Draft News and Notes

Baseball America reports that Luke Hochevar, Pedro Beato, and Bryan Morris will be re-entering the draft. Hochevar is not a surprise, but Beato was expected to sign with the Mets and Morris with the Devil Rays.

Hochevar has made three starts for Fort Worth (Amer Assoc, Ind) with generally solid results. He went five innings in his first start against Shreveport, fanning nine and walking three while allowing four hits. In his second effort, against Lincoln, he fanned 10 and walked 4 in six innings, allowing four hits and two runs. In his most recent outing, he lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits, fanning 9 and walking three in a 8-3 win over St. Joseph’s. (Oddly enough, Matt Harrington is playing on the same team.) His next start, I believe, is tomorrow against Pensacola in an afternoon affair. Hochevar has been consistently in the low 90s, and has hit as high as 97, according to reports.

BA also notes that Scott Boras is “advising” eight players in this year’s draft, in addition to Hochevar:

In order of how they ranked on our initial College Top 100 Prospects list, they are: Missouri righthander Max Scherzer (No. 3), Southern California righty Ian Kennedy (No. 5), Florida first baseman Matt LaPorta (No. 7), Arizona shortstop Jason Donald (No. 17), Arizona State outfielder Colin Curtis (No. 19), Cal Poly righty Gary Daley (No. 24), Tulane first baseman Mark Hamilton (No. 33) and Mississippi third baseman Chris Coghlan (No. 38).

Right now, I don’t see any of these guys as top-10 material. Scherzer’s been hurt and his secondary pitches have been questionable. LaPorta’s regressed this year, still hitting home runs but flashing very little pop otherwise. Kennedy’s also regressed, with his K rate declining and his ERA and his allowed jumping up. Scherzer will probably still go in the first round (the Orioles were reportedly interested at #9, but my guess is somewhere in the second half of the round), but the others are question marks.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo has a full cut at the top 30 on-line.

Probably the biggest question is where Washington’s Tim Lincecum will wind up. He’s been under consideration for #1 overall, and I’ve seen at one projection that has him sliding out of the top 10. There isn’t much question that he’s got quality stuff; the questions about him revolve around his small stature, his unusual delivery, and lack of a third pitch. Some think he’ll end up as a closer.