Yeah, it's a beautiful thing.

"I dont understand the Braves philosophy much. They dont have many pitching prospects, and they are spending their time drafting college closers"

Braves have a bunch of mostly high school arms in the low minors that they've added over the past couple years. Danville alone should have Chad Rodgers, Cole Rohrbaugh, Steve Evarts, Neftali Feliz, and Jeff Locke. All decent prospects with high ceilings, but too far away to really get excited about. Whats lacking right now is some MLB-ready starting pitching.

Andrew Walker, probably the final Pirate pick of the day.

Not sure what kind of magic beans I was hoping for here, but at the end of the day, I'm pretty disappointed.

Not sure what kind of magic beans I was hoping for here, but at the end of the day, I'm pretty disappointed.

Same. Moskos would be a decent pick if we were really hurting for relief prospects or back-of-the-rotation pitching depth, but the only thing our farm system has been good at developing is low ceiling pitchers. The second round pick was even worse of course.

That was fun. Lets do it again tomorrow.

Not sure what kind of magic beans I was hoping for here, but at the end of the day, I'm pretty disappointed.

C'mon Vlad... this is a draft that was thought to be unfuckupable. If anything, it is a testament to the Pirates organization that they go into a draft this deep and only come out with three guys who look like borderline career minor leaguers.

I thought of a good line in another forum, so I'm going to run it here:

A first-round reliever on the Pirates is lipstick on a transvestite.

I have a good friend who goes to SCAD. She's the artsiest girl I know.

I had no idea they play sports there, let alone produce a player that could go that high in the draft. Unreal.

Oh wow, upon further review, Charlie Zink went to SCAD.

Some thoughts after the first day:

The Pirates had a terrible draft. Just terrible; there's no other way to put it. Lattimore in the 4th was a serious overdraft; he doesn't profile to have the speed or arm to play center nor the bat for a corner. The team needs impact bats, and they had several chances to get them and passed them up.

With only three picks, the Orioles did fairly well, providing they can sign Arrieta. Bascom was an interesting pick in the 4th; he's one of the few guys out there who works off his fastball, preferring to get outs with his slider. I don't know how much the layoff is going to hurt him.

Boston's draft was interesting; it almost looks like something that the A's might have tried back in the Moneyball days. Middlebrooks might be the best value pick of the draft, if the Red Sox can get him signed.

For all the ######## about Brackman in the 1st, I thought the Yankees did really well with their later picks. Romine's a solid catching prospect with a plus bat and arm, who needs some work defensively. Pope's a sleeper; he has really developed in the past two years after being all but ignored out of HS. Suttle is an outstanding value pick in the 4th, and Olbrychoswski could be a steal if the Yankees can develop his secondary stuff.

You can tell what the Mets thought they needed, eh? Tons of pitching. I'm not that impressed with it, though; Vineyard's the only guy in the group that I really like.

-- MWE

MWE: What's your opinion on Brackman? Did the Yanks overdraft him?

Did the Yanks overdraft him?

On potential, no. Brackman's got first-round talent. The question is whether anyone can get it out of him. Stuff just seems to happen to him; it's like he's got this little Joe Btfsplk cloud hanging over his head.

-- MWE

Round 6 has started.

-- MWE

McGeary to the Nats in Round 6.

-- MWE

Weems to the Yankees at the end of the round. Another C.

-- MWE

Nick Hill, from Army, to the Mariners in Round 7. Nice pick; good potential, although he'll have to serve his military obligations.

Cole St. Clair finally goes to the Indians.

-- MWE

Phillies snagged 1b Matthew Rizzoti in the 6th. He was a late-rounder for the Twins out of HS in 2004, and then absolutely destroyed the ball his frosh year at Manhattan.

NTNgod Posted: June 07, 2007 at 06:11 PM (#2396823)

Damn Orioles. I curse them to another decade of mediocrity! That'll show 'em! :P

So Cuban Pete will live at least another 10 more years...

Yankees take Carmen Angelini in 10th. Good pick if they can sign him; he's got a strong commitment to Rice.

Still no Kentrail Davis. Or Victor Sanchez.

-- MWE

Cody Scarpetta to Brewers. Another good value pick.

I've got to go out for a while.

-- MWE

I love the Mills pick for the Sox.

Rockies finally select Kentrail Davis in the 14th round.

Victor Sanchez still hasn't been selected, we're into Round 23.

-- MWE

Greg Peavey to the Yankees, end of round 24. Another nice value pick.

-- MWE

Sanchez finally goes, to the Cubs in round 25. If they can get him signed...

