2014 Draft Discussion

[Tryptamine]

I'm looking forward to the first player who tells his coach to go screw himself when he asks him to pitch on 2 days rest.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

That's the thing. No player will ever do that. The coaches know this and that just makes them bigger [expletive].

[SouthSideRyan]

That's the thing. No player will ever do that. The coaches know this and that just makes them bigger [expletive].

 

I could see it happening from a player who blew out his arm at a young age's kid.

[Guest]

It's happened already. It just doesn't get press.

[Guest]

Chris Crawford's penultimate mock: http://mlbdraftinsider.com/2014/06/the-penultimate-mock-2/

 

No. 01: Houston Astros

Name Position School Slot

Brady Aiken LHP Cathedral Catholic HS (San Diego) $7.9221M

No change at the top. Again, I don’t think this is a lock, and I expect the Astros to debate this one up until draft day, but I still expect Aiken to be the pick.

 

No. 02: Miami Marlins

Name Position School Slot

Carlos Rodon LHP NC State $6.8218M

There’s still a possibility that they take Alex Jackson or Tyler Kolek, but if Rodon is still on the board — and it’s looking more and more likely he will be — he’s the pick.

 

No. 03: Chicago White Sox

Name Position School Slot

Tyler Kolek RHP Shepherd HS (Texas) $5.7125M

I’m hearing Aaron Nola mentioned with this pick more and more — keep in mind the White Sox haven’t taken a prep pitcher with their first selection in quite some time — but I still think Kolek is the pick if he’s still there. If not, Nola’s the guy.

 

No. 04: Chicago Cubs

Name Position School Slot

Aaron Nola RHP LSU $4.6212M

Still hearing all sorts of names attached to the Cubs: Max Pentecost, Kyle Freeland, Michael Conforto, Bradley Zimmer, Nick Gordon, etc. At the end of the day, I think they go with the pitcher, but to say that I’m not sure is quite the understatement.

[Guest]

OSU (Conforto), LSU (Nola) and Indiana (Schwarber) upset and eliminates. Kennesaw State (Pentecost) still alive.

[Guest]

This draft on a national level is opposite of here in IL compared to next year.

 

15 is looking bad locally but better nationally and tank for Cameron.

 

What can any of this possibly mean?

[Guest]

This draft on a national level is opposite of here in IL compared to next year.

 

15 is looking bad locally but better nationally and tank for Cameron.

 

What can any of this possibly mean?

 

This year's overall draft is bad but next year's is good. On the other hand, in Illinois, the draft is good this year and bad next year.

 

Then, he adds tank for Daz Cameron.

[UK1679666180]

Let me know if there's a report you want on any of these elite guys...

 

Is PG going to release another set of reports?

 

Could you give me Gordon and Jackson, please?

 

I wish they would update their draft focus, I've been disappointed with their product since they combined pgcrosschecker and pg.

 

 

 

Jackson:

 

 

Position: C/OF/3B

Height: 6-2

Weight: 210

Bats/Throws: R-R

Birthdate: Dec. 25, 1995

High School: Rancho Bernardo

City, State: Escondido, Calif.

Travel Team: San Diego Show

Commitment: Oregon

Projected Draft Round: 1

 

Alex Jackson loudly introduced himself to the larger baseball world in 2010, starting for Rancho Bernardo High School (a.k.a. “The Factory), one of the most storied high school programs in the country, as a freshman. He hit .376-5-27 with 15 doubles as a 15 year old in the spring of 2011, then topped that by hitting .400-17-36 as a sophomore in 2012.

 

He stole the show as an underclassman at the 2012 Area Code Games, going 6-for-7 with five extra base hits, the final one a laser triple off the center field fence that hit the cement wall at Blair Field and rebounded half way back to the infield. Yes, the balls were juiced at that event, but Jackson hit the ball as hard as is humanly possible for 16 year old just about every time up.

 

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

When Perfect Game re-ordered the class of 2014 top prospect list at the end of that summer, Jackson was the obvious choice to hold down the top overall spot.

 

Fast forward to January of 2014. Jackson now sits in the number three slot behind Georgia outfielder Michael Gettys and Florida shortstop/righthanded pitcher Nicholas Gordon. What happened?

