Aaaaand there we are. Strasburg is the pick at #1. In other news, the sun came up in the East this morning, and likely will again tomorrow.
Totally wrong on San Diego. Love what they did, taking Donovan Tate, though. They stepped up to the plate and took a higher upside player, and the price tag to buy him out of a football scholarship be damned. Good on you, San Diego.
The Pirates take the first really huge reach of the draft with Sanchez. Huge, huge reach. Very low upside, especially offensively. I just don't get why they would do this. I actually had predicted this guy in one of my earlier attempts at a mock draft, but thought there was no way that Pitt's new front office could possibly be as terrible on draft day as the last front office was. Congratulations, Pirates, you proved me wrong.
Shocker at #5, as the O's take Matt Hobgood, whom I absolutely love. Probably my second favourite player in the draft, right after Chad James, the lefty I'm hoping the Cards take.
Happy to see the Braves take Mike Minor, as I wasn't a big fan of his, but thought there was a really strong chance the Cards would have taken him. This thing is getting really interesting, as a bunch of these teams are taking the easy signs, wonder how this is going to influence future drafts.
Good old Walt Jocketty going off script, taking Mike Leake out of Arizona State. Signability again rears its head.
5:55 pm- The local kid, Jake Turner, goes to the Tigers, and I'm not at all surprised. They take the big arm every time it falls to them, and Turner has the potential to be a dominant power pitcher a few year down the road. Good stuff if you're a Tigers fan.
6:06 pm- Tyler Matzek, the top HS arm in the draft, falls all the way to Colorado at 11. He's said he wants to set a new record for bonus money; who knows if he'll get it.
6:12 pm- Athletics take Grant Green, the top shortstop in the draft. I was a fan, thought he would make a good choice for the Cards. Oh well. Chad James, here we come!
6:29 pm- Texas takes Matt Purke, the highest upside pitcher still on the board. I love what Purke's arm can do, but I don't really like his mechanics. I think they would have been better off with Shelby Miller, personally.
6:31 pm- Sweet! The DBacks take AJ Pollock; why do I care? Because I got it right, that's why! Sure, I had him going at 16 instead of 17, but still. I'm happy.
Also, Tony Gwynn is awesome. Why one of the networks didn't snatch him up as a broadcaster is beyond me. Instead, we get steve Phillips and Joe Fucking Morgan.
6:35 pm- Son of a fucking bitch! Chad James was my guy, and the goddamn Marlins take him! Fuck!
Well, now it's time to wait and see what kind of shitball we end up with. Fuck.
6:40 pm- Oooohhh, now that's interesting. The Cardinals take Shelby Miller, the flamethrower out of a Texas High school. I really like this kid. I still wanted Chad James the most, but Miller is remarkably talented. I'm ecstatic, seeing the Cardinals take the kind of front of the rotation talent they have been so sorely lacking.
This is awesome. Very, very exciting.
6:54- Very interesting pick by the Twins at 22, where they go with Kyle Gibson, the big righthander out of Missouri. Gibson was projected to go as high as about 5, but has the elbow injury now. Definitely a risk, but if Gibson can prove he's healthy, Minnesota could have just gotten a pretty good bargain.
7:04 pm- The Angels take a kid I was really hoping would be there for the Cards in the second round, Randal Grichuk, an OF out of a Texas high school. Tremendous pure bat speed, doesn't have a whole lot other tools, but the guy is definitely going to hit. Erik over at Future Redbirds wrote him up just not too long ago. Good Angels type player.
7:37 pm- The Cubs take Brett Jackson, an outfielder out of Berkeley, with the 31st pick. Brett Jackson, you are now my sworn enemy.
8:23 pm- Rich Poythress finally goes off the board to Seattle at #51. I'm really surprised he lasted that long, as you don't see a whole lot of players with the kind of raw power he has. I don't care if everyone thinks it's more strength than batspeed, dude can hit the ball a freaking mile. Plus, his plate discipline is really, really good.
8:27 pm- Surprise at #54, with Mychal Givens going to the Orioles. Not surprising that he's the pick, but surprised that he's taken as a pitcher. I'm not a fan of his arm action; think he'll be much better as a shortstop, but I suppose we'll see.
8:34 pm- the Detroit Tigers continue to prove why ignoring baseball's slot recommendations is such a good idea, as they take Andrew Oliver in the 2nd round. I love Oliver, think he's going to be just a dynamite player, but he's going to be expensive. He's represented by Boras, but the Tigers don't care. They just got a first round talent.
8:46 pm- Another really interesting pick for the Cards in the second round. They took Robert Stock, the catcher/RHP out of USC. The name may sound a little familiar to you, as he was the player who actually left high school early a few years ago to attend USC. He's only 19 now as a college junior, and has hit up to 95 mph off the mound. He was announced as a catcher still, but I have to think the Cardinals are looking more at his arm, as he has badly failed as a hitter in college. Still, a really, really intriguing pick here. So far this is shaping up to be an interesting draft, at the very least.
9:35 pm- and finishing up the night, the Cards take Joe Kelly, the fireballing closer from UC Riverside. I like Kelly, as he has ridiculous arm strength, but he's been a little more hittable than someone with his stuff should be. He's got a long arm action that may make his pitches easy to track, but his fastball and slider are both plus pitches. I like the pick. So far, so good.
