My favorite picks thus far

[QBsILLEST1]

1: Matt Hobgood- I really like this pick, he isnt the big named guy who everyone was expecting at first, but he has a very high ceiling. I love what I am hearing about his intangibles like poise and mound presence, these are things that factor into whether or not a guy can be a #1 starter. His fastball is ridiculous with plus velocity and plus movement, he has a true plus curve that may end up being plus plus when all said and done. He has a ok slider and a change up that is a work in progress that will eventually be atleast average, pushing toward above average. Very good pick IMO regardless of what BA says he should have been slotted at.

2-Mychal Givens- High risk high reward, I wouldnt label him the toolsy guy just because he isnt that raw. He has a better approach than average for a HSer, he has plus speed, plus arm and is a plus fielder. The bat is his biggest question, and I am under the belief that he will answer those questions pretty soon in a positive way. Someone compared him to Furcal, and I think that is a perfect comparison.....

3-Tyler Townsend- Another good pick, hes a masher 1st baseman with good discipline and plus power. He is the big bat first baseman we have been seeking for years, smeone also compared him to Reimold and I also like that comparison. Obviously Reimold isnt a 1st baseman and has some more speed, but Townsend to me will have a similar projectory....

4- Randy Henry- This guy kicks off the high risk high reward value pick. He was committed to a college to play ball, but blew out his elbow in his senior year and ended up going to a CC. He didnt pitch much this year as he was just coming abck from injury, but when he did pitch, he lit the gun up. He throws mid 90's fastball with an above average change up and above average curve. He has major upside rivaling Hobgood's. This pick best compare to the Bundy pick of last year in which we were able to get a 1st round talent in a later round due to injury. May end up being our best pick of the draft, absolutely LOVE this pick.....

5- Ashur Tolliver- Another pick that I love, he has mega upside and a good fastball curveball and change up. He wa sa transfer and had a down year which hurt his draft stokc but hes another value pick here and will pay off. Hes similar to an Arrieta pick since he had a down year this year which hurt his draft stock enabling us to take him in a latter round....

7- Aaron Wirsh- Another HS high ceiling pick that I like to take a chance on, lets see if he will sign

9- Ryan Berry- Mega steal IMO he could have been a 1st or 2nd rounder if not for an injury which threw him out of sync. When he is on, he is nearly unhittable, someone compared him to Berken, and I like the comp but think Berry is gonna be better..... Definately has ML quality stuff.....3 average to above average pitches.....

10-Jacob Cowan- Another high reward guy, elbow tendinitis made him lose of effectiveness of his pitches, but he has 4 average-plus pitches and still has room to fill out and add some more velocity to his low 90 fastball. He was a 2nd rounder until the tendinits hurt his stock, MAJOR steal here......

15- Garrett Bush Another HS arm with a high ceiling, was one of the top prospects in his area and is fairly new to pitching which is good so he doesnt have much mileage on his arm and the O's can monitor how much mileage goes on it. He could end up being a good pitcher for us....The thing to remember about with these HS arms in the latter rounds, they arent the same as a 15th round college kid meaning that the HSer has a lot of time to develop, I dont know how many time I see a HS kid who was drafted in the 20th round, didnt sign goes to college and ends up being drafted in the 1st or 2nd round....ie. Scheppers.....I just wanted to mention this as I am seeing people say that all picks around this slot are long shots.....

18- Jarrett Martin- Another excellent pick, JJ couldnt sign him last year and IMO will sign him this year or else he wouldnt have redrafted the kid. He is a year out of HS and is a very projectable kid who continues to gain more and more velocity as he fills out. I expect him to be a mid 90 MPH fastball guy with pretty good secondaries.

All in all, we have a lot of risk we took in this draft, but guess what? Thats how any draft is, and the risks that we took are accompanied by huge reward. We have more upside in this draft than last year IMO and last year wasnt bad. We took a lot of Bundy(Henry and Cowan) picks and a few Arrieta picks(Berry). I am very excited to watch these guys move through the ranks and watch them augment our system even further.....IMO very good draft so far, now its up to player development to take over

[McNulty]

I'll see if I can get any info on whether Bush plans to sign or not.

[Stotle]

1: Matt Hobgood- I really like this pick, he isnt the big named guy who everyone was expecting at first, but he has a very high ceiling. I love what I am hearing about his intangibles like poise and mound presence, these are things that factor into whether or not a guy can be a #1 starter. His fastball is ridiculous with plus velocity and plus movement, he has a true plus curve that may end up being plus plus when all said and done. He has a ok slider and a change up that is a work in progress that will eventually be atleast average, pushing toward above average. Very good pick IMO regardless of what BA says he should have been slotted at.

2-Mychal Givens- High risk high reward, I wouldnt label him the toolsy guy just because he isnt that raw. He has a better approach than average for a HSer, he has plus speed, plus arm and is a plus fielder. The bat is his biggest question, and I am under the belief that he will answer those questions pretty soon in a positive way. Someone compared him to Furcal, and I think that is a perfect comparison.....

