Mid-March Thoughts on the Draft

                             

                           

                                 Mid-March Thoughts on the Draft

        I do this every year at this point. One year, the best player was pitcher Anthony Renaudo. The next, it was Matt Purke. Neither one of them wound up as first round picks due to injuries.

I remember another year that there was a high school senior that was projected as one of the top five picks in the upcoming draft. His name was Christian Montgomery. His arm went dead in the middle of his senior year and he fell off the charts. The Mets deep drafted him, hoping they had the steal of the day, but, since then, he’s been busted twice for PEDs. I’m not even sure he’s still allowed in the clubhouse.

Everybody is pumped about the high school kids right after the last draft (June 2013), but reality sets in once the college season starts. Most General Managers will tell you that, if you want to build a successful major league starting rotation, do it around a power college junior (attention Mets fans: I said most).

Shit happens in this sport, especially to starters around this time of the season.

Right now…

Players On The Rise –

RHRP Michael Cederoth - San Diego State – for whatever reason, Cederoth gets little love in the mocks, but he has worked his way back to a top 50 pick after becoming a closer

RHP Erick Fedde – Nevada-Las Vegas - getting lots of positive noise as the season moves to the mid-point… MLB Draft Insier has him as high as 8^th overall

LHP Sean Newcomb – Hartford – beginning to push ahead of Brady Aiken for the second lefty chosen in the draft

LHP Matt Imhof – Cal Poly – the beginning of the college season always brings props to the juniors and Imhof is pushing the top 5 lefty list

LHP/OF A.J. Reed – Kentucky – excellent starter who also leads the nation in home runs… needs to pick a position soon

C Grayson Greiner – South Carolina – mad stat line for the nation’s number one team

C Aramis Garcia – Florida International – you want to see a mad stat line, look up this guy

3B Taylor Spark – UC Irvine – has passed both Jack Flaherty (Notre Dame) and Michael Chavis (Sprayberry (GA) HS) as top third base prospect

CF Michael Gettys – Gainsville (GA) HS – now the number one outfield prospect

        Players On The Down Low –

RHP Grant Hockin – Damien (CA) HS – was thought to be a possible first day pick early on but seems to be settling into a mid-second day name

RHP Karsten Whitson – Florida – frankly, he really hasn’t pitched well since high school… was once thought to someday be the first overall pick; now may barely make day two

C Mark Zagunis – Virginia Tech – has really gotten off to a miserable start this season

IF Joey Pankake – South Carolina – has hit well below his playing partners on this premier team