1st Round - 23rd Pick - Florida Marlins - 1B - Christian Yelich

3. Christian Yelich – Westlake HS (CA) – 6-3, 190, L/L - also plays OF… runs 60-yd in 6.8… arm strength questionable… projects out at 1B… one of the best pure hitters in draft…




8-1: from http://perfectgame.atinfopop.com: solid power, lefty stroke, make solid contact and adjusted well enough seeing several pitchers with different deliveries, could be a solid contributor at the ML level in 4-5 years

8-10: From www.baseballamerica.com – Area Code Games - Yelich is a and tall and thin lefthanded hitter whose sweet swing produced a long triple to right center in today’s morning game. He followed that in his next at bat with a sharp double down the left field line.

10-5 from http://baseballdraftreport.com: - top 50 prospects in 2010 draft – #41 – Christian Yelich – 1st 1Bman on list

10-6 from: http://baseballdraftreport.com: - 1B Christian Yelich - If I had to pick one guy on my list to drop off over the course of the season, I’d probably go with Yelich. That naturally begs the question of why he is on the list in the first place. Yelich is like the hitting version of Stetson Allie, an up and down prospect that can look like a late first rounder one day and a fifth round lottery ticket on the next. It gets repeated every year, but it’s important: prep players limited to first base need to be able to hit, hit, and hit some more to be taken seriously as a draft prospect.

2-8 from www.pnrscouting.com: - mock drafted 134th

2-25 from www.baseballamerica.com: - 2010 Preseason High School All-Americans - FIRST TEAM - 1B Christian Yelich, Westlake HS, Thousand Oaks, Calif.. .489

3-27 from: - http://mlbbonusbaby.com: - Christian Yelich, 1B, Westlake HS (CA) - Yelich has come out of the gate on fire, and he’s starting to be considered as one of the best first base prospects in this year’s class. He has a good frame, along with power and strength projection, and he’s really squaring balls this spring. Some teams may look at Yelich as a possible left fielder, too, as he’s a solid-average runner with a fringe-average arm, and I could see him as a possible Major League regular with power development. He’s still a second round player to me, but he’s on the rise.

4-7 from: - http://mlbbonusbaby.com - Christian Yelich, 1B, Westlake HS (CA): I featured Yelich’s name on the list of the players I left off my third mock draft, and I feel comfortable calling him the best prep first baseman in this class. Yelich is blessed with good natural size for a first baseman, and as I mentioned in my writeup for him in the aforementioned player list, he has solid-average speed and a fringe-average arm, two traits that could make him a plus fielder at first base. I also mentioned that some teams are entertaining the idea of having him play left field, but I still see his long-term position as first base, which would take advantage of his defensive tools. He does have the bat for the position, too, though there’s more projection involved in saying that than with some elite prep first basemen of the past, such as Eric Hosmer. Yelich has an above-average to plus hit tool, and the easy comparison for him is Lyle Overbay, a doubles hitter more than a home run hitter. However, Yelich has more power projection in him, so listing Overbay as his ceiling is unfair. He’s starting to tap into that power now, and scouts like how he’s approach his at-bats this spring. He could be a strong 2nd round candidate now, though Jeff Malm also seemed to be that high as a prep first baseman before slipping to the 5th round last year. Regardless, Yelich has gone from a 7th-10th round prospect to a 2nd round candidate in just two months.

4-23 from: - http://baseballbeginnings.com/category/2010-draft - projects as a long, loose and easy left-handed swing. I think his power is mainly pole oriented and his contact is geared to going straight away with an ability to hit to left field. His arm strength is enough for him to stay at third, but he’ll need to prove in the coming years that he has the athletic actions to stay there. After a very solid summer, Yelich should find himself as a very solid high school draft.

5-1 from: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2010/4/30/1452824/interesting-high-school-hitters#storyjump - Christian Yelich, 1B, Westlake High School, Thousand Oaks, California - A University of Miami signee, the 6-4, 185 pound Yelich is more athletic than the typical high school first baseman. He has decent speed and enough athleticism to have played shortstop in the past, though in pro ball he'll be a first baseman and likely an excellent one with the glove. Offensively, he's considered a pure hitter type with above average power potential, though whether he settles in as a 20-homer type or a 30-homer type will depend on how much he fills out his body and how his swing matures. On talent alone he would be a good pick for someone in the second or third round, but if he slips too far down the list, he could head to Miami and improve his draft position with good play for the Hurricanes by '13

5-31 from: - http://www.deepleagues.com/?p=1733 - One of the top prep corner infielder’s in this year’s draft, Yelich is an excellent hitter who posted dominating numbers in high school. At 6’4, he offers remarkable upside in terms of hitting for power. Scouts debate whether he can remain at 3B, as some see him as a prototypical left-handed first baseman. To the extent that “makeup” plays a role, there are many articles giving Yelich tremendously high praise in this area.