 

In many ways nothing happened. Jackson is still perhaps the most enjoyable player in the country to watch work out. His strength and bat speed enable him to put on a majestic show in batting practice. His tools and athletic awareness in catching drills are unique and his arm strength from the outfield, coupled with his surprising athleticism, make him equally outstanding at that position.

 

In fact, Jackson’s catching drill performance at the 2013 PG National Showcase was one for the ages on multiple levels. He made his first couple of throws for the radar gun and threw absolute lines to second base, one registering an all-time Perfect Game record 91 mph. He then shortened his arm action and release and threw a couple of mid 1.7s on the bag, the lowest being 1.74. That may seem like a simple thing to do in concept but to actually pull it off in a Major League stadium with hundreds of scouts watching at the biggest showcase in baseball is an entirely different matter. It was no problem for Jackson.

 

Jackson also has stood out for his makeup and character on and off the field. He was most impressive for his role with fellow Perfect Game All-Americans Brady Aiken and Sean Bouchard in acting as the “hosts” for the PG All-American Classic in San Diego last August, leading an effort by the trio to raise over $12,000 for Rady Children’s Hospital prior to the game. Jackson handled the entire effort, including the ensuing media attention, with adult maturity.

 

Where Jackson has come up short in what admittedly is an unimportant semantic exercise of ranking players, is that he hasn’t had that single distinguishing at-bat or game or event over the last 18 months that clearly stamps him as “the guy” in the 2014 class. Many scouts feel that his swing has got longer, with the result being less squared up contact to the middle of the field, where Jackson’s power plays the best. He had arguably his worst, taken in context, high school season as a junior, hitting .343-14-37 with 22 strikeouts and rarely drove the ball hard in national level events during the summer and fall.

 

That ability to take his prodigious hitting tools consistently into game situations will be the major thing that scouts will be looking at this spring leading up to the draft.

 

The other thing that could potentially factor in to Jackson’s evaluation is the speculation on his future position. He is being advised by Scott Boras, who famously, and in retrospect very wisely, orchestrated Bryce Harper’s move from the physical demands of catching to the more offensively friendly freedoms of playing the outfield at a similar age.

[UK1679666180]

Gordon:

 

Position: SS/RHP

Height: 6-2

Weight: 170

Bats/Throws: L-R

Birthdate: Oct. 24, 1995

High School: Olympia

City, State: Windermere, Fla.

Travel Team: FTB Chandler

Commitment: Florida State

Projected Draft Round: 1

 

There is an element of the baseball community that says once a player has the attention of the scouts, has his national ranking and has his college commitment, there really isn’t any reason for him to hustle around and play at national level events.

 

Fortunately that is a very small element in the game at this level. The reality is that baseball is a game of repetitions and learning, and the only way you get better is by playing as often as possible against players of your talent level or better.

 

No player in the 2014 class has ascribed as enthusiastically and completely, and benefited as much, to the 'play as much as you can' path than Nicholas Gordon.

 

Gordon has played in at least 24 Perfect Game events, starting at the 2010 Perfect Game/East Cobb 14/15u Championship and continuing on through the 2014 World Showcase in early January. He’s also played in numerous other national level events such as the Area Code Games and the East Coast Pro Showcase. The pinnacle of last summer occurred when he received the Jackie Robinson Award as part of the Perfect Game All-American Classic, honoring not only his success on the baseball field, but the high merits of his character.

 

Maybe the only time he’s been known to pass on an opportunity to play was last summer when he declined to play at the Tournament of Stars as part of the selection process for the USA 18u National Team. The story in the scouting community was that Gordon’s mother, Yolanda, wasn’t wild about him spending two weeks of school time traveling in Taiwan and South Korea.

 

When a scout gets to see a player play that much over a four-year period of development it becomes a huge advantage to the player – if his tools, skills and character are up to it.

 

Gordon’s tools and skills are most obvious on defense. While his running speed is probably only a 55 on the pro scouting scale – he ran 6.69, 6.68 and 6.65 in his three sixty’s in 2013 – he is exceptionally athletic and quick in his actions and will have easy plus to plus/plus range. His raw arm strength is peerless and is at the top of the grading scale. He has a tendency to lay back on routine ground balls and get them between hops, but that is a learned skill that he will grow out of with repetitions and a faster game.

