Jump to content
North Side Baseball

2007 Draft Class

Tim
 Share
  • Replies 1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Brian MVP

Brian

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
I'd trust this organization drafting an arm over a position player (even though Prior/Tex hasn't exactly worked out)
Rob Knoxville Smokies

Rob

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
You know you could find that answer if you looked back through the thread.

 

The only one at this point would be Matt Wieters. A few other guys are advanced, but not as advanced as him.

 

I had read the entire thread, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out if he was considered elite level or another "work in progress" type of hitter. I got the impression he could hit for power and average, but they said those same things about Ryan Harvey and he's nowhere close to getting it down.

 

Forgive me if I wasn't able to discern raw tools from approach in 11 pages. It is quite a bit to read and not miss a single detail. But then again, perhaps I should have made that more clear before I blurted out a question.

 

At any rate, is his bat considered to be advanced in the way of guys like Hafner, Manny, and Ortiz... or is it just considered to be a bat that plays as an advanced bat at catcher a la Barrett or Victor Martinez?

Mephistopheles Knoxville Smokies

Mephistopheles

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
The big thing is that he's such an advanced bat from both sides of the plate. The bat is so good and the plate discipline is great. He had the best approach I saw on the Cape, with Smoak very close."
Others say he's more advanced than Jeff Clement as a hitter than Clement was a sophomore. He's about as advanced as you are ever going to get in the draft.
craig First Round Pick

craig

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

kc, you've touched on Wieters often throughout the thread. And he sounds like the perfect hitting prospect: good power, good average, good patience, good eye, as polished as an amateur hitter can get.

 

I'm not as settled on what the scouting view is on him as a position player, and how that would impact his suitability to the Cubs. My understanding is that he's sort of iffy at catcher; some think he can handle catcher defensively, others have doubts and think he'll need to switch. (Or that with his bat, you'll want him to switch to protect such a valuable hitter against the injuries and wear that grinds down catchers.) If he switches, obviously 1B is the obvious option. In terms of OF, he'd seem to have the arm, and being such a good athlete and good worker you'd think he could learn to catch the ball and throw the ball fine in a corner. Still, he's a catcher, not a runner; so my take is that it would be questionable whether he'd be able to play corner OF at even a reasonable level. Would he be as bad as Adam Dunn, or as broken-down Pat Burrell who has no range? Or would he be just fine?

 

I'd love to get him for the Cubs. True-blue hitters who have already shown that breaking balls won't kill them, and who have already shown they have power and have the inborn pitch-recognition abilities and plate disciplne to excel, guys like that are exceedingly rare. And while there are some guys who end up with that package, it's even more rare to be able to draft guys where you know they've got the full package before you even pick them. Where you aren't drafting a guy ona gamble, hoping that he'll learn to handle breakers, hoping that he'll have the eye and will have the ability to be disciplined, hoping that the projected power actually does materialize.

 

But, in other ways he seems like a very poor fit for the Cubs.

*First, he's not the type of guy they usually like. As a guy without speed, who apparently does not project as a gold-glove catcher, that doesn't seem to be the Cubs kind of guy.

*Second, as a guy who's all bat but iffy position, he'd seem to make more sense for an AL team.

*Third, it seems that if he's going to be able to play a position, unfortunately his first three spots look to be three of the few spots where the Cubs already have some quality. Granted, Barrett at catcher won't last forever, but who knows how long he might last? Hopefully long enough that he'll still be an asset player when Wieters (if he's worth drafting) is also ready to be a lineup player. Lee is locked in for four years at 1st. No place for Wieters there. Murton seems like one of the most promising hitters the Cubs have come up with in some time, but with his rubber band and crummy fielding he's strictly a LF/DH type. So he's not moving anywhere.

 

Thus, unless the Cubs thought Wieters could play right, he wouldn't seem to have any place to go, if in fact he turns out good and is ready after maybe only two summers or less in the minors. And the odds that they'd think he was a RF, well, that usually seems reserved for speedier guys. And that seems to be the place they've got Pie projected for.

 

(Note: personally I think that RF is no larger than LF. So I don't understand why a guy with a powerful arm wouldn't be as or better suited for right as for left. Granted, right is normally viewed as actually more difficult than left. But, if a guy has a computer brain that's super good at processing balls and angles and situations, then even if he isn't a speed burner you'd think he'd be able to handle the more difficultr reads in RF and the more difficult sun etc. in right as well as somebody who's faster.)

 

Personally, I hope Wieters scouts well enough so that catcher or right are both realistic positions for him. I'd love to get a middle-of-the-order patient power hitter like that, who could stay healthy (if in RF) and productive for a decade or more.

 

But I'd be pretty surprised if the Cubs didn't prefer to take a pitcher whose arm will decline, or a faster HS middle-field position prospect ahead of Wieters.

