2008 Day 1 Draft Thread

[Guest]

Nieto really fell.

[UK1679666180]

Nieto really fell.

 

If the Nats can pull this, they'll have another great draft. Of course, they hired Rizzo from AZ at the same time as the last two drafts,

[UK1679666180]

Jermaine Curtis

 

Curtis won’t blow you away with his raw tools, but he plays hard, has excellent makeup and finds a way to get the most out of his ability. He has a good line-drive swing that produced a .329 average with four homers as a sophomore at UCLA and a .295 average and three home runs last summer in an all-star season in the Cape Cod League. He has a strong, lean, wiry physique and a short, quick, compact stroke and should add power as he continues to get stronger. He’s a solid defender at third base with good hands and excels at coming in on balls, though his arm strength—his weakest tool—is considered just marginal. He compensates by getting excellent reads on balls at the hot corner. In all probability, his lack of raw arm strength will push him to second base in pro ball. He runs OK, but is not a blazer.—ALLAN SIMPSON

UPDATE (5/15): Though he had a big weekend at the plate at Arizona State late in the season with a lot of scouts on hand, Curtis had just an average junior year. He hit a pedestrian .303-2-22 (through mid-May) and did little to improve his draft worth since his strong summer season on the Cape. He has good playability, but scouts saw a player whose power, speed and arm are marginal, if not below average. He gave little indication his power will play on an infield corner and his overall tools profile better for second base at the pro level.—AS

[Guest]

Uggggggggggggggh, not a Cardinal. He was my favorite the last few seasons. :(

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Uggggggggggggggh, not a Cardinal. He was my favorite the last few seasons. :(

 

That's how I felt last year.

[UK1679666180]

I like the A's pick of Christian out of Michigan (SS)

[Outshined_One]

Huh. Based on reliable information I'm hearing, apparently Flaherty is taller than his listed height. He's likely around 6'5.

[RammyFanny]

Justin Bristow, P.

[Outshined_One]

Justin Bristow?

 

Ha! I remember him! I wanted the Cubs to take him as a high schooler, when he was a C/3B type.

[Outshined_One]

After digging around, it looks like Bristow has converted to the mound and made second team all-conference in C-USA as a starting pitcher. I remember reading a report that he was in the low 90s with very good breaking stuff back in HS. It looks like he went to Auburn, floundered on the mound and at the plate, and then transferred to ECU, where he managed to turn things around for himself.

 

I'm trying to dig around for some info on how he's done since going to ECU. I like this pick for purely nostalgia reasons.

[sweetpeteman]

Player   	           era  	w-l  	app-gs  	cg  	sho  	sv  	ip  	h  	r  	er  	bb  	so  	2b  	3b  	hr  	ab  	b/avg  	wp  	hbp  	bk  	sfa  	sha 
Bristow, Justin   	3.07  	9-2  	16-16  	2  	2/0  	0  	93.2  	81  	39  	32  	27  	84  	14  	1  	4  	351  	.231  	0  	13  	0  	1  	3 

[Butterscup1679666578]

Zagone!

[Guest]

I see we're going to round 6.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

holy crap, why is someone taking Rick Zagone in the 6th round

[RammyFanny]

LOL, Whitesox take Kenny Williams.

[Butterscup1679666578]

holy crap, why is someone taking Rick Zagone in the 6th round

 

Hahaha. I think he could be a pretty solid reliever. Everything seems to be mental with him. During his injury this past season, Jamieson wasn't too pleased with him (according to my supervisor in the SID office) because he was more afraid of pushing himself through the injury than anything, and was making the injury to be bigger than it was. I guess we'll see.

[CoolHandLuke]

ALL WHITE DRAFT

[Guest]

Kevin Goldstein (5:46:48 PM PT): David (Samona State University, CA): I take it Harold Martinez will be going to Miami? What happened to Isaac Galloway, by the way?

 

He'll be going to San Diego State!

[RammyFanny]

Josh Harrison, another short IF it looks like.

[Guest]

IF Josh Harrison, Cincinnati

 

Harrison was named co-Big East Conference player of the year after hitting .378 with 22 steals, though his feel for hitting is more impressive than his swing and he's just an average runner. He's stronger than Campana but isn't going to have much power with wood bats. Of greater concern is Harrison's defense at second base. He made 19 errors in 59 games and doesn't turn the pivot well, and he doesn't profile at another position. He's the nephew of former big leaguer John Shelby.

[Butterscup1679666578]

IF Josh Harrison, Cincinnati

 

Harrison was named co-Big East Conference player of the year after hitting .378 with 22 steals, though his feel for hitting is more impressive than his swing and he's just an average runner. He's stronger than Campana but isn't going to have much power with wood bats. Of greater concern is Harrison's defense at second base. He made 19 errors in 59 games and doesn't turn the pivot well, and he doesn't profile at another position. He's the nephew of former big leaguer John Shelby.

 

 

I admittedly don't know much about amateur baseball players and the draft itself but I have to think there are much better players and players who project better than this guy, especially at this point in the draft. Am I way off here?

[UK1679666180]

Eric Fornataro-Cardinals

 

Fornataro barely registered among area scouts a year ago at Pensacola (Fla.) JC, where he went 1-2, 5.89 in just 18 innings of work. But he became one of the hottest junior college arms in the country this spring after his transfer to Miami-Dade. Though he suffered his team’s only loss as Miami-Dade raced out to a 25-1 record, Fornataro clearly was the pitcher scouts targeted on a deep and talented staff and he continued to move up draft boards through the spring. He was 7-2, 2.87 with 26 walks and 77 strikeouts in 78 innings as Miami-Dade, the second-ranked team in Florida, entered state tournament play. Fornataro has smooth mechanics with a clean arm action and throws everything with ease. His stuff includes a heavy fastball in the 90-93 mph range, touching 94, along with a solid changeup and a developing slider. He maintains his arm speed well and gets good deception on his changeup, which has late, tumbling action. Though he is around the plate with all his pitches, he lacks consistent command of his slider. He also has a tendency of pitching backwards, leading with his changeup in fastball counts

[shnsajax]

So does Jordan Danks stay in school for his senior season?

[jersey cubs fan]

I checked out the daily herald blog today and Bruce's partner in crime, who covers the White Sox, said don't be surprised if Beckham is the starting SS come openind day 2009.

 

Is that really a possibility? I know college hitters are generally the best bets to make it and get called to the bigs early, but he'll have under a half a season of pro ball under his belt by then. How many guys have pulled that off?

[Outshined_One]

I checked out the daily herald blog today and Bruce's partner in crime, who covers the White Sox, said don't be surprised if Beckham is the starting SS come openind day 2009.

 

Is that really a possibility? I know college hitters are generally the best bets to make it and get called to the bigs early, but he'll have under a half a season of pro ball under his belt by then. How many guys have pulled that off?

 

Ryan Zimmerman