OH Group-Mock '09

allstar1579 · June 2, 2009

Interesting. I imagine Stotle has seen him, but I haven't. What is so awkward about him behind the plate?

He kept tripping over his feet a little bit, just kinda sloppy footwork especially on pop ups and he has a weird hop to his step when he throws to 2nd, but that wasn't really hindering, it was just weird. It might just be because he is so big, I mean he's like 6'3 220 and only been 18 a few weeks, he's huge.

Stotle · June 2, 2009

Interesting. I imagine Stotle has seen him, but I haven't. What is so awkward about him behind the plate?

I have. Defensively, these are my general thoughts:

Things I like:

strong arm (plus to plus-plus; mid-90s off the mound)
decent footwork in transfer (I like the way he pops up and sets himself on throws)
moves relatively quickly for a big body (cheats a little, but quicker than I thought he'd be; by "cheats" I mean he can leave his crouch as the runner takes off, rather than keeping low and then springing, but he's pretty clean)

Things I dislike:

long arm action (he transfers around the hip/mid-section rather than bringing up to his chest/ear; this means it takes longer for him to release, limiting the effectiveness of his strong arm)
so-so accuracy (this relates to the first point; he tries to get rid of the ball quickly, but his action is long enough that his release point is inconsistent and his throws are accordingly less accurate than you'd like)
poor receiver (he doesn't move particularly well in his motions receiving; not great body control, can shift heavily with better pitchers and can have trouble with better breaking stuff/lively fastballs; probably just isn't a pure athlete; I don't see long term catcher, though I guess he could be average with continued work)

QBsILLEST1 · June 2, 2009

2:4 Luke Bailey, Catcher

As one major publication has stated, though he is injured, the tools are still there, and will be there after he recovers. Very good catching prospect and arguably the BPA..... Woulda went with some more HS pitching, but if Im the Pirates, Im looking to cash in on this deep amount of offensive catchers in HS who may end up being very very good. I also believe I remember Bailey being a pretty good defender too, though I could be wrong, but dont have the time to research right now.....

Greg Pappas · June 2, 2009

First Round...

1. Washington Nationals: crawdad... Stephen Strasburg, RHSP, San Diego State

2. Seattle Mariners: allstar1579... Dustin Ackley, CF/1B, North Carolina

3. San Diego Padres: WebLink21... Aaron Crow, RHP, Fort Worth Cats

4. Pittsburgh Pirates: QBsIllest...Tanner Scheppers, RHP, St. Paul Saints

5. Baltimore Orioles: Duke... Tyler Matzek, LHSP, HS (CA)

6. San Francisco Giants: McNulty... Donovan Tate, OF, HS (GA)

7. Atlanta Braves: Lookin Up... Zack Wheeler, RHSP, HS (GA)

8. Cincinnati Reds: Stotle... Shelby Miller, RHSP, HS (TX)

9. Detroit Tigers: Stotle... Grant Green, SS, USC

10. Washington Nationals*: crawdad... Kyle Gibson, RHSP, Missouri

11. Colorado Rockies: QBsIllest... Mike Leake, RHSP, Arizona State

12. Kansas City Royals: Greg Pappas... Jacob Turner, RHSP, HS (MO)

13. Oakland Athletics: fischbowl... Mike Minor, LHSP, Vanderbilt

14. Texas Rangers: Lookin Up... Alex White, RHSP, UNC

15. Cleveland Indians: allstar1579... Matt Purke, LHSP, HS (TX)

16. Arizona Diamondbacks: Stotle... Tim Wheeler, OF, Sacremento St.

17. Arizona Diamondbacks*: Stotle... Tony Sanchez, C, Boston College

18. Florida Marlins: Greg Pappas... Rex Brothers, LHSP, Lipscomb

19. St. Louis Cardinals: fischbowl... Mike Trout, CF, HS (NJ)

20. Toronto Blue Jays: McNulty... Matt Davidson, 3B, HS (CA)

21. Houston Astros: Greg Pappas... Everett Williams, CF, HS (TX)

22. Minnesota Twins: WebLink21... Bobby Borchering, 1B/3B, HS (FL)

23. Chicago White Sox: crawdad... James Paxton, LHSP, Kentucky

24. Los Angeles Angels: crawdad... LeVon Washington, OF, HS (FL)

25. Los Angeles Angels*: crawdad... Tyler Skaggs, LHSP, HS (CA)

26. Milwaukee Brewers: Duke... Eric Arnett, RHP, Indiana

27. Seattle Mariners*: allstar1579... Andy Oliver, LHSP, OkSt

28. Boston Red Sox: Lookin Up... Max Stassi, C, HS (CA)

29. NY Yankees*: fischbowl... Matt Hobgood, RHP, HS (CA)

30. Tampa Bay Rays: Duke... Wil Myers, C, HS (NC)

31. Chicago Cubs: WebLink21... Rich Poythress, 1B, Georgia

32. Colorado Rockies*: QBsIllest... Alex Wilson, RHP, Tex A&M

First Round Supplemental...

