2007 Draft Class

[Guest]

how many guys do you think will get (or at least ask for) major league contracts? I'm guessing just Wieters and Price.

 

Brackman and Scherzer too (Boras clients).

 

Scherzer I can believe (if he doesn't sign with the D'backs) but I wouldn't give Brackman a big league contract. Just seems too raw to me.

 

I wouldn't either, but I can easily see a team that drafted him give him one. Samardzija was probably as raw as Brackman and he got a big league contract.

[Mephistopheles]

http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/draft/rankings/?rank=draft

[Mephistopheles]

Ooh the write up on Vitters includes

 

Vitters' his hand-eye coordination and ability to make contact are almost too good, because at times he swings at pitches he should let pass

[imb]

Ooh the write up on Vitters includes

 

Vitters' his hand-eye coordination and ability to make contact are almost too good, because at times he swings at pitches he should let pass

 

He's a Cub. We might as well start stitching his name on the jersey already.

[TruffleShuffle]

Ooh the write up on Vitters includes

 

Vitters' his hand-eye coordination and ability to make contact are almost too good, because at times he swings at pitches he should let pass

 

He's a Cub. We might as well start stitching his name on the jersey already.

 

oh yeah, no way we draft wieters over a hacker

[Mephistopheles]

9. Jason Heyward, of

School: Henry County HS, McDonough, Ga. Class: Sr.

B-T: L-L. Ht.: 6-2. Wt.: 198. Birthdate: 8/9/89.

Scouting Report: Along with Brackman, Heyward has as much upside as any player in the draft. He possesses a rare blend of strong tools and feel for all phases of the game. He draws physical comparisons to Fred McGriff, while his tools are similar to Willie McCovey's and his approach is comparable to Frank Thomas'. Heyward's father played basketball at Dartmouth and his uncle played basketball for John Wooden at UCLA. He led McDonough High to the school's first state championship in baseball as a junior, when he was used as a center fielder, first baseman and pitcher. He'll play right field as a professional, where he's a solid-average defender with average arm strength. He's an average runner. His plate discipline and pitch recognition are outstanding, though some scouts left his games frustrated that he wasn't more aggressive. He rarely misses his pitch, and he shows above-average bat speed and a willingness to use the whole field. He has plus-plus raw power. Heyward will need to lower his hands in his set-up to improve his ability to get backspin on balls, helping his power translate into more home runs.

 

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm too uncub to take?

[RichHillIsABeast]

Why all the Vitters hate? The DRays have him as one of the 3 picks worthy of being selected 1 overall. Dude must have a horrible ceiling. Honestly. Hacker. Shoddy defense. No power.

[imb]

Why all the Vitters hate? The DRays have him as one of the 3 picks worthy of being selected 1 overall. Dude must have a horrible ceiling. Honestly. Hacker. Shoddy defense. No power.

 

The year we drafted Ryan Harvey, he was one of the players the Devil Rays considered at No. 1. What's your point?

[RichHillIsABeast]

Why all the Vitters hate? The DRays have him as one of the 3 picks worthy of being selected 1 overall. Dude must have a horrible ceiling. Honestly. Hacker. Shoddy defense. No power.

 

The year we drafted Ryan Harvey, he was one of the players the Devil Rays considered at No. 1. What's your point?

 

Ryan Harvey is completely different from Vitters. What's your point?

[Mephistopheles]

Why all the Vitters hate? The DRays have him as one of the 3 picks worthy of being selected 1 overall. Dude must have a horrible ceiling. Honestly. Hacker. Shoddy defense. No power.

 

why? because hes not as good as wieters.

[RichHillIsABeast]

Why all the Vitters hate? The DRays have him as one of the 3 picks worthy of being selected 1 overall. Dude must have a horrible ceiling. Honestly. Hacker. Shoddy defense. No power.

 

why? because hes not as good as wieters.

 

Fine:

 

1. Price

2. Wieters

3. Vitters.

 

What's there to complain about with taking Vitters 3rd overall? The DRays think he's worth it. Wilken thinks he's worth it.

[Mephistopheles]

because hes not better than moustakas.

[Mephistopheles]

or heyward

 

or ....

[imb]

Why all the Vitters hate? The DRays have him as one of the 3 picks worthy of being selected 1 overall. Dude must have a horrible ceiling. Honestly. Hacker. Shoddy defense. No power.

