mymlbdraft.com predicts the orioles select...

[jdmyprez]

Daniel Norris - LHP out of Johnson City,TN

http://www.mymlbdraft.com/MLB-Mock-Draft-2011

Anyone know anything about this kid?

[Hoo Bird]

Don't know anything about him. Found some clips.

[Stotle]

There are probably fifteen kids BAL could end up selecting. If you happen to run across a mock draft at this time of year, my best advice is to print it out, take it to the bathroom and leave it there in case you run out of wiping material some day...

[Hank Scorpio]

There are probably fifteen kids BAL could end up selecting. If you happen to run across a mock draft at this time of year, my best advice is to print it out, take it to the bathroom and leave it there in case you run out of wiping material some day...

Who's your early favorite?

[Stotle]

Who's your early favorite?

With the notation that my opinion at this point is worth a roll of Charmin, I guess I'd go with whoever's left out of Cole/Rendon/Purke/Jungmann. Honestly, the list of players a team could defend selecting at 1:4 at THIS moment, is huge.

Cole/Rendon/Purke/Jungmann/Springer/A-Bradley/Norris/Gray/Barnes/J-Bradley/JBJ/Bundy

and maybe even HS guys like

Starling/Howard/Lindor/Fernandez/Swihart/Bell

EDIT -- Forgot my boy, Josh Bell in the second list

[allstar1579]

Who's your early favorite?

VERY deep year, especially at the top. Like Stotle said, there is a list at least 10-15 deep viable for the top 5 picks.

Don't confuse this with a year that there is no clear cut top guys because of lack of talent, this is one of those rare years that there is SO much good talent at the top it's hard to choose.

[ThisIsOurHouse]

There are probably fifteen kids BAL could end up selecting. If you happen to run across a mock draft at this time of year, my best advice is to print it out, take it to the bathroom and leave it there in case you run out of wiping material some day...

There fun to look at as they give us an early look and names to watch. But yeah you are correct, things change so much that these mock drafts mean little to nothing in the long run.

[Stotle]

There fun to look at as they give us an early look and names to watch. But yeah you are correct, things change so much that these mock drafts mean little to nothing in the long run.

What I don't get is, why not just make it a player to watch list. Well, my guess is that the sites you see doing this don't really know much, if anything, about the players outside of what they are reading from the sites that DO cover these kids.

I just think Mocks are cheap grabs at page hits, but whatevs. People like em, regardless of their "worth".

[QBsILLEST1]

I will have some interest in seeing which of the big 3 HS arms leading the way right now starts to distance himself from the pack. Not really that it matters a bunch to us because I doubt we go HS unless some circumstances call for us to do so, but still I like following the younger high ceiling prep arms.....I will be watching Barnes big time this year as well on the college side. If the uptick in velo is for real and the secondaries continue to improve, he could move up into that top 4 territory......

[Stotle]

I will have some interest in seeing which of the big 3 HS arms leading the way right now starts to distance himself from the pack. Not really that it matters a bunch to us because I doubt we go HS unless some circumstances call for us to do so, but still I like following the younger high ceiling prep arms.....I will be watching Barnes big time this year as well on the college side. If the uptick in velo is for real and the secondaries continue to improve, he could move up into that top 4 territory......

I'd say he's there right now, along with the top five or so college arms. Guys like Meyer/Armstrong/Hultzen/Bauer/Anderson will be the interesting guys for me, as we could honestly end up with 10 college arms that would have had an argument for going in the Top 5 over the last two years. That's mind blowing.

[Stotle]

I will have some interest in seeing which of the big 3 HS arms leading the way right now starts to distance himself from the pack. Not really that it matters a bunch to us because I doubt we go HS unless some circumstances call for us to do so, but still I like following the younger high ceiling prep arms.....I will be watching Barnes big time this year as well on the college side. If the uptick in velo is for real and the secondaries continue to improve, he could move up into that top 4 territory......

Also, FYI from the other evaluators with whom I've spoken there seems to be six HS arms that most consider to be the top tier at this point:

Dillon Howard, Daniel Norris, Dylan Bundy, Archie Bradley, Jose Fernandez and Henry Owens

If you're into the HS arms specifically, those would be the guys I check-in on.

[The Epic]

What I don't get is, why not just make it a player to watch list. Well, my guess is that the sites you see doing this don't really know much, if anything, about the players outside of what they are reading from the sites that DO cover these kids.

Why do they have college basketball polls? Why are there power rankings?

Because people like lists.

[Stotle]

Why do they have college basketball polls? Why are there power rankings?

Because people like lists.

But the volatility in "mock drafts" is much greater than either of those items. Plus, there is no reason to think that person has any idea how an actual draft would run. I haven't clicked on the link yet. I am going to right now and then edit this post with the blatant ommisions that make the mock useless (yes, I'm confident the mock will be bad). Here I go...

EDIT -- Josh Bell has supporters in the scouting community who consider him the best OF prospect in the draft (not listed in the mock); Jose Fernandez was easily the best pitcher at the last large scouting event of the season (Jupiter), sat 93-95 and showed a power slurve in the mid-80s w/good command (not listed in the mock); Jed Bradley was perhaps the best arm on the Cape this summer (not listed in the mock); John Stilson and Tony Zych is the top relief arm in college baseball, sits upper-90s out of the pen and some say will get a chance to be a front-end starter with his pro team (though I hear he likes to close) (not listed in mock);

There are a number of names that are unlikely to go in the 1st Round "if the draft were held today", as well. So value is this adding? It isn't accurate, it has serious omissions, and while some of these kids may end up in the first round in June it isn't a snapshot of their value right now.

AND, this is on their page:

Team needs and drafting tendencies have not been taken into consideration for our initial 2011 MLB Mock Draft.

Then how is the mock even being run? Isn't this just a list of the Top 32 players according to Joe and Jimmy Random, with no insight into the players, no reasoning and no credit to the people they who's work they are reading to compile this?

As I said, whatever. People like mock drafts and people will prey on that by trying to grab page hits and ad dollars by throwing them up. But I'm not sure I've ever seen one outside of Law/Callis that I thought was worth a lick. If you ask any scouting director right now who he is drafting in June you'd get this:

[panick]

Stotle, you appear to have Rendon as one of your top four right now.

Should there be any concern that after two injuries to the same ankle that there might be a chronic problem there?

[Stotle]

Stotle, you appear to have Rendon as one of your top four right now.

Should there be any concern that after two injuries to the same ankle that there might be a chronic problem there?

His surgery went well, and the fracture wasn't as bad as first feared. His rehab has gone well. I'm not aware of a chronic structural issue that would cause these injuries, but I'm not a doctor. He's a legit 4 or 5 tool talent (depending on who you speak to) and he hasn't run into injury issues in season, despite playing a very hardnosed brand of ball. My gut would be to chalk it up to bad luck, but I'd obviously want to speak to my medical experts before spending $6 to 8 million on him in June.