33. Mariners: AllStar... Chad Jenkins, RHP, Kenesaw St

34. Rockies: QBsILLest... Kentrail Davis, OF, Tenn

35. Diamondbacks: Stotle… Jiovanni Mier, SS, Bonita HS (CA)

36. Dodgers: QBsILLest… Mychal Givens SP/SS

37. Blue Jays: McNulty… Reymond Fuentes, OF, HS Puerto Rico

38. White Sox: crawdad… Brett Jackson OF, California

39. Brewers: Duke… Garrett Gould, RHP, Maize HS, KA

40. Angels: crawdad… Chad James, LHP, Yukon HS, OK

41. Diamondbacks: Stotle… Drew Storen, RHP, Stanford University

42. Angels: crawdad... Zach Von Rosenburg, Zachary HS, LA

43. Reds: Stotle... AJ Pollock, OF/2B, Univ. Of Notre Dame

44. Rangers: Lookin Up... Ben Tootle, RHP Jacksonville State University

45. Diamondbacks: Stotle... Brad Boxberger, RHP, USC

46. Twins: WebLink21... Sam Dyson, RHP, South Carolina

47. Brewers: Duke... Jared Mitchell, OF, LSU

48. Angels: crawdad... Tommy Joseph, C, HS (AZ)

49. Pirates: QBsILLest... Mark Dwyer, LHP, Clemson

Second Round Up To The Orioles Pick...

2-1. Washington Nationals: crawdad... Jason Kipnis, OF, Arizona St

2-2. Seattle Mariners: allstar1579... Austin Maddox, C, HS (FL)

2-3. San Diego Padres: WebLink21... Kyle Heckathorn, RHP, Kennesaw St

2-4. Pittsburgh Pirates: QBsIllest... Luke Bailey, C, HS (GA)

2-5. Baltimore Orioles: Duke...

Icterus galbula · June 2, 2009

2:4 Luke Bailey, Catcher
As one major publication has stated, though he is injured, the tools are still there, and will be there after he recovers. Very good catching prospect and arguably the BPA..... Woulda went with some more HS pitching, but if Im the Pirates, Im looking to cash in on this deep amount of offensive catchers in HS who may end up being very very good. I also believe I remember Bailey being a pretty good defender too, though I could be wrong, but dont have the time to research right now.....

I don't mean to interrupt ya'lls mock draft, but I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading this since you started and am appreciating the opinions and analysis that have come with it.

As soon as this last pick was made, I thought to myself that "this sure seems like a loaded draft for catchers" and lo and behold QBsILLEST1 confirms this very suspicion in greater detail.

Aside from my praise, I also have a question to ask while I'm at it:

A catcher heavy draft is not good for the O's, but are there other position prospects that are slightly overrepresented this year? I know its pitcher heavy early, particularly HS players, but I wonder about the distribution of various positions, personally.

allstar1579 · June 2, 2009

I don't mean to interrupt ya'lls mock draft, but I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading this since you started and am appreciating the opinions and analysis that have come with it.
As soon as this last pick was made, I thought to myself that "this sure seems like a loaded draft for catchers" and lo and behold QBsILLEST1 confirms this very suspicion in greater detail.

Aside from my praise, I also have a question to ask while I'm at it:

A catcher heavy draft is not good for the O's but are there other position prospects that are slightly overrepresented this year? I know its pitcher heavy early, particularly HS players, but I wonder about the distribution of various positions, personally.

There are a couple of power hitting 1B, but not many that are first round talents. Middle infielders are there, but seems like a lot of the SS won't stick there and none of the 2B are really anything to write home about. A couple in Div-2 that could be intriguing. There are some talented HS 3B here in Davidson and Borchering that could be really interesting, a few scattered college guys that may or may not hit enough.

The catchers you already know. There do seem to be a lot of "toolsy" OF especially in HS this year though. This is really the year of the pitcher.

Greg Pappas · June 2, 2009

I don't mean to interrupt ya'lls mock draft, but I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading this since you started and am appreciating the opinions and analysis that have come with it.
As soon as this last pick was made, I thought to myself that "this sure seems like a loaded draft for catchers" and lo and behold QBsILLEST1 confirms this very suspicion in greater detail.

Aside from my praise, I also have a question to ask while I'm at it:

A catcher heavy draft is not good for the O's, but are there other position prospects that are slightly overrepresented this year? I know its pitcher heavy early, particularly HS players, but I wonder about the distribution of various positions, personally.

I'd say that there is good depth at both CF and catcher, with pitching having a solid crop as well. Here is some info I worked out on the positional talent...

Basing my info on BA's Top 100 listing, I determined how many of each position was listed and what overall average rank the position was. As an example, you'll notice that there are three 1B'men listed and they averaged ranking 36th between them:

Pos.	#	Avg1B	3	362B	2	82SS	6	533B	4	78C	10	64LF	5	60CF	15	40RF	4	74

Hutman · June 2, 2009

Ok one pick left.............what is it????:clap3:

Duke2010 · June 2, 2009

2:5 Baltimore Orioles

Mark Krauss

1B/OF OHIO U

6'3" 225 lbs.

I really like Krauss here, and I'm surprised he fell. He's a proven college bat with a very solid track record, and I like him more than another guy I considered here, FSU's Tommy Mendonca. Krauss has very good BB and K rates, which is surprising given the amount of power he has. Plus, he's done it in the Cape Cod League, so transferring to a wood bat shouldn't be too much of a problem for him. Defensively, I haven't seen too much written on him, but if he can handle 1B that would be a plus. This player reminds me of Nolan Reimold, but hopefully the 1B version. Both were big mashers from MAC schools, both had decent K/BB rates, but Krauss has shown more power with higher averages.

I'm sure there will be a lot of differing opinions as to what this pick should have been, show hopefully we can come up with a list of possible candidates for 2:5. I was initially hoping that Maddox fell, because even if he doesn't stick behind the plate, I think his power will play elsewhere, but I'd be very happy with Krauss. He's apparently rising up draft boards, and could land in the back half of the first round.

Greg Pappas · June 2, 2009