 

When the game gets faster is when Gordon’s defensive instincts and creativity really shine. He’s one of the rare players one watches closely on defense because you never know when he might make a spectacular play.

 

My personal favorite was when he was playing second base at the PG National Showcase last June. With a runner on first, the batter rolled a ground ball up the middle that looked like a base hit. Gordon slid across the dirt cutout at second base to spear the ball, tagged the second base bag with his glove in same motion as fielding the ball, then effortlessly popped up and threw to first to complete the double play by 20 feet. It looked so simple and yet was so difficult and unique.

 

I turned to the scout next to me and said, “who in the big leagues makes that play?”

 

Observing Gordon’s evolution as a hitter has been a huge benefit of seeing him so often. He’s always had a fundamentally sound swing that keeps the barrel inside the ball for a long time and works the ball to the middle of the field and to the left-center field gap. It’s not a dissimilar overall approach than a bigger Joe Mauer had at the same age.

 

When he weighed 150 pounds, Gordon just concentrated on getting the barrel out and squaring the ball up. As he’s got stronger the ball is coming off the barrel harder and going up the gap instead of just over the shortstop’s head, and he’s learning what pitches he can turn on and drive to the pull side.

 

At the World Showcase a couple of weeks ago it was obvious that Gordon was stronger in the upper body and his bat speed and strength at contact reflected that. The defining swing was when he took an 86 mph fastball from a lefthander and calmly drove it about 30 feet over the left fielder’s head. It was not something he could probably have done a year before.

 

But it might be with the character aspect that seeing Gordon around the ballpark and at the field so much has benefited scouts the most. There is no player in the 2014 class whose self-identity and actions are more centered around being a baseball player than Nicholas Gordon. Yes, it is easier when your father played in the Major Leagues for over 20 years. But that is only a first step.

 

Gordon has played for FTB and their head coach Jered Goodwin in the summers and fall for over two years. Goodwin isn’t shy about discussing Gordon and very little of it has to do with his tools.

 

“Nick is like a little brother to me. We are past the coach-player relationship. He is as genuine of a kid as I have ever been around. There is zero entitlement, he wants to work hard and build his own road. Nick is a leader on the field and off of it and the hard work and competitiveness is contagious to the people around him. He can run, field, hit, has a great arm and is developing power.

 

“However, his best tool may be his character. Nick is the biggest fan of all his teammates and truly wants them to do well. When you have a leader like that it makes it so easy for an entire team to produce big numbers and wins. With everything that Nick brings to the table you could start to build a franchise around him. People just want to be around this kid.”

 

Of course, no discussion of Gordon would be complete without breaking down his potential on the mound. It’s noteworthy that Goodwin says that Gordon and his father love to compete and trash talk and the two most common and heated topics are who's better at basketball and who has a better curveball.

 

Any 18 year old who can argue with conviction that he has a better curveball than Tom “Flash” Gordon is saying something.

 

There is no question that Gordon has first round potential on the mound. Even before his recent strength/weight gains, he was capable of getting his fastball up to 94 mph with great downhill plane and without too much effort. His upper-70s hammer is indeed a potential plus big league pitch, and it would just be a matter of more innings before his changeup and command advanced to the same level. There are plenty of national level scouts who feel this way and dream of Gordon focusing on the mound.

 

I once asked Flash what he thought about the whole shortstop versus pitcher question. After pointing out that he, too, had been a primary shortstop back in high school in Avon Park, Fla. in the mid-80s, he answered with a laugh.

 

“Oh no. Nick thinks he’s a shortstop and I think he’s a shortstop. That’s what he’s going to play.

[weis21]

FWIW from Dave Cameron's chat yesterday:

 

Comment From T-bird

Top 3 picks expected to be pitchers (Aiken, Kolek, Rodon). Is this wise, or are teams undervaluing injury risk?

 

Dave Cameron: I think your information is a little old. Alex Jackson is probably going #2, and there’s apparently a chance that Houston goes with a position player at #1 as well.