Outshined_One Cooperstown

Outshined_One

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted

From what I've read with Wieters' bat and questionable lack of a position, he sounds like another Travis Snider-like situation waiting in the wings.

 

Yay!

 

Also, I always thought guys with good arms were put in RF to keep runners from advancing to third?

SauerFan Prep Ball

SauerFan

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

Does the National League get the first draft pick in 2007? That is, if the Cubs finish behind the Pirates in the "Fecal League," do they get the number 1 pick regardless of what Tampa Bay and KC do? This is what Phil Ragers seems to imply in his column this past weekend ("Marlins catch prime pitchers").

 

I apologize if this has already been discussed.

 

Norm

Transmogrified Tiger All-Star

Transmogrified Tiger

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Does the National League get the first draft pick in 2007? That is, if the Cubs finish behind the Pirates in the "Fecal League," do they get the number 1 pick regardless of what Tampa Bay and KC do? This is what Phil Ragers seems to imply in his column this past weekend ("Marlins catch prime pitchers").

 

I apologize if this has already been discussed.

 

Norm

 

MLB got rid of the alternating leagues thing with the #1 pick a couple years ago I believe. The Padres and D-Backs drafted #1 overall in back-to-back years in '04 and '05, for example.

illiniguy Knoxville Smokies

illiniguy

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Does the National League get the first draft pick in 2007? That is, if the Cubs finish behind the Pirates in the "Fecal League," do they get the number 1 pick regardless of what Tampa Bay and KC do? This is what Phil Ragers seems to imply in his column this past weekend ("Marlins catch prime pitchers").

 

I apologize if this has already been discussed.

 

Norm

 

MLB got rid of the alternating leagues thing with the #1 pick a couple years ago I believe. The Padres and D-Backs drafted #1 overall in back-to-back years in '04 and '05, for example.

Yes wasn't that the year after Prior's draft? Otherwise wouldn't we have picked first?

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Does the National League get the first draft pick in 2007? That is, if the Cubs finish behind the Pirates in the "Fecal League," do they get the number 1 pick regardless of what Tampa Bay and KC do? This is what Phil Ragers seems to imply in his column this past weekend ("Marlins catch prime pitchers").

 

I apologize if this has already been discussed.

 

Norm

 

MLB got rid of the alternating leagues thing with the #1 pick a couple years ago I believe. The Padres and D-Backs drafted #1 overall in back-to-back years in '04 and '05, for example.

Yes wasn't that the year after Prior's draft? Otherwise wouldn't we have picked first?

 

No, the change started with the 2005 draft.

 

Mauer-Prior was in 2001.

Guest

Guest

Guests
Posted
Posted
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/highschool/news/262267.html

 

Damn, Robert Stock's going to USC early. He won't be eligible to be drafted until 2009.

 

He was interviewed on XM Home Plate this weekend.

1410 SAT- not bad for a dumb jock.

Doesn't the SAT have three sections for a max score of 2400 these days? Or did I hear that wrong?

 

You're correct.

I'm not as impressed by the 1410 anymore, then. ;)

radarluv1 First Round Pick

radarluv1

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/highschool/news/262267.html

 

Damn, Robert Stock's going to USC early. He won't be eligible to be drafted until 2009.

 

He was interviewed on XM Home Plate this weekend.

1410 SAT- not bad for a dumb jock.

Doesn't the SAT have three sections for a max score of 2400 these days? Or did I hear that wrong?

 

You're correct.

I'm not as impressed by the 1410 anymore, then. ;)

 

haha, me too. i was thinking of the old system, when 1410 was probably in the top 3-5%. had me wondering if anyone had ever qualified for skipping senior year like this.

CaliforniaRaisin GOAT

CaliforniaRaisin

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Q: bryan from buffalo, ny asks:

i dont know if this really the place for it but can you compare last years summer player of the year (A. Miller) and the years(D.Price)are they fairly similar and project the same?

 

A: John Manuel: You're lucky, I had a scout compare them last week. He said: "I think he (Price) is better than Andrew Miller at this stage, great arm speed is the key for him. He has better control and the ball has more life than Miller, but Miller does it a little easier. Price just has so much life to the fastball and the command to use all 17 inches of the plate." For what it's worth, Price is probably a bit more athletic, but Miller throws harder.

The Q Prep Ball

The Q

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

That quote from that scout is EXACTLY what I expected him to say. Taht's basically how I broke the two down.

 

And the reason he says Miller does it easier is because Price has that funky dip in his motion.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
The North Side Baseball Caretaker Fund
The North Side Baseball Caretaker Fund

You all care about this site. The next step is caring for it. We’re asking you to caretake this site so it can remain the premier Cubs community on the internet. Included with caretaking is ad-free browsing of North Side Baseball.

Become a Caretaker

  • Member Statistics

    6,794
    Total Members
    13,056
    Most Online
    jbrown
    Newest Member
    jbrown
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...