DRAFT: - Alex Wimmers, Deck McGuire, Top 15 SSs, Austin Wates... and Leon Landry

Alex Wimmers:
4-17 from: - http://www.baseballrumormill.com/2010/04/2010-draft-misfits-wimmers-sabol-choice/#more  - Alex Wimmers, Ohio State, RHP: Wimmers have been extremely impressive so far, striking out 60 batters while only walking 13 in his first 50 innings pitched. He's already being compared with Cincinnati's first round draft pick from 2009, Mike Leake, because of how complete of a pitcher he is already. While everyone seems to agree he's first round player, he could go as high as the Top 10 or as late as the end of the first round.

Deck McGuire:

4-16 from: - http://www.mlbbonusbaby.com/  - McGuire's command was definitely not on tonight, and his fastball was really all over the place. He never got a handle on it, and concerns are creeping into the scouting community about how good his command really is. I was already hearing whispers, and I'm sad to say that he's confirming them on the mound right now. He could easily turn it around, though, and he has time to do so. He sat 90-92 in the first, followed by mostly 90-93 the rest of the game. He dipped into the 88-91 range in the 6th inning and stayed there in the 7th, his final inning. The highest reading total was 93, and that was when he put some real strength behind it. He's more comfortable in the 90-91 range. I know that's concerning to most of you, and most of the questions I get about McGuire involve his fastball. However, when he does command it, he has enough quality zip, movement, and plane on it that he rarely gets hit hard.

Top 15 Shortstops:

4-16 from: - http://pnrscouting.com/rankings_2010_midseason_shortstop.html  

Christian Colon, Junior, California St. Univ. - Fullerton (1)

Manny Machado, Senior, Brito Private HS (Fla.) (6)

Justin O'Conner, Senior, Cowan HS (Ind.) (3)

Yordy Cabrera, Senior, Lakeland HS (Fla.) (2)

Marcus Littlewood, Senior, Pineview HS (Utah) (9)

Kaleb Cowart, Senior, Cook Country HS (Ga.) (5)

Derek Dietrich, Junior, Georgia Tech (7)

Rick Hague, Junior, Rice Univ. (4)

Josh Rutledge, Junior, Univ. of Alabama (13)

Tony Wolters, Senior, Rancho Buena Vista HS (Calif.) (8)

Zach Alvord, Senior, South Forsyth HS (Ga.) (10)

Sean Coyle, Senior, Germantown HS (Pa.) (11)

Jacoby Jones, Senior, Richton HS (Miss.) (14)

Matt Lipka, Senior, McKinney HS (Texas) (15)

Dickie Thon, Jr., Senior, Academia Perpetio Socorro (P.R.) (NR)

Austin Wates:

4-16 from: - link  - While the pool of college position players is generally thought of as lacking athletic/high upside prospects, a few players offer both athletic projection and solid production. Virginia Tech’s Austin Wates is one of the more interesting and confusing prospects in this draft class. Standing 6-foot-1 and weighing 180 pounds, Wates is a speedster who Head Coach Pete Hughes calls, “the best athlete I’ve ever recruited”. Wates is hitting .416/.503/.648 this season and has walked in 11.5% of his plate appearances and struck out in just 12.2%. Despite seeming to possess the necessary athletic ability, Wates hasn’t played much center field this season, spending most of his time at first base. Wates’s power potential is average, at best, and would be a poor fit at first base in the pros. Even as a corner outfielder it’s hard to figure where Wates fits in.

Leon Landry:

4-16 from: - http://projectprospect.com/article/2010/04/15/2010-draft-class-update  - Leon Landry has drawn several natural, and frankly lazy, comparisons to Jared Mitchell, his former teammate at LSU. Both are lefthanded, center fielders with good speed and football player builds. While Landry doesn’t have Mitchell’s power ceiling, he has shown the ability to make contact, something Mitchell struggled with greatly. Currently sporting .345/.438/.558 line, Landry has struck out in just 7.3% of his plate appearances while drawing free passes 12.4% of the time. Landry’s defensive abilities in center field were the reason the Mitchell rarely saw action in the middle of the diamond last year. Landry has a chance to be a line-drive hitter who gets on base and has good defensive value. If a team believes there’s more power in there than he’s shown so far this spring, he could hear his name called in round one.