 

The year we drafted Ryan Harvey, he was one of the players the Devil Rays considered at No. 1. What's your point?

 

Ryan Harvey is completely different from Vitters. What's your point?

 

Of course he is, but that wasn't your point. Your point was that because the DRays think he might be worthy of the No. 1 pick, that we should be ok with picking him.

 

The DRays also thought that Harvey was worthy of the No. 1 pick in 2003, so should we just assume the same, here? Obviously not.

[Guest]

or heyward

 

or ....

 

Scouting Report: Along with Brackman, Heyward has as much upside as any player in the draft. He possesses a rare blend of strong tools and feel for all phases of the game. He draws physical comparisons to Fred McGriff, while his tools are similar to Willie McCovey's and his approach is comparable to Frank Thomas'. Heyward's father played basketball at Dartmouth and his uncle played basketball for John Wooden at UCLA. He led McDonough High to the school's first state championship in baseball as a junior, when he was used as a center fielder, first baseman and pitcher. He'll play right field as a professional, where he's a solid-average defender with average arm strength. He's an average runner. His plate discipline and pitch recognition are outstanding, though some scouts left his games frustrated that he wasn't more aggressive. He rarely misses his pitch, and he shows above-average bat speed and a willingness to use the whole field. He has plus-plus raw power. Heyward will need to lower his hands in his set-up to improve his ability to get backspin on balls, helping his power translate into more home runs.

 

=P~

 

Though I'm still hoping he has ridiculous contract demands, doesn't sign and ends up at UCLA for the next 3 years. :)

[RammyFanny]

because hes not better than moustakas.

How do you know?

 

Have you ever seen video on Moustakas or Vitters besides a minute clip on milb.com (serious question, not trying to sound like an ass)? If not, are you just going by what you read? Because what you read says Vitters won't be a bust, and will likely be better than Moustakas.

 

And yes, obviously, I know "don't believe everything that you read". But what else can we believe unless we've seen these kids play for longer than 60 seconds?

[Guest]

I will say this - Moustakas power is amazing - granted a few of the videos I've seen are from BP but still.

[UK1679666180]

Wieters:

 

SCOUTING REPORT: Wieters entered the spring with almost unreachable expectations and scouts seemed disappointed early in the year when he wasn’t hitting home runs every game, batting .500 and leaping high buildings. That talk has calmed in the second half as Wieters has shown improvement in a couple of phases of the game. An appreciation has developed for just how easily Wieters plays the game and does otherwise difficult things, like catch and switch-hit with power. Two areas that Wieters has improved in are his hitting from the right side and his receiving skills. He’s more of a natural hitter than a power hitter, although he can put on a batting-practice power display with the best of them, especially from the left side. He was hitting .366-8-51 through the regular season—compared to .355-15-71 a year ago. Wieters’ defensive skills are increasingly smooth and polished, particularly for a tall and long-limbed catcher. One area Wieters has not excelled at this year is pitching (1-3, 7.43 with three saves in 13 innings); perhaps he wasn’t emotionally into it with the pressures of catching and the upcoming draft, but few scouts doubt that he could be a first-round type talent any longer if that was his sole concentration. Comparisons with Joe Mauer have become more commonplace; each plays the game with athletic ease and plus intangibles, and excel both offensively and defensively. Wieters is locked in as a top 5 pick, unless something should happen late with health or signability. He is being advised by agent Scott Boras.

 

Haywood:

 

SCOUTING REPORT: Few prospects have come along who look the part better than Heywood, whose tall frame, unnaturally-broad shoulders and leveraged strength can be intimidating to opposing players. Heyward’s power potential is unquestioned. It’s easy to see him hitting the ball like Ryan Howard or David Ortiz when he’s in his mid-20s, and present evaluations of his hitting and power need to be tempered by the fact that Heyward is actually a junior-age high school player and won’t turn 18 until late summer. What separates Heyward and potentially puts him in the first half of the first round is that, despite his size and strength, he’s an agile and mobile athlete. He’s one of the most aggressive base runners in the draft class, with plus instincts and 6.8 speed. When Heyward hits a ball in the gap, you automatically think triple because Heyward is full speed out of the box. Heyward was primarily a first baseman until his junior year but his speed and 90-mph arm strength were more playable in right field. He can still be tentative at times defensively but is capable of making very athletic plays, as well, and should improve with experience.

