Giants take Joe Panik, SS from St. John's. That is a definite reach...

-- MWE

i liked minor more, but only a little more. granted, i didn't like the minor pick at all.

hey - panik! kind of a sleeper / steady useful guy.

I'm assuming the Twins take whoever the most ground ball heavy college RHP left on the board is here

I just remembered Dillon Howard, I wouldn't have minded the Braves taking him. I remember a college coach raving about him like 3-4 years ago when he just entered HS, apparently has a big, big arm

I'm assuming the Twins take whoever the most ground ball heavy college RHP left on the board is here

Can't imagine they'd go Norris.

-- MWE

EDIT: Levi Michael out of UNC. Good value pick, left HS early to go to college.

Levi Micheal is a guy who really seems like a Twins player. They love the well-rounded, hard-working middle IF type

So, Gardenhire got to make the pick?

So, Gardenhire got to make the pick?

I probably made that sound like Michael isn't a legit talent. He is. As Mike mentioned, he is really only a college sophomore age-wise and he can do alot of things well.

Rays take Mikie Mahtook. Top-15 talent.

-- MWE

Rays just going for best player available so far (ignoring the guys with major signability concerns), getting players rated a fair amount below their picks.

I wonder if they'll go for Susac with one of their next 2-3 picks.

Jake Hager, HS SS out of Vegas. Wow. Not on anyone's radar - expected to fall somewhere in the late supplemental/early 2nd round. Gutsy pick by the Rays - he likely would have been around with one of their later picks. He is a legit shortstop and has some pop at the plate; we'll have to see how the bat develops.

-- MWE

And THERE (Matthews) is your shocker of the first round folks

How good is Nimmo?

Rangers take Kevin Matthews, LHP from Richmond Hill HS in Georgia. Virginia commit. Another late supplemental/early 2nd rounder on most reports. Big issue here is that he's only 5'10" - but he has a live arm and a nasty curve ball.

I'm calling it a night, will pick up the supplemental round in the morning.

-- MWE

Interesting note on Matthews, despite being HS pick, he will turn 20 in less than 6 months

Jake Hager, HS SS out of Vegas. Wow. Not on anyone's radar - expected to fall somewhere in the late supplemental/early 2nd round. Gutsy pick by the Rays - he likely would have been around with one of their later picks. He is a legit shortstop and has some pop at the plate; we'll have to see how the bat develops.

Theory I saw from another Rays fan: They aren't going to try very hard to sign Hager, freeing up more money in the draft budget for later picks and gaining the compensation pick for next season. Interesting thought at least.

I'm a Georgia fan, so I shouldn't poo-poo Cone at 37th overall, but man that sounds HIGH for him. For all his tools he isn't a great defender or a great hitter

Considering the lack of quality outfielders in the upper portions of the Braves' system, Mahtook would seem to have been a good fit. Hard to question the Braves' scouting too much, however.

Phillies take Larry Greene, big raw power. Phillies don't mind taking toolsy HS project players. Should be an easy sign.
Good to see a rural south GA kid go this high

167 - if you're gonna do that (i think teams should do this more often than they do, btw), tab bell. signability?
168 - yup.
169 - yup.

Texas took some Georgia Tech scrub that batted .282 in college with no power? #### me to god damn tears.

georgia scrub, thank you.
he hit 80 points higher last year, has some speed, solid glove, and some power potential. not much pitch recog and, in general, not a pick i liked at all.

i like story to colorado

From the ESPN Draft chat:

Kevin Goldstein:
51. Yankees: Dante Bichette, Jr., 3B, Orangewood Christian HS (FL). Kid can hit, even looks like his dad, but does he have other tools?

keithlaw:
I laughed. Jr. didn't make my top 100 (report: http://es.pn/jJzYLw )RT @jslyuan: Yanks realize it's not actually Dante Bichette right?

keithlaw:
Wait till you see the hack. RT @Bloogart7: @keithlaw Yikes, just saw footage of Bichette running. Not impressed.

Jim Bowden:
Dante has the bloodlines...power hitter...can hit .....loves the cage....I guess he's not going to Georgia now....should develop into a below avg LF...but bat and pwr will play....GREAT make-up

Well, Former Major League GM Jim Bowden likes the pick ...

Sigh.

i like story to colorado

A shortstop who throws 96 mph. You can never have too many of those. If he develops and Tulo is slowing down, blocking his spot, they can always move this guy to 3rd.

The Pirates should definitely take Joshua Bell tomorrow and try to sign him. They should draft him for the bat, but I love the defense he's showing in this clip:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2011/#list=draft

Bell supposedly asked teams not to draft him because he's going to college.

Is Daniel Norris unsignable? He's the one that slid that most surprised me. I'd have him #1 on my board (only because I don't think Bell will sign).

How serious is John Stilson's SLAP injury? His numbers and video footage impresses me, but IIRC, SLAP is very tough to come back from.

