Written by Greg Fertel
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07 June 2007
5:00 PM, Eric: I'm going to continue watching the draft, and will blog on any picks that I consider to be particularly interesting, as well as any Yankee picks. I'm happy about the Brackman pick, and hope the Yankees did their research on his health. If Harvey goes to the Red Sox, I'll be pretty angry, but hopefully he'll continue to drop and be unsignable (or else fall to the Yanks).
5:09 PM, Eric: So what else do the Yankees need? They could use more position players, but it's hard to know who will be available at #95. I expect Jackson, Borbon and Burgess to be long gone by then, but perhaps catchers Mitch Canham or Josh Donaldson could be available when the Yankees pick again. It's possible more high school pitchers, such as Harvey, Smoker, Jack McGeary, or Greg Peavey could be the best players available. If Harvey is still available, I don't see how they Yankees could pass him up a second time.
5:46 PM: The Sandwich round so far is going pretty much as predicted. Among the guys taken are Smoker and Burgess by the Nats (who are having a nice draft so far), Todd Frazier by Cincy, Matt Mangini by Seattle, Justin Jackson by Toronto and Kellen Kulbacki by San Diego. The Mets, with all their resources, made a somewhat surprising pick of high school lefty Nathan Vineyard. It must be a cheap pick for them, but I don't quite understand it when there was much better talent available when they chose, such as Harvey, Burgess, Roemer and Mangini.
5:53 PM: The Red Sox make their first pick of the draft at #55, LHP Nicholas Hagadone from Washington University, soon to be renamed Tim Lincecum University. Hagadone began the season as a starter, but was moved to the bullpen early on and excelled. He is a safe pick with a low-90's fastball and a good slider, but does not have tremendous upside. It'll be interesting to see how Boston will use him, as he could have value out of the bullpen or as a starter.
5:57 PM: Mitch Canham goes off the board at #57. The last of the big 4 college catchers (Wieters, Arencibia, Donaldson are the others), I was hoping Canham could fall to the Yanks. But that was clearly not to be, and the Yankees will have to look elsewhere for catching help.
6:07 PM: With their second sandwich pick, Boston takes high school shortstop Ryan Dent. Dent has good upside, as he is a great athlete with good speed and good power for a shortstop. After a conservative first pick in this round, the Sox take a high-ceiling guy here.
6:25 PM: The sandwich round is finally over, and now the 2nd round is beginning. There are still a bunch of tough-sign high school pitchers available, such as Matt Harvey, Greg Peavey, and Jack McGeary. I'm hoping the Yanks continue to pick for upside, and won't be afraid to take one of those guys if they are the best players available when the select at #95, at the end of the 2nd.
6:29 PM: Atlanta snared Georgia closer Josh Fields at #69, good value for a guy with an explosive mid-90's fastball and a nasty slider. Fields was projected to go in the first round earlier this season, but did not perform consistently at that level. Fields could move up quickly, and be the closer of the future for a Braves bullpen that hasn't had a consistent closer in years. I was hoping he could fall to #94, but I'm not surprised he was taken.
6:31 PM: In addition to the high school pitchers I just mentioned, another one who could be a great pick is lefty Tanner Robles. Robles can get his fastball up to the mid-90's, has a decent curve and good command. He has good upside as a lefty with good velocity, and could be a good addition in the 2nd round. Another guy I wouldn't mind seeing them take is Rice closer Cole St. Clair. St. Clair is more of a need pick, but he could be a good lefty setup man in the bullpen within the next year or so, and has good enough stuff to potentially close.
6:44 PM, EJ: Hey guys, I'm not gone! Eric and I were just talking about Matt Harvey. Word is the Yankee's plan is to draft him 2nd round and show up at his home with Brian Cashman, George Steinbrenner, and an armored truck. Inside armored truck will be 3 million dollars in small bills packed inside cardboard boxes. Brian Cashman will hand him the money and say, "So, want to go to college now, kid? Heres a contract". Or at least, that's what they should do.
6:53 PM, Eric: At #77, the Mets drafted HS RHP Scott Moviel, aka Brackman Jr. Moviel, a former basketball player, is 6'10" and is committed to NC State, Brackman's alma mater.
6:55 PM, Eric: After pick #90, Robles and St. Clair are both still on the board, as are Harvey and McGeary. Another intriguing pick is Texas OF Kyle Russell, who I am surprised is still on the board. Russell, despite having a hole in his swing, led the NCAA DI in homers, and he could advance quickly as a power bat in the outfield, and could replace Matsui or Abreu eventually.
7:00 PM, Eric: With pick #94, the Yankees drafted high school catcher
Austin Romine. Romine is supposed to have a plus throwing arm and good hitting potential, but is inconsistent behind the plate. I have not heard much about Romine previously, but he seems like he has decent upside as a catcher. Catchers are hard to predict, and I was hoping the Yanks would take more of a sure thing in Russell, or maybe another of the high-upside high school arms.
7:19 PM, Eric: 3rd round is going on, and so far, the guys I have been hoping the Yankees will pick are still available. They pick at the end of the round, at 124, but hopefully they'll be able to make good with their pick
7:38 PM, EJ: Matt Harvey went to the Angels. Anaheim didn't have a 1st round pick, so I like the pick from their standpoint. He probably won't sign, but you never know. We picked Ryan Pope with our 3rd overall pick, which complicates things in two ways. First off, Ryan Pope shares the name with an actor, so google doesn't help me, and second, I've never heard of the guy. I'll find out by tonight.
8:15 PM, EJ: The Yankees took 3rd baseman
Brad Suttle from the University of Texas. He's a guy that the scouts saw a lot of and really didn't like, so I'll try and figure out why they drafted him before I do my recap tonight. Looks like MLB is going to get the 5th round done before calling it a day.
