Mock Five

[allstar1579]

Gibson in safe in that he has a plus secondary pitch, very good command and decent pitchability. "Safe" to provide ML-value at some point.

I wouldn't consider any HS pitcher "safe", but Matzek has very few red flags and some good characteristics that put him above some of the other HS arms -- pitchability, secondary command and refinement and fairly clean mechanics.

Well said. Hence why I'd be perfectly happy about Matzek at 5.

[Duke2010]

I have a few questions:

1) Is Mike Leake a good value for the O's at 5? If he does have Oswalt potential then I wouldn't complain, and he seems like he has some solid athleticism. Also, since he is a shorter righthander, how does he compare to someone like Tim Hudson?

2) How easy is it to clean up a college pitchers mechanics? I know some have talked about how they would stay away from Alex White and Aaron Crow due to their mechanics, but if they were cleaned up they would be "safer" picks with less injury risk. On the downside, if there mechanics were changed to become cleaner, how likely is it that they would lose the quality of their stuff?

[QBsILLEST1]

I have a few questions:

1) Is Mike Leake a good value for the O's at 5? If he does have Oswalt potential then I wouldn't complain, and he seems like he has some solid athleticism. Also, since he is a shorter righthander, how does he compare to someone like Tim Hudson?

2) How easy is it to clean up a college pitchers mechanics? I know some have talked about how they would stay away from Alex White and Aaron Crow due to their mechanics, but if they were cleaned up they would be "safer" picks with less injury risk. On the downside, if there mechanics were changed to become cleaner, how likely is it that they would lose the quality of their stuff?

1-Mike Leake is an awesome pitcher, plus pitches across the board with plus command, but he would be a reach for us at 1:5. I would expect him more to be in the mid first round. Though his ceiling may be that of Roy Oswalt, that does not mean his projection is that of Oswalt, or else he would be rated higher-I know his small stature red flag is not the reason he is not listed amongst the top 5.

2- It is not at all easy to clean up a college pitcher's mechanics. Usually, the trainers and coaches do not want to mess up what has gotten the player to the point they are at. Say we take White with our pick and try to mess with his mechanics, sure it may help with the injury risk, but it may also affect his fastball movement or velocity. Most of his value lies in his fastball which has plus velocity and plus movement. If you do tamper with his delivery and get bad results, you may hurt his confidence and once confidence goes, they may never get it back. Pitchers are very very fragile.I have said this before, if any teams are worried about red flags this year in a pitcher's mechanics, they better draft a position player. Just about every single upper tier pitcher in this year's draft has some sort of red flags including Strasburg, White, Crow, Wilson, and even Gibson who apparently first was slated as having good mechanics, but then after further review, many scouts have noticed a major red flag in his delivery though it is smooth as silk. Some scouts have even said Purke has a red flag being that he is thin as a rail and his frame may not hold his max effort delivery(never seen him pitch tho this is based off of scouting reports) . Mike Leake falls in the same boat, he does not have a big frame so many are worried that his body may not be able to handle the stress of starting pitching.

By far, Tyler Matzek is the safest bet to not suffer a pitching related injury, atleast if you are basing your opinion on red flags in deliveries and what not....

[QBsILLEST1]

And by the way, my top 5:

1-Stras

2-Ackley

3-Matzek

4-White

5-Crow

[Camden_yardbird]

I think there is no way the Pirates don't go with a pitcher. The minor leagues for them are pretty bare for pitchers.

[Stotle]

I think there is no way the Pirates don't go with a pitcher. The minor leagues for them are pretty bare for pitchers.

College arm would make the most sense for PIT, but they could go HS too.

[wayne25]

Ugh, I hate seeing Ackley go #2 to Seattle in these mocks.

I hope there is some way some how he can drop to us. Perhaps Boras will ask for too much money.

I pray we don't take Crow as he has bust written all over him.

when it comes to the draft, we seem to see

"eye to eye. I want Ackley

[Scrat1]

I still want Grant Green. I can't help myself.