Transmogrified Tiger

D. Barney sure will be easier to type in the daily minor league boxes, though. You Cali. you got Barney's stats? .296/.370/.432/.802, 30 BB/29 K, 12/15 SB

Seems a little premature to typecast Thomas as a utility infielder.

It's like drafting Joe Simokaitis all over again, except 6 rounds earlier.

This seems like a waste.

His line this year: .430/.522/.733/1.255, 43 BB/39 K, 31/36 SB Conference line(ACC): .374/.500/.740/1.240, 25 BB/21 K, 12/16 SB

Thomas hit the bejeezus out of the baseball this year, holy crap

Is Russell off the board? It doesn't appear so according to draft tracker, so have we reached the point where he's going to be drafted low enough that we can't sign him?

I remember Moviel being hyped back when I was in OH, when he was a Sophomore. Too bad he's a Met.

Whew. Getting away from depressing scouting reports, here's his line: .349/.444/.591/1.036, 17/20 SB, 38/27 BB/K. He caught 38.7% of 31 baserunners stealing. There may be holes in his swing, but that's a pretty impressive line. His conference line: .313/.389/.446/.835, 46.7% of 15 baserunners caught stealing.

31

Wendell Fairley to SF

When's our next pick after 48? We lost our 2nd rounder, right? EDIT: Found it. No 2nd rounder, our 3rd rounder is 97.

Does Burgess fall to us at 48?

Somebody's been copying these at GRB, no idea the source. 47. James Simmons, rhp School: UC Riverside. Class: Jr. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-4. Wt.: 215. Birthdate: 9/29/86. Scouting Report: Simmons was a high school teammate of San Diego's Josh Romanski, a sophomore lefty and the Toreros' No. 2 starter. Simmons has been UC Riverside's ace since his freshman season in 2005, when he won at Oregon State but was academically ineligible at midseason. He followed a good sophomore season by dominating the Cape Cod League last summer, posting a 1.18 ERA. Simmons has worn the label of ace even more comfortably as a junior, winning a much-hyped duel with Cal State Fullerton rival Wes Roemer in late April, when he pumped up his fastball to 93 mph. Usually, Simmons sits at 89-90 mph, but he commands the fastball better than anyone else in college baseball in 2007. Scouts give him 60 or even 70 grades (on the 20-80 scale) for his command. He pitches off the fastball, both a sinking two-seamer and firmer four-seamer, and works all quadrants of the strike zone. Some scouts don't like his secondary pitches as anything but fringe-average, but his slider and particularly his changeup find some takers. His slow curveball needs significant improvement. His toughness and above-average makeup endear him to all scouts. Simmons will go as high in the draft--and as far as a pro--as his fastball command takes him. W L ERA G SV IP H BB SO 9 2 2.11 14 0 102 80 12 102

That's a huge red flag for me. The guy isn't going to learn plate discipline with the Cubs, and he isn't going to handle those pitches against pros. If we have another 4:1 K:BB guy on our hands, he won't help at all. FWIW Keith Law and espn.com has his plate discipline graded out higher than Dominquez, Moustakas and Heyward (although they were just raving about his discipline earlier). Yeah, "can handle" doesn't necessarily mean "will swing at".

The Braves are such a good organization. Porcello continues to fall.

Doolittle was the one that was compared to Magadan, not Vitters.

Somebody please say the name of the pick.

Cubs fans are never happy. The Cubs could win the World Series and there would still be complaining going on here. Would you still be complaining about the complainers? I would've preferred Moustakas/Heywood/Wieters, but let's not lose sight of the fact of the uncertainty here. This isn't free agency where we have a pretty good idea who's going to give you what, there's a crapload of variability in how these guys are going to turn out.

Time to start hoping Porcello and/or Wieters drop like a rock.

Are they including the Sandwich round with the 5 minute rule?

Selfish request: Once the Cubs make their pick, can somebody start a thread about it for all the reactions? I'm probably one of at least several that can only check in, and keeping the "Actual Draft Thread" mostly about the picks made would be helpful IMO.

Well, if we're not going to take Moustakas, at least I'll feel better if he's already off the board.

There's seemingly no chance of it, but Moustakas is the guy I like.

I think I read something that he wants a Teixeira style deal. That and we don't have an owner. I'd like to see Moustakas.