1/29/12

Draft 2012 – Chris Taylor, Lucas Sims, Victor Roache, Kurt Heyer



Chris Taylor is a shortstop with a strong arm and he can be moved around the field to play either third as well as in the outfield. He has a very solid arm for a shortstop, but can use another year in college to help develop the batting portion of his game. He had 41 strike outs and 77 hits in 256 at bats for last season. His OBP for 2011 was .378 and he is also fast enough to get a stolen base. He had 10 in the 2011 season. Draft Projection: Taylor can go in the top three rounds of this draft and be a good young impact player for a team needing a shortstop or a third baseman with a strong arm. He's not a well know player, so he can most likely go past three rounds ending up as a valuable steal in the draft.  http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/3165

Lucas Sims — 6’-2”, RHP, Brookwood HS (GA) - Sims has one of the liveliest arms in the draft. His fastball can touch 98 mph, and his 12-6 hammer curve can be filthy at times. His change-up is still developing and his control needs to be more consistent but his potential will land him in the first round. Went 4-1 with a 2.38 ERA with 52 strikeouts over 32 innings as a junior in 2011. Has a bulldog mentality on the mound, attacking hitters without fear. Could be a dynamite closer down the road. http://www.throughthefencebaseball.com/top-50-draft-prospects-for-2012-25-thru-1/15694/

Victor Roache / Georgia Southern / OF: Roache’s game is about power and bat speed. He  has rare amounts of those two qualities and that allows him to launch some majestic home runs. He is still a fairly raw prospect for a college junior but that has both positives and negatives. Roache wasn’t heavily recruited out of high school and he hasn’t gotten much exposure to high quality instruction. So he has perhaps more upside and growth left in his game than you’d expect for someone this age. Roache actually improved (particularly some polish in his swing mechanics) from the time I saw him earlier in the summer to when I attended games later in the season. My biggest concern with Roache is where his body ends up. He’s already a thick 6-1 at 225 lbs with a large lower half. While he’s fairly athletic for that size now, he’s already in an outfield corner and will have to stay on top of his body. http://mlbdraftinsider.com/2012/01/scouting-the-cape/#more-720

We continue the countdown today at number 10 with junior RHP Kurt Heyer from Arizona. He is 6’2 and 196 pounds from Huntington Beach California and attended Edison High School where he played under Steve Lambright. As a senior, he had an 11-3 record with a 0.84 ERA with 116 strikeouts in 100 innings bringing the team to the CIF Championship game against Capistrano Valley. He picked up several awards including being named All-CIF First Team, 2009 EA Sports Second Team All-American and a league Pitcher of the Year. He decided to attend college at Arizona where he made an immediate impact on the Wildcats program becoming the team’s Friday night starter. He made 17 appearances (16 starts) as he had a 7-4 record with a team low 3.26 ERA in 102.0 innings. He ended up striking out 109 batters while walking only 29. Batters also struggled against him as they only hit .255. He was named to the Pac-10 All-League team while being named an All-American from Baseball America. He was also named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball. http://ht.ly/1gPrUJ

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