2014 Draft

I know it's early as hell but saw this at BA:

COLLEGE BEST TOOLS (PRE-SEASON)

BEST ATHLETE: Trea Turner, ss, N.C. State. Blazing runner can make acrobatic plays at shortstop and typifies “quick-twitch.”
Other candidates: Bradley Zimmer, of, San Francisco; Derek Fisher, of, Virginia; Mark Laird, of, LSU; Greg Allen, of, San Diego State; Brian Anderson, 2b, Arkansas.

BEST HITTER: Kyle Schwarber, c, Indiana. Lefthanded hitter can drive the ball to all fields with disciplined approach for a slugger (72/61 BB/SO in career).
Other candidates: Michael Conforto, of, Oregon State; Derek Fisher, of, Virginia; Turner; Max Pentecost, c, Kennesaw State.

BEST POWER: Schwarber. A workout fiend with prodigious strength, Schwarber hit 18 homers last year—more than any other returning player.
Other candidates: Conforto; Casey Gillaspie, 1b, Wichita State; Kevin Cron, 1b, Texas Christian; Taylor Sparks, 3b, UC Irvine; J.D. Davis, of, Cal State Fullerton.

BEST SPEED: Turner. A true 80 runner, Turner recovered from sophomore year ankle injury to run a 6.32-second 60 this fall.
Other candidates: Tanner English, of, South Carolina; Laird; Allen.

BEST DEFENDER: Turner. A third baseman as a freshman, Turner showed he has the range, actions and arm strength to be a good shortstop last year.
Other candidates: Allen; Austin Cousino, of, Kentucky; Matt Chapman, ss/3b, Cal State Fullerton; Aramis Garcia, c, Florida International.

BEST INFIELD ARM: Chapman. Chapman flashed high-90s heat off the mound for Team USA last summer, and his arm is a huge asset on left side of infield.
Other candidates: Joey Pankake, ss/3b, South Carolina; Sparks; Turner.

BEST OUTFIELD ARM: Dylan Davis, of, Oregon State. Righthander has shown 95-97 mph heat off the mound, and his arm strength plays in right field.
Other candidates: Zimmer; J.D. Davis, if/of, Cal State Fullerton; Brandon Downes, of, Virginia.

BEST FASTBALL: Nick Burdi, rhp, Louisville. First-team preseason All-America closer works comfortably in the high 90s and has topped out at 101 mph.
Other candidates: Carlos Rodon, lhp, N.C. State; Michael Cederoth, rhp, San Diego State; Jeff Hoffman, rhp, East Carolina.

BEST SECONDARY PITCH: Rodon. With a devastating power slider that earns 70 and even 80 grades, Rodon ran away with the scouting director vote in this category.
Other candidates: Finnegan (slider); Burdi (slider); Hoffman (curveball); Luke Weaver, rhp, Florida State (changeup).

BEST COMMAND: Aaron Nola, rhp, Louisiana State. Nola hammers the strike zone with all three of his quality offerings.
Other candidates: Rodon; Weaver; Erick Fedde, rhp, UNLV.

CLOSEST TO THE MAJORS: Rodon. Many scouts believe Rodon was good enough to get big league hitters out last year. He should fly to the majors.
Other candidates: Burdi; Nola; Finnegan; Turner; Weaver.

 

I went and saw Erick Fedde a RHP here at UNLV who is in pretty much all sites top 25 or 30.

Really dominated, 11Ks, no walks and 1 hit over 7 1/3 innings. Low 90's FB, but occasionally touched 96, with at least 1 what could be plus off-speed pitch.

 

Other candidates: Joey Pankake, ss/3b, South Carolina; Sparks; Turner.

Obviously names were changed to protect the innocent...

 

Schwarber! A power hitting catcher? I'll take it.

 

Odds of him being available by our 22nd pick: 0.0000000001%

 

Draft is deep, so I'm sure we're going to be able to grab something of quality at #22.

 

I'm looking forward to this thread getting updated throughout the season. The Draft is your show, Knock. :thumbsup:

 

Actually I'm probably going to defer a lot to these guys. Chris works for BP, and dodgers99 knows prospects and the draft really well. I did it because not a whole lot of people talked about it at ESPN.

Thanks for the compliment though

 

Well, in that case...Knock, Chris and dodgers99 the draft is your show! Looking forward to it...no pressure of course...

 

Don't sell yourself short, Knock, you're a terrific slouch.

(Jeez, Irish, a golfer smiley would go well here after that Caddyshack ref-get with it.)


Seriously, you temper your enthusiasm on prospects well and I respect that. I hold your opinion in as high esteem as those who are paid to do it.

 

Well done.

 

Wierdos

 

My buddy just started scouting for the jays, he's really high on that kid from Harvard-Westlake. He also told me yesterday Loyola has 4 kids with D1 scholarships. Glad to see LA on the uptick again.

I know not really groundbreaking news considering how high most of these guys are on scouting reports but he had some big whigs fly in today just to watch the HW kid pitch this afternoon.

 

The more I see video of Brad Zimmer. The more I think he would be a great pick at #22.

 

Care to elaborate just a bit? Ya know, if ya got the time.

 

I have to wonder how we are going to draft this year. Kasten has certainly changed it up. Our go-to was always best high school arm followed by more arms with a position player taken in later rounds. Looking at our depth chart, we have two very nice tiers of pitchers. We are okay in the outfield. Infield has more question marks. We are desperate need of young middle infield help. Of course, drafting at 22 has its issues.

This goes back to the question: Is it better to raise up pitchers and draft position or vice versa. I have to say it has been nice having a few pitchers around to trade when needed without destroying the farm.

 

Would you mind clarifying this for me? I either don't get the terminology or something else. Not sure what that means.