derek Jeter and others end up Brien Taylor and a lot of it has to do with character, upbringing and being responsible in school.
Tabata had the physical ability but the lifestyle and attitude hurts in every sport.
To deny that’s part of the equation is to repeat mistakes over and over.
No, not every kid is going to have Jeter’s background but it helps.
You know nothing about this kid. Zero. You make assumptions on bits and pieces that you hear, and it seems silly and irresponsible. I take scouts word on baseball things, but I have not really heard of this kid having any personal issues due to his upbringing.
If the scouts were always right, there would be few busts instead of mostly busts but let’s live in a vacum instead and make believe this is an exact science instead of a crap shoot where you need as much in your favor as possible from the start.
Look, he bats lefty, plays hard and has some talent, hope he’s a great kid who develops into a great player too.
The other way to look at it is that he has accomplished a heck of a lot despite the family issues. Give the kid a chance.
Obviously.
I’m not rooting against him and think Baseball-wise, on the field he’s a fine prospect.The reconstructive surgery on the knee, the shoulder problem and the family background are real issues though.
There’s risk here, obviously high reward too. Maybe he’s like Clevelands CF’er someday.