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Saturday, May 17, 2008

John Sickels’ Preliminary Draft Board

1) Buster Posey, C, Florida State: Great bat, has proven to be solid defender.
2) Tim Beckham, SS, Georgia HS: Overall tools package.
3) Kyle Skipworth, C, California HS: Hits, fields, and intuition loves him.
4) Gordon Beckham, SS, Georgia: Love him almost as much as Posey.
5) Justin Smoak, 1B, South Carolina: Best college bat but not as valuable defensively as Posey and Beckham.
6) Aaron Crow, RHP, Missouri: Stock has dropped just a hair but still looks great to me.
7) Brian Matusz, LHP, San Diego: Could easily flip with Crow.
8) Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Vanderbilt: Injury knocks him back a couple of notches but still elite.
9) Eric Hosmer, 1B, Florida HS: All reports look great. Signability?
10) Yonder Alonso, 1B, Miami: Another bat impossible not to love.

How far will Scheppers fall? Sonny Gray?

battlekow Posted: May 17, 2008 at 02:41 PM | 16 comment(s)
Related News: General, Amateur, College, High School, Minor Leagues, Scouting

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1. Harold Reynolds: An Erotic Life (AG#1F) Posted: May 17, 2008 at 03:52 PM (#2784293)

Looks like the first ten teams are all getting sure-fire studs!

2. battlekow Posted: May 17, 2008 at 03:55 PM (#2784299)

Sickels opines that Gray will fall to the supplemental round. With the large amount of early picks the Brewers have, I'd love to see them take a gamble or two on signability/injured guys.

3. Miss Remember Posted: May 17, 2008 at 04:14 PM (#2784318)

I'd love to see them take a gamble or two on signability/injured guys.

4. Bicycle RepairMan Posted: May 17, 2008 at 04:21 PM (#2784333)

Scheppers has a some kind of shoulder injury? That would be a big no-no for lots of teams, atleast in teh first round

5. battlekow Posted: May 17, 2008 at 04:23 PM (#2784334)

It's a stress fracture in his shoulder, so it's not really the typical "shoulder injury".

6. Harold Reynolds: An Erotic Life (AG#1F) Posted: May 17, 2008 at 04:50 PM (#2784348)

From an organizational perspective I wouldn't "gamble" on a signability guy, either you will pay him in the range of what he's looking for or you don't. You're just wasting a pick if you aren't willing to do that.

I think he means gamble in the sense that draft picks are gambles, and you're spending more money on a gamble by going for a guy with signability questions.

7. battlekow Posted: May 17, 2008 at 05:30 PM (#2784375)

I didn't mean draft a guy like Hosmer (who wouldn't be available anyway), but maybe a late-first-round-type talent that's fallen to the second round because he's asking for $500K more than anyone wants to pay him. Is that scenario likely, or even plausible? I don't know. But that's what I meant.

8. Kyle S Posted: May 17, 2008 at 10:27 PM (#2784739)

If Alvarez falls to 8, the team drafting him is getting a steal.

9. JoeHova Posted: May 17, 2008 at 11:02 PM (#2784790)

Interesting that 2 college 1st basemen are in the top 10. I remember BP's study from a few years ago that said that college 1st basemen have by far the best success rate in the first round. I wonder if any teams will take that advice and draft those guys a few spots before they otherwise would have.

10. Shibal Posted: May 17, 2008 at 11:12 PM (#2784805)

A guy I know that does scouting for another MLB team says the Royals are looking really hard at Hosmer. Surprised hear his name up there so early, especially with his agent.

11. Rich Rifkin Posted: May 17, 2008 at 11:54 PM (#2784894)

The best/strangest names on Sickel's* list of just 30 guys:

Buster, Smoak, Crow, Hosmer, Yonder, Tanner Scheppers, Hicks, Shooter Hunt, Jemile, Melville, Lobstein, and Odorizzi**. That's a high percentage of odd monikers.

* Qualifies for the names' list.

** Looked it up. Means "fart" in Italian.

12. battlekow Posted: May 18, 2008 at 12:14 AM (#2784898)

Yeah Rich, Hicks sure is a weird name. Good one.

13. Golfing Great Mitch Cumstein Posted: May 18, 2008 at 07:27 AM (#2784923)

Has Posey rocketed up the draft board? I was talking about going to see Florida St. and a couple of posters were wishing that Posey would drop to the Red Sox at 30.

14. OCD SS Posted: May 18, 2008 at 09:04 AM (#2784931)

Posey's up to 4 on BA's latest draft hot sheet. I think before the season there was talk that he might fall that far to the Sox, but he's hit so well this season that there's talk that he's a candidate to go 1/1. I don't think he'll fall to #30.

15. Belfry Bob Posted: May 18, 2008 at 10:40 AM (#2784966)

I don't want some guy named 'Hosmer' or 'Yonder Alonso' as my team's top choice. Sounds too much like cousins of Jethro Bodine.

16. Rusty Priske Posted: May 19, 2008 at 01:32 AM (#2785919)

Hicks and Melville are odd names? Why?

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John Sickels’ Preliminary Draft Board

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