3-Tyler Townsend- Another good pick, hes a masher 1st baseman with good discipline and plus power. He is the big bat first baseman we have been seeking for years, smeone also compared him to Reimold and I also like that comparison. Obviously Reimold isnt a 1st baseman and has some more speed, but Townsend to me will have a similar projectory....

4- Randy Henry- This guy kicks off the high risk high reward value pick. He was committed to a college to play ball, but blew out his elbow in his senior year and ended up going to a CC. He didnt pitch much this year as he was just coming abck from injury, but when he did pitch, he lit the gun up. He throws mid 90's fastball with an above average change up and above average curve. He has major upside rivaling Hobgood's. This pick best compare to the Bundy pick of last year in which we were able to get a 1st round talent in a later round due to injury. May end up being our best pick of the draft, absolutely LOVE this pick.....

5- Ashur Tolliver- Another pick that I love, he has mega upside and a good fastball curveball and change up. He wa sa transfer and had a down year which hurt his draft stokc but hes another value pick here and will pay off. Hes similar to an Arrieta pick since he had a down year this year which hurt his draft stock enabling us to take him in a latter round....

7- Aaron Wirsh- Another HS high ceiling pick that I like to take a chance on, lets see if he will sign

9- Ryan Berry- Mega steal IMO he could have been a 1st or 2nd rounder if not for an injury which threw him out of sync. When he is on, he is nearly unhittable, someone compared him to Berken, and I like the comp but think Berry is gonna be better..... Definately has ML quality stuff.....3 average to above average pitches.....

10-Jacob Cowan- Another high reward guy, elbow tendinitis made him lose of effectiveness of his pitches, but he has 4 average-plus pitches and still has room to fill out and add some more velocity to his low 90 fastball. He was a 2nd rounder until the tendinits hurt his stock, MAJOR steal here......

15- Garrett Bush Another HS arm with a high ceiling, was one of the top prospects in his area and is fairly new to pitching which is good so he doesnt have much mileage on his arm and the O's can monitor how much mileage goes on it. He could end up being a good pitcher for us....The thing to remember about with these HS arms in the latter rounds, they arent the same as a 15th round college kid meaning that the HSer has a lot of time to develop, I dont know how many time I see a HS kid who was drafted in the 20th round, didnt sign goes to college and ends up being drafted in the 1st or 2nd round....ie. Scheppers.....I just wanted to mention this as I am seeing people say that all picks around this slot are long shots.....

18- Jarrett Martin- Another excellent pick, JJ couldnt sign him last year and IMO will sign him this year or else he wouldnt have redrafted the kid. He is a year out of HS and is a very projectable kid who continues to gain more and more velocity as he fills out. I expect him to be a mid 90 MPH fastball guy with pretty good secondaries.

All in all, we have a lot of risk we took in this draft, but guess what? Thats how any draft is, and the risks that we took are accompanied by huge reward. We have more upside in this draft than last year IMO and last year wasnt bad. We took a lot of Bundy(Henry and Cowan) picks and a few Arrieta picks(Berry). I am very excited to watch these guys move through the ranks and watch them augment our system even further.....IMO very good draft so far, now its up to player development to take over

The bolded part is ignoring that many times the high schoolers dropping that low aren't dropping because of talent, they are dropping because they will be very difficult to sign away from a college commitment.

[hoosiers]

The bolded part is ignoring that many times the high schoolers dropping that low aren't dropping because of talent, they are dropping because they will be very difficult to sign away from a college commitment.

This is a good point. Maybe the kid will sign and maybe he won't. Maybe he'll be a backup and get $ if another fails to sign.

[QBsILLEST1]

The bolded part is ignoring that many times the high schoolers dropping that low aren't dropping because of talent, they are dropping because they will be very difficult to sign away from a college commitment.

Yes and thank you for adding that, it just really makes me mad when I see folks say stuff like "who cares, anyone drafated at this slot is a longshot anyway" Thats absolutely false, Troy Patton was drafted in the 14th round if I remember correctly, if not 14, somewhere in that area. But this is the reason that we are drafting these HS talents around these slots and have money saved to spend on these kids. You have to look at the draft as a whole, not just first 3 rounds and screw the rest of it. It was said by someone, maybe Jordan that we were going to be spending more money on these committed talents, and so far I am really liking what I am seeing with the value picks, maybe not the big name guys, but true value picks. Ill tell you what though, we sure will have a strong minor league system when these HS kids that we are drafting here are in HiA AA and AAA......

[Stotle]

Yes and thank you for adding that, it just really makes me mad when I see folks say stuff like "who cares, anyone drafated at this slot is a longshot anyway" Thats absolutely false, Troy Patton was drafted in the 14th round if I remember correctly, if not 14, somewhere in that area. But this is the reason that we are drafting these HS talents around these slots and have money saved to spend on these kids. You have to look at the draft as a whole, not just first 3 rounds and screw the rest of it. It was said by someone, maybe Jordan that we were going to be spending more money on these committed talents, and so far I am really liking what I am seeing with the value picks, maybe not the big name guys, but true value picks. Ill tell you what though, we sure will have a strong minor league system when these HS kids that we are drafting here are in HiA AA and AAA......

Could be. We'll have to see how many sign and go from there.

[LookinUp]

This is a great post. Thanks for contributing these thoughts.

+rep