High School Shortstops

[furryburres]

From the Aflac Event:

JIOVANNI MIER 2B/SS

School: Bonita HS, Pomona, Calif.

Height: 6-2 Weight: 170

Bats/Throws: R/R

Strong and athletic, Mier has fluid defensive actions and arm strength. At the plate, he is a gap-to-gap hitter with average speed and occasional power.

DAVID NICK 2B/SS

School: Cypress (Calif.) HS

Height: 6-2 Weight: 175

Bats/Throws: R/R

Nick is a smooth fielding middle infielder with a solid arm and fielding instincts. He is a good athlete with strength and is a pure hitter with some pop in his bat.

Sounds like Nick might not be such a bad 4-5 round choice.

[THELTSHOW]

Let Greg Miclat show that he can play before we go after ANOTHER high school player. I really hope that Rowell would teach us a lesson about how risky it is to take a HS SS.

[Duke2010]

Let Greg Miclat show that he can play before we go after ANOTHER high school player. I really hope that Rowell would teach us a lesson about how risky it is to take a HS SS.

Why? The draft is all about getting the top talent regardless of age or position, and Rowell was considered a top talent at that point in the draft. Plus, at age 19 in A+, he still has plenty of time to turn things around. If he struggles next year, yeah that would be cause for concern, but he still has plenty of time, and he very well could have a Brandon Snyder type turnaround.

And it seems that you think that drafting another high school kid would be undermining Miclat and his talent, but I might just be making an assumption. Drafting Matusz didn't undermine the talent of Arrieta or Tillman, it just so happened that he was the best talent available, so we went with him. If these MI prospects are there in the draft and they look like they can play, then we should take them because its not like we are swimming in 2B/SS prospects.

[furryburres]

Let Greg Miclat show that he can play before we go after ANOTHER high school player. I really hope that Rowell would teach us a lesson about how risky it is to take a HS SS.

And if he fails? We wait 3 years for him to get up, and then we have to draft ANOTHER college shortstop, and end up waiting 6-7 years for one shortstop to finally arrive.

No, you never depend on one non-elite player to be your entire future at that position, especially if that player has some injury history and is an undersized player drafted in the 5th round.

[THELTSHOW]

Why? The draft is all about getting the top talent regardless of age or position, and Rowell was considered a top talent at that point in the draft. Plus, at age 19 in A+, he still has plenty of time to turn things around. If he struggles next year, yeah that would be cause for concern, but he still has plenty of time, and he very well could have a Brandon Snyder type turnaround.

And it seems that you think that drafting another high school kid would be undermining Miclat and his talent, but I might just be making an assumption. Drafting Matusz didn't undermine the talent of Arrieta or Tillman, it just so happened that he was the best talent available, so we went with him. If these MI prospects are there in the draft and they look like they can play, then we should take them because its not like we are swimming in 2B/SS prospects.

I understand what you mean, but I challenge you to name a high school SS drafted in the last 8 years who made it to the big leagues in under 5. Most top SS prospects are either college players or domincan imports.

You heard it here first, Greg Miclat will become a quality major leaguer.

[THELTSHOW]

Sorry for the double post, but I figure I could just make my point by charting the starting MLB SS in baseball and where they came from to prove my point that people drafted as HS SS don't often stay there.

AL East

Baltimore: Juan Castro (Mexico)/Alex Cintron (Puerto Rio)

New York: Derek Jeter (HS)

Boston: Alex Cora (DR)/Jed Lowrie (Stanford)

Toronto: David Eckstein (Florida)

Tampa Bay: Jason Bartlett (Oklahoma)/Ben Zobrist (Dallas Baptist)

AL Central

Minnesota: Nick Punto (Saddleback CC)/Adam Everett (South Carolina)

Chicago: Orlando Cabrera (Colombia)

Cleveland: Jhonny Perralta (DR)

Kansas City: Mike Aviles (Concordia)/ Tony Pena (DR)

Detroit: Edgar Renteria (Colombia)

AL West

Anaheim: Erick Aybar (Dominican)

Seattle: Yuniesky Betancourt (Cuba)

Oakland: Bobby Crosby (Long Beach State)

Texas: Michael Young (UC Santa Barbara)

NL East:

New York: Jose Reyes (DR)

Philadelphia: Jimmy Rollins (HS)

Florida: Hanley Ramirez (DR)

Atlanta: Yunel Escobar (Cuba)

Washington: Christian Guzman (DR)

NL Central

Chicago: Ryan Theriot (LSU)

Milwaukee: JJ Hardy (HS)

St. Louis: Cesar Izturis (Venezuela)

Pittsburgh: Jack Wilson (Oxnard JC)

Cincinnati: Jeff Keppinger (Georgia)

Houston: Miguel Tejada (DR)

NL West

Los Angeles: Rafael Furcal/Angel Berroa (DR)

Colorado: Troy Tulowitzki (Long Beach State)

Arizona: Stephen Drew (Florida State)

San Diego: Khalil Greene (Clemson)

San Francisco: Emmanuel Burriss (Kent State)

So after this long winded post, there is a point. People drafted as SS out of high school often don't end up at that position. Whether its because of the difficulty of playing SS defensively or that it takes a lot of focus to play the most important position of the field, many teams choose to move their HS SS to other positions. Although it is natural to allow these players to play other positions because of their athleticism, it doesn't fill the need of a SS. Scouts see college SS differently because there is a longer body of work to suggest that they can handle playing SS at the major league level because they are more experienced in playing longer seasons and have a better feel for the position.