[Guest]

Sahadev Sharma ‏@sahadevsharma 16m

But rumblings that Astros will take Aiken, who Marlins want, leading them to take Jackson & Sox taking Kolek, is a perfect scenario for Cubs

[iowahawkeyes89]

I just can't justify taking a pitcher at 1.4 unless its an absolute homerun.

 

Kolek has command issues and lacks a consistent plus secondary pitch. (and he's throwing 100 MPH at 18, which leads me to believe he'll have arm problems in the future)

 

Rodons been regularly throwing 115+ pitches and has had shoulder problems in the past. Despite his college success, he has a lot of miles and has been borderline abused by his college coaches.

 

Aiken simply wont be available at 1.4

 

I'm actually coming around to the idea of taking Gordon. A plus defender with good speed and developing power/bat.

 

For whatever reason, Nick Gordon strikes me as a player our current front office would covet. (Great defense, good character, great teammate, leader etc.)

 

1.4 is a big investment

[Guest]

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

Holy crap. A 16-year old hitting a ball over the batter's eye at UCSD is incredibly impressive.

[Guest]

Other tweets in this chain, in order:

 

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

Sahadev Sharma ‏@sahadevsharma 16m

But rumblings that Astros will take Aiken, who Marlins want, leading them to take Jackson & Sox taking Kolek, is a perfect scenario for Cubs

 

@sahadevsharma: That is to say, I don't see a chance of the Cubs passing up Rodon if he's available at four unless something weird is going on.

[Tryptamine]

Marlin

You have to hope Kolek or Jackson go in the top 3 which is possible, but not a guarantee. Neither of those two are targets at 4 from what I can gather.

 

So it looks like unless one of Aiken or Rodon slip, we're going under slot.

[Guest]

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

Holy crap. A 16-year old hitting a ball over the batter's eye at UCSD is incredibly impressive.

 

wait, alex jackson is 16? i thought he was 18, and it's apparently hard to find the age of high school players online.

[Guest]

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

Holy crap. A 16-year old hitting a ball over the batter's eye at UCSD is incredibly impressive.

 

wait, alex jackson is 16? i thought he was 18, and it's apparently hard to find the age of high school players online.

 

No. He was 16 when he did that.

[jersey cubs fan]

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

Holy crap. A 16-year old hitting a ball over the batter's eye at UCSD is incredibly impressive.

 

wait, alex jackson is 16? i thought he was 18, and it's apparently hard to find the age of high school players online.

 

He was at the time, in 2012:

He stole the show as an underclassman at the 2012 Area Code Games, going 6-for-7 with five extra base hits, the final one a laser triple off the center field fence that hit the cement wall at Blair Field and rebounded half way back to the infield. Yes, the balls were juiced at that event, but Jackson hit the ball as hard as is humanly possible for 16 year old just about every time up.

 

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

[Guest]

god, i am annoying

[Guest]

@ProfessorParks: Not for me. RT @lot_49 @ProfessorParks Do you think any of these '14 draftees belong on a top 25 list given what you know today?

[Guest]

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

Holy crap. A 16-year old hitting a ball over the batter's eye at UCSD is incredibly impressive.

 

wait, alex jackson is 16? i thought he was 18, and it's apparently hard to find the age of high school players online.

 

This kind of comes off as creepy.

[Guest]

Jim Callis joins Kiley McDaniel on his podcast to talk draft: http://sbb.scout.com/2/1408269.html

[Guest]

Jackson followed that up a week later by putting on a show in front of the Perfect Game scouts at the PG National Games. He launched the first pitch in batting practice over the batter’s eye at UC San Diego, threw 84 mph and popped a 1.73 in drills, then stood out in the games on both sides of the ball, even playing third base at a high prospect level to show off his athleticism.

 

Holy crap. A 16-year old hitting a ball over the batter's eye at UCSD is incredibly impressive.

 

wait, alex jackson is 16? i thought he was 18, and it's apparently hard to find the age of high school players online.

 

This kind of comes off as creepy.

 

seriously? i actually made sure to phrase it in a way where i wasn't surprised at the fact, because i understand why they don't usually list the age.

 

i guess it's okay analyze these guys' body types, character, schooling and almost everything else. just as long as you don't try to find out when you can expect them to hit their prime as a player. then it's creepy.

[Guest]

It's Raisin. I'm pretty sure he was just [expletive] with you.