Baseball: Trevor Bauer, Matt Moore, Joe Panik, Jorge Posada

Trevor Bauer, D-backs: Bauer spent most of his college career in Gerrit Cole's shadow, but he's ahead of his UCLA teammate on this list and should get to the big leagues faster. He made it to Double-A in his first summer, and there was even some talk of him getting a September callup, though cooler heads prevailed. Using an unorthodox delivery and conditioning methods (he's a big proponent of long-tossing), the somewhat undersized right-hander elicits comparisons to Tim Lincecum. As interesting as that all is, his stuff is even more exciting. He'll throw as many as five pitches, grading out from average to plus across the board. He should get a very long look in Spring Training and will be a part of the D-backs' rotation for years to come. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120112&content_id=26330142&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb&tcid=tw_article_26330142

Matt Moore, Rays: It's always a shame when a young player with a ton of talent reaches the big leagues and struggles with the bright lights of the highest level. All Moore did was pick up his first Major League victory at Yankee Stadium in September, then toss seven shutout innings to beat the Rangers in the American League Division Series. That was after he struck out 200 batters in the Minors for a second season running. No wonder the Rays locked him up with a long-term deal this past offseason. A great scouting find in 2007, Moore has evolved from a thrower to a complete pitcher with three above-average-to-plus pitches. He has nothing more to prove in the Minors and it will be interesting to see if he can break through and into the Rays' young rotation in what will be his first big league camp this spring. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120113&content_id=26339048&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb&tcid=tw_article_26339048

SS Joe Panik–Panik was viewed as a reach as the 29th overall pick in the draft, but he’s already improved his stock tremendously after hitting .341/.401/.467 in the Northwest League and showing well in the AFL. At the same, he projects more as a solid regular than a star, and it’s tough for me to rank a guy with that sort of B/B+-grade upside in the top 100 when he has no full-season experience. A nice credit to the Giants’ scouting staff, regardless of where I place him. http://seedlingstostars.com/2012/01/18/top-100-prospect-snubs-nl-west/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

A career .273 hitter, Jorge Posada racked up 275 home runs, a .374 on-base percentage, a .474 slugging percentage, and a respectable .848 OPS. Posada collected 936 walks which is good enough for 15th place among active players and swatted 379 doubles. Yet, Posada also managed to strike out 1,453 times (58th most all-time and 13th most among active players). The 40-year-old catcher’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) stands at 44.7, which means he has consistently made himself an asset to the Yankee starting lineup. Among active players, Posada ranks 27th in Runs Created (RC) with 1,100. Defensively, he provided a career 7.49 Range Factor per 9 innings (RF/9 is a statistic used to measure how many outs a player is involved with, thus allowing a more comprehensive evaluation of one’s defensive play), which ranks 24th all-time among catchers. Also don’t forget Posada’s 2007 season, he remains the only catcher in history to hit at least .330 with 20 homers and 90 RBI. http://baseballreflections.com/2012/01/16/a-retrospective-on-the-career-of-jorge-posada/

Joe Panik, Sean Gilmartin, Derek Fisher, Jed Bradley, Cody Asche

Joe Panik entered the season generally viewed as the top shortstop in college and has done nothing to change that perception. Offensively, Panik’s greatest assets are his patience and excellent strike zone judgement. He makes solid contact and hits to all fields. His bat has enough pop to envision 10-15 home runs at the next level. Panik has enough speed to pick up some steals as well. In the field, Panik has good range and soft hands. His arm is average, which leads some to see his future at second base. Whether he remains at short or slides over to second, Panik has the ability to be a high on base guy and solid fielder at the next level. mlbdraftguide







Florida State junior LHP Sean Gilmartin notched his 9th win of the year (overall 9-1, 1.25) going 7.1 innings, allowing 4 runs (all unearned) on 7 Hits and 0 walks while fanning 9; Gilmartin has consistently performed well for the ‘Noles but little has been said about his potential draft stock; we took the liberty to dig a little deeper and here are a couple of pertinent quotes: John Sickels thinks Gilmartin is a “solid college arm” and could be a sleeper in next month’s draft… in an interview with Baseball America a few weeks ago, they wrote, “Gilmartin’s draft stock has climbed this spring. Scouts say he doesn’t figure to last longer than the supplemental first round this June.”; sounds like he’s among that second tier of guys just behind the Cole’s, Starling’s and Lindor’s, and should start seeing some more ink by the prospect paparazzi as draft projections start to get deeper throughout the month… prospectnation







Derek Fisher OF, Cedar Crest HS (PA) -- - The Rangers like to go with the best player available approach, and at this point Derek Fisher is the best player on the board. He has the size (6'3''), power, and speed to become a tremendous asset. The only hold up is he has a solid commitment to Virginia, so Texas will have to open their wallets. GM Jon Daniels has never shied away from spending to get top talent, so grabbing Fisher here would be a no brainer. draftsite





Jed Bradley - Bradley is one of the top arms in the draft class and offers a not-often-found combination of "now" production and projection. The lefty gives you a plus fastball two-ways, two potential above-average to plus secondaries, a simple and repeatable low-impact motion and some projection to boot. He has some of the less refined secondaries among the top tier arms, but should see a nice bump in stuff across the board once he gets into a pro system and is tasked with focusing on better executing the slider and change. He has yet to allow a homerun in 81.1 IP, and while his SO/BB ratio could be stronger he produced a highly impressive 44 strikeouts to just 6 walks last summer on the Cape. There's little to dislike, provided you believe in the motion and arm being too clean not to lead to some tightening up of the secondaries. He's an arm worthy of top 5 consideration and should certainly be in the mix for a number of teams drafting in the top 10. diamondscapescouting.  





Cody Asche - Tall, big athletic frame with thick thighs Quick bat and generated good bat speed - Fairly patient approach, taking a number of pitches just off of the plate - Showed easy pull power to hit a low fastball to the right-center field warning track for a double - Swung through a few too many pitches bullpenbanter.