3rd Round Pick - 2B Jerome Hoes - HS

[markpolis]

From BA:

Hoes first popped on the scouting radar in the summer of 2006, when he made USA Baseball's youth national team. The following summer he competed for the junior national team and has become known as an athlete on the baseball field. None of his tools are legitimate pluses, but all of them are at least slightly above-average. Scouts know Hoes fits somewhere on the diamond, but they aren't sure where. He has good speed but not quite enough to profile as a center fielder. He's a better than average hitter with power, but doesn't show the pop necessary to play a corner outfield position. He shows more power to the opposite field now and often hits the ball on the ground to the left, his pull side. Hoes has the athleticism and the plus arm to play almost any position, and it wouldn't be far-fetched to see him try the infield. With questions about his profile and a commitment to North Carolina, Hoes could be a tough sign.

Video from MLB:

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w_id=702179&w=/2008/open/draft/broll/br_hoes_jerome_400.wmv&mid=200805302799613&vid=11071&pid=gen_video&cid=mlb&v=2

Based on the Avery and Hoes picks the Orioles seemed to have determined the system is in need of some high upside athletes. Hopefully they pan out.

Something must be up with Melville for him to have fallen this far.

[Mackus]

I was hoping for a repeat of Jake Arrieta. His name is Melville.

If Melville hasn't gone yet, he won't go for a while.

Some team will draft him in the 7th-10th round and see what his demands are, but its almost a certainty he'll be going to college at this point.

[Go_Os]

As a senior this past spring, opposing teams rarely pitched to him. Still, the right-handed-hitting outfielder batted .524 with nine doubles and eight home runs. He stole 32 bases, scored 44 runs and drove in 29 more. He also shined as a pitcher, going 2-0 with three saves and a 1.35 ERA, holding opponents to a .111 batting average.

[JTrea81]

Do you pronounces his name as in Hoe -s?

O's, Hoes, and Natty Bo's!

[StunninSteve]

This appears to be a much bigger reach than Avery, at lest according to BA.

It'll be interesting to see what Jordan says about both these guys. He obviously thinks he knows something that the general scouting community doesn't.

I think it's sort of like how we drafted Erbe in the 3rd round. Local guys who have committed to a College (who could be a high pick 3 years from HS) may consider backing out of it in order to sign with their local team. I don't know if this would be the case or not...

[wayne25]

Maybe he figures to take the guys he likes one round ahead of where most people have them listed. This a little strange to be taking these raw talents. on the video he looked like a right handed version of our 2nd round pick. At least he is getting athletes with upside should they develop.

[Baroquen131]

I don't get the criticism. If a guy was a polished college hitter ready to help the bigs in 2-3 years, he wouldn't be around in the 3rd round. A lot of guys picked in these rounds never amount to anything, college or no.

I know some see the success of Arrieta and hope to repeat it, but Arrieta fell due to demands, and is more of an abberation, not the rule.

The criticism is that this team isn't competing now because we have decent pitching but not decent hitting. This draft so far is doing nothing to change that opinion. Even if these two guys end up developing into something worthy of 2nd and 3rd round picks, it will still be behind the majority of our pitchers' development.

Yes, we could still trade from our strengths and try for balance that way. But there were positional names bandied about that we had the opportunity for in these two rounds that the club passed on. That said - I am not a draftaholic, and don't profess to know more about these guys than our scouts. It just doesn't seem to fit much for me.

Are you saying you're happy with Hoes and Avery?

[JTrea81]

From the Post article:

Despite the gaudy statistics, some scouts are unsure where Hoes fits on a major league team. They question whether he has the speed to play center field or if he has the power to be a corner outfielder. Hoes said he was timed at 6.6 seconds in the 60-yard dash during a recent workout in St. Louis for the Cardinals and believes that time will quell any doubts about his speed. Any team will want to be certain in its projection of Hoes if it plans to meet his demand for a signing bonus. He said he wants "first- to third-round money," which is upward of $650,000.

"He plays the game hard, he plays the game the way it's supposed to be played and he loves the game," said one scout, speaking on the condition of anonymity because teams generally prohibit their evaluators from speaking publicly about prospects. "He's a baseball player, and that counts for something. It sounds stupid, but we all know what it means. He knows the game. Those are intangibles that serve you well, but only to a certain degree."

Trembley will love him, if he's still around and Hoes makes it that far...

[bej6789]

Can't say that I'm too happy about restocking a farm system completely empty of hitters with high schoolers...

[Naplic]

[NastyRonald]

Kyle Russell of U of Texas just went at #93 to the Dodgers. I would not have minded if the O's drafted him. Oh well.

[bryanman8]

Great, great player. Made the All-Star team in the Cal Ripken, Sr. League full of top college players as a HSer. Dominated St. Albans both on the mound and at the plate but definitely will be brought up as a hitter. Pretty sure he played mainly OF over there but I guess we're going to try and bring him up as a 2Bman. Just a natural player that really knows what he's doing too and loves, loves the game of baseball. Goes by L.J. Great pick if they can sign him since he does have a scholarship to UNC.

[Camden_yardbird]

Care to explain the picture. mock up or actual pic?

[byrdz]

Care to explain the picture. mock up or actual pic?

From this article, probably from the All Star Cal Ripken Sr. League is my guess.

[ATO UMD]

From this article, probably from the All Star Cal Ripken Sr. League is my guess.

From that same article:

"Hoes’ quality character certainly isn’t the only valuable attribute that earned him a UNC scholarship offer, as well as offers from other baseball powers such as Arizona State, Miami, South Carolina, and Alabama."

He got recruited by some pretty big-time programs, so he's no slouch.