[Lockes Eye Scar]

http://vmedia.rivals.com/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/JOSHVITTERS9_7150.JPGhttp://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_444135.jpg

[Mephistopheles]

because hes not better than moustakas.

How do you know?

 

Have you ever seen video on Moustakas or Vitters besides a minute clip on milb.com (serious question, not trying to sound like an ass)? If not, are you just going by what you read? Because what you read says Vitters won't be a bust, and will likely be better than Moustakas.

 

And yes, obviously, I know "don't believe everything that you read". But what else can we believe unless we've seen these kids play for longer than 60 seconds?

because I think scouts overvalue things that dont translate to wins as much as other things. Being a "pure hitter" is one of them. Moustakas is just a bit behind there and has more power, and is a much better defensive talent and might even catch well with his plus-plus arm.

[Guest]

BA's 101-200: http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/draft/rankings/?rank=draft&page=6

[CubinNY]

because I think scouts overvalue things that dont translate to wins as much as other things. Being a "pure hitter" is one of them.

 

Yes, yes, yes.

 

Subjective evaluations are often correct, but their reliability at any given time is unknown. The farther out from professional baseball the evaluation, the less reliable it will be.

[craig]

Potential hitting ability is hard to quantify. And certainly there have been enough Keltons and Brant Browns who were said to have beautiful strokes and be "pure hitters" who were weren't.

 

But, I think "pure hitter" is a very desirable thing. Which if any scout can say who is or isn't, I don't trust that so well or trust how they do so. But, there are obvious components of hitting.

a) How long is the stroke? (Getting harvey and Dopirak, with long strokes, and then thinking you'll be able to shorten them, I'm sure it sometimes works but not too super often. It's one of the reasons that I tend to be skeptical about tall hitters, especially HS ones.)

b) Plate balance?

c) Bat speed, to handle hard stuff, particularly inside. Can you get around on it like Sandberg could, and jerk the inside fastballs? Or, like Kieschnick, do you have to almost guess ahead of time, and if you're guessing outside but pitch comes inside half, you look silly?

d) Stroke/quiet bat. This touches with balance, bat speed, and stroke length. But good hitters can often stay put long enough to actually see what's happening with the pitch, but still pull the trigger in intelligent response. Pure hitters have that ability. How do you quantify that or project it from facing HS pitchers to facing big-league velocity and movement? I don't know.

 

It's not just coincidence that some guys can hit way, way better than others. If "pure hitter" is a cliche for those who have all the components, then there's nothing I want more than a "pure hitter". If "pure hitter" is covering only one or two aspects (pretty stroke versus batting practice pitchers, but lacks the mental/physical processing to really see, diagnose, and respond effectively to the speed and movement of big-league pitches, that's not the real thing).

 

If Vitters really is a "pure hitter", and the scouts have that right, I'm very interested. I'd much prefer a "pure hitter" to a massive-power with great RF arm prospect like Harvey, who in retrospect clearly lacks the "pure hitter" tag.

 

Pure hitting is very desirable. You can have all the Dopirak power in the world, but if you aren't a pure enough hitter to ever apply it against pro pitching, who cares? The ability to make good contact is essential to power. Given the reports on Vitter's size, bat speed, and power, if in fact he is a pure hitter who can make good contact high unusual regularity, I'd assume he'll not lack for slugging percentage or HR's.

 

But, the problem is it's so difficult to correctly diagnose "pure hitter". I'd love to get one. But are the Cub scouts any better able to recognize it than when they thought Corey, Kelton, and Montanez were pure hitters?

 

If Cubs do end up with Vitters, and he does prove to be a "pure hitter", I think he'll turn out very well. But, if they take him under the judgment that he's a "pure hitter", but that proves as ill-founded a judgment as with Kelton, Corey, and Montanez, he'll disappoint.

[Mephistopheles]

Michael (Arlington, TX): Who is the fastest rising HS player in the draft? Would it be Ahrens, Kozma, or someone else?

 

SportsNation Jim Callis: (2:03 PM ET ) I don't think anyone is rocketing up the boards out of nowhere. But in terms of guys going in the first round, we're hearing Kevin Ahrens (3B from Texas) could go as high as 15 and Pete Kozma (SS from Oklahoma) could go in the 21-30 range.

[RammyFanny]

For those who can't afford BA that missed this when I posted it awhile back...

 

http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=437387&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=816

 

They usually copy paste anything important about the draft (usually entire articles).