Have to be pleased if you're a D-Backs fan. Bauer AND Bradley to potentially go with guys like Tyler Skaggs, Jarrod Parker, Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson and Josh Collmenter?

Rays and Jays are loaded with picks but I can't say I'm that impressed with who they're taking. But their track record is a smidge better than mine so whatever.

I like Taylor Jungman and I'm meh on Jed Bradley, but they seem like the kinda low-ceiling guys the Brewers have been taking too much of the last few drafts.

I like Jose Fernandez - nice stocky body - provided he's not 23 years old.

I don't like Sonny Gray for the A's at all. Seems like a reliever at best and his command sees off a lot.

First to reach the big leagues? I'll say Hultzen. Love that pick and I'm upset that I didn't see it coming. Seems like a total Jack Z pick. Bauer could be up pretty soon.

I don't understand a lot of the supplementary picks. Zack Cone? Kevin Matthews? And did the Giants really draft a guy named Panic?

Sean Gilmartin and Grayvon Garson seem a bit underrated and I like them as sleepers.

The draft worked out perfectly for the Royals to take local kid Bubba Starling, but not have to face second guessers for taking a local kid. The only other choice was Anthony Rendon, and his shoulder concerns give them plausible deniability that he was ahead of Starling on their board. I have my concerns about Starling - he's raw, hasn't faced good competition, will face pressure as a local kid - but its good to see them take a high upside kid who will take awhile instead of a low ceiling college pitcher as they were rumored to take.

His strikeout rate dipped all the way from 29.4% his first two years to 25.1%.

I'm not really taking a position on where anyone should go, and he clearly slumped a bit his junior year, but it's not as though his performance taken on the whole is a demerit.

This is going way back to [60] or so, but this is the problem with Cole - he's going in the wrong direction. We've seen what the high draft pick college studs who go on to success in the bigs are supposed to do in college - increase their strikeout rate, often significantly, while cutting their walk rate. And put up sick ERAs, which Cole never did. I'm not saying Cole is a bad prospect, he's a great prospect. But he's much more of a projection prospect than we normally see at #1, and a lot of that is based on the number 100. The Pirates can use all the help they can get, I hope he works out for them.

Pirates take Bell? It's a great pick.

I like taking Lamb as a LHP instead of a CF

Braves take who I took for them in my shadow draft! Nick Ahmed, UConn SS

Bell supposedly asked teams not to draft him because he's going to college.

Meh, alot of guys say that and then sign. It is just as likely to be posturing as it is a statement on his actual intents. 2nd round is a good place to take a guy like this anyway, because if he doesn't sign you get the pick back next year

Phillies philosophy is consistent. Look for big raw tools. Larry Greene, big raw power. Roman Quinn, big-time speed tool. Harold Martinez, big raw power.

And the other big faller, Daniel Norris, is picked by the Blue Jays 74th overall. I suppose I should be happy as long as they sign either him or Beede. Probably asking too much to lock up both.

Phillies philosophy is consistent. Look for big raw tools. Larry Greene, big raw power. Roman Quinn, big-time speed tool. Harold Martinez, big raw power.

martinez apparently had an issue with a staph infection in his leg this past summer. he really sucked this year for miami, but if that was the issue with him, and if it's completely behind him, that could be a very interesting pick.

And the other big faller, Daniel Norris, is picked by the Blue Jays 74th overall

Great pick and I really like the gamble on John Stilson too.

Pirates take Bell? It's a great pick.

If they sign him. And I peg the odds of that at something less than 10%. Dickerson was an odd pick for them; the Pirates rarely draft all-bat guys, and his upside is limited (he might be as good as he is ever going to be). Brewer and Glasnow are typical high-upside high-school pitchers; it's not that I mind seeing those players drafted but if the Bucs don't sign Bell they once again have no breakout hitters drafted - and they need them.

Red Sox have done very well, IMO, so far. Getting Jackie Bradley at #40 is a bit of a steal, I like Jerez (who I shadow drafted at the top of round 2 for the Pirates), age be damned, and Noe Ramirez is a better talent than Round 4.

Rays: Hager and Brandon Martin are exactly the type of players that the Rays like to develop - think Elliot Johnson here, with possible Rodriguez/Zobrist upside. Goeddel, Carter, and Garvin all could have gone higher, as could Goetzman (Round 2) - all were top-40 talents.

-- MWE

Dan (Detroit)


Thoughts on the Tigers draft so far?
Keith Law
(2:29 PM)


Here's one: Are they broke?

Yeesh. The scary thing is I think he might be right.

it's not that I mind seeing those players drafted but if the Bucs don't sign Bell they once again have no breakout hitters drafted - and they need them.

I kind of like the looks of that Jo-El Bennett kid they just took in the 11th. But yeah, a few more bats would be nice.