-- MWE

What's the deal with Peavey? Is he headed to college? I don't see anything not to like with the kid.

Sox take Yasmani Grandal in round 27.

Wow, Angels take WVU QB Pat White, who they drafted originally 3 years ago. He was a fantastic baseball prospect, but chose football.

"Wow, Angels take WVU QB Pat White, who they drafted originally 3 years ago. He was a fantastic baseball prospect, but chose football."

At least they didnt throw away their 5th rounder when they did that like my Braves did when drafting Oregon QB Dennis Dixon who is a similar story, a top 100 HS baseball player in HS, who opted to play college QB.

I'm still trying to figure out whey they felt they needed to do that so early

A's take a darkhorse in LHP Lee Land.

He was drafted out of HS in Durham, NC but went to Wake Forest. He pitched a little, then needed TJ and transferred to Arkansas. He pitched decently out of the pen there but got kicked off the team midway through his 2nd season there in 06.
He recently resurfaced and decided to go to UNC-Greensboro, a pretty solid up and coming program, but had to sit out this year since this is his second transfer. He could pitch for them next year or sign now.
He was once pretty promising as a good sized lefty with a fairly powerful arm but didnt really dominate while he was pitching at Arkansas and now has makeup and injury questions.

Speaking of UNC-Greensboro I was about to post.. I'm waiting for Ryan Falcon to get picked but boom there he is, getting picked up by the Rangers.

Not really a prospect but a hell of a tough college pitcher, and a lefty too.

Man I love the end of the draft, all sorts of little personal favorite of mine (Joe Billick! Charlie Pelt! Ryan Falcon!) get picked and often ahead of guys from major schools. I mean no way Miami recruited any of them, yet they get picked before Danny Gil. Who would have guessed that when they were all coming out of HS

MM1f, how do you find time to know about all these guys???

I too found the Braves drafting of Dixon where they did so odd. Oregon doesn't even have a baseball program! It's not like he's on everyone's radar.

I do think my Angels basically wasted that pick on White, though, but it's kinda fun.

Met draft Glen Johnson from South Fork HS. I believe that he's HoJo's son.

Angels draft Mike Scioscia's son (a 1B) in the 41st. The next Piazza?

Scioscia is committed to Notre Dame, though, so I'd assume he'd end up there.

"MM1f, how do you find time to know about all these guys???"

I slack off?
Most of my baseball web perusing time comes from time when I am intending to be productive but am not (like right now!), plus there are personal reasons for me knowing about some of the guys above...they played at nearby HSes, played at local colleges, ect. In the case of Billick it is because I played against his HS the year after he left, and I'm a Georgia fan and I remember him there as a generic no-hit 3rd string catcher. He transferred to Southern Polytechnic (ALMOST like transferring to DeVry) and lit it up. I just think its awesome that a local guy from Southern Poly of all places got drafted many spots above guys who were big deal recruits from big time HSes who went to big time programs. Now alot of that has to do with the demand for catchers, but still...

Plus I have a weird memory that memorizes stuff I dont really need to know (like fun facts fringe draftees) but forgets important things.

Marlins draft a 1b named Ernie Banks from Norfolk State, no idea if theres any relation.

Also, 5-3 Louisville SS Chris Cates will be the shortest man in pro ball after going in the 38th round

Switch-pitching stud Pat Venditte, of Creighton, goes in the 45th to the Yankees. Hes lights out for the Bluejays but teams aren't sure what to do with him, his mechanics are bad since he doesnt focus on one side, and says he wants to go back to school

Mr. Irrelevant: Lawrence Day, a senior catcher out of UConn, taken by the Yankees.

The next Brian Esposito...

Marlins draft a 1b named Ernie Banks from Norfolk State, no idea if theres any relation.

Doesn't appear to be, although he IS a Jr.

-- MWE

Banks is playing in the Coastal Plain League, for the second year in a row. Last year he hit .318/.412/.468 for Peninsula, playing in 47 of their 54 games. He's played in 2 of 9 games this year, going 4-6 with a triple and two walks. He might have been injured in the second game, since he was replaced early and hasn't played since.

-- MWE

Here's a second day steal for the Astros: They took Kyle Greenwalt, a kid from Souderton Area High, in the 20th round. Greenwalt, the Pa. player of the year last season (and probably 2007, too), was predicted to go between the third and eighth round, scouts told one of the local papers. But teams backed off because he signed with South Carolina.

But apparently, Greenwalt has already signed. He says the Astros are giving him fifth-round money, and that had to be the kicker in my mind. Kid can pitch, I've covered him before.

Souderton, by the way, is Jaimie Moyer's high school.