Baseball Rumor Mill

Virginia Tech's Austin Wates Heads Lead Off Prospects

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:17:02 EST

Though power hitters always get the publicity, a handful of high on-base percentage speedsters that are likely to be first-day picks in the 2010 draft could prove to be lead off hitters professionally.

Gary Brown, Cal State Fullerton: He needs to improve his walk rate, but is incredibly fast and runs a sub-4.0 to first base.

Tyler Holt, Florida State: As fast as Brown, but with much better discipline at the plate.

Tyler Holt is speedy player with good plate discipline

Leon Landry, LSU: Another above-average runner, Landry has better power than Holt or Brown. He's a nice, intriguing talent," said an American League scout. "He runs, and brings some punch to the plate. I like the way he plays the game, and he might fit at the top of the lineup with his patience and plate skills."

Austin Wates, Virginia Tech: Impressed scouts this summer in the Cape Cod league and is considered the best overall prospect of the group. "If you want a bat for the top of your lineup, he might be the best guy for that job," said one scout. "He might be able to drive in runs for you, though."

MLB Draft Notes: Gary Brown, Austin Wates, Bryce Harper

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:01:55 EST

Plenty of baseball action this past Saturday, Mar 6. Let's take a look at the highlights from the draft prospects:

Jedd Gyorko continues to hit. His numbers are up to 361/452/639 with six walks vs. four strikeouts in his first nine games.
Houston's Michael Goodnight out dueled Texas's Brandon Workman in a 1-0 win for the Cougars. Despite walking four hitters, Goodnight struck out nine over 7IP and allowed just two hits. Workman was equally as impressive, yielding just a walk, four hits and one earned run over 8IP with seven strikeouts.
Cal State Fullerton's Christian Colon continues to struggle going 0-for-5 against Arizona. The shortstop is hitting 194/310/306 through the first nine games of the season. After having a 971 OPS last year, no one expects his struggles to continue long, but the lapse allows other shortstops like Josh Rutledge to close the gap on draft boards.

Christian Colon needs to snap out of his funk soon

Alabama's Jimmy Nelson fanned eleven batters over six innings without giving up a walk. Though considered a second-day pick heading into the season, he has a 19-1 K/BB ratio over the first 16 innings of his season and is moving up draft boards.

Rob Rasmussen from UCLA had ten strikeouts in five innings vs. Nebraska and now has 23Ks over 13IP. He still needs to improve command, throwing just 54 strikes opposite 45 balls.
After struggling with his power to start the season, Middle Tenneesse State's Bryce Brentz homered for the second straight day vs. Jacksonville State.
Despite Brentz's power, Todd Cunningham continues to out-do his opponent hitting his own homer to go with a double in J-ville's 8-5 win over Mid Tenn.
In three games against Long Island, Virginia Tech's Austin Wates was 4-for-9 with 3BB and a double. His hitting numbers are an absurd 474/632/711 so far.

Austin Wates is off to a hot start for 2010

Wates's teammate, Jess Hahn, struck out nine over seven scoreless innings in one of the games against Long Island.
Arkansas's stars - Andy Wilkins, Brett Eibner and Zack Cox combined for six hits and four RBI in a win over California's Dixon Anderson. Anderson gave up nine earned runs over five innings on eight hits and three walks. One of Wilkins hits was his fifth home run of the year.
Alex Wimmers from Ohio State was shelled on Saturday, yielding a whopping twelve hits over five innings pitched. He did manage to strike out eight, however.
Wichita State's Jordan Cooper got his name on the radar with an impressive performance on Saturday. Threw 70 of 100 pitches for strikes while fanning seven over eight innings.
Facing the #2 team in the country, LSU, Pepperdine's Matt Bywater did his best to mirror the performance of his teammate, Cole Cook. He gave up just one run on seven hits and four walks.
Leon Landry and Micah Gibbs combined for three of the seven hits against Bywater.
Bryce Harper went off this weekend, hitting two home runs and three doubles in a 8-for-12 performance in back to back doubleheaders. His hitting line is an astonishing 408/500/831 with six home runs, ten doubles and 14 walks. The only negative is 17 strikeouts in 86 plate appearances, but considering the power numbers he's putting up, scouts can live with that.

LSU's Anthony Ranaudo remains on the pine with a sore elbow.

Alabama's Josh Rutledge Draft Stock Rising

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:12:41 EST

Josh Rutledge, a shortstop from Alabama, continues to improve as he looks to raise his stock before June's draft. Already a potential first round pick, Rutledge went 2-for-4 against Georgia recently, raising his hitting numbers to 360/400/560.

"Physically, the skills are present for him to hit enough for the big leagues," an AL area scout said. "Ideally this year he'll prove the power - maybe even show more strength, get a little more power out of that swing. I can see him staying up the middle; I really think he stays at short, he can play there."

Will Josh Rutledge be a first round draft pick in 2010?

One hold up for Rutledge is his defense at shortstop. Often a premiere position for defense, Rutledge's draft stock would remain high if scouts are convinced he can play shortstop professionally.

He also needs to improve on his 25-50 BB/K ratio from 2009. So far this season, his ratio continues to be poor at 1-6.

2010 MLB Draft Prospect Update: Pitchers Feb 28-Mar 5

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:01:10 EST

A review of pitching performances by notable 2010 draft prospects for February 28th through March 5th.

Kaleb Cowart: Hit 93 while striking out 11 over 6 innings on February 25th.

Matt Bywater: After a solid 10K, CG shutout to start his season, Bywater's second effort was less exciting. 5IP, 1ER, 4H, 3BB and 4K.

Greg Peavey: Threw a CG shutout vs. Tennessee on Feb 28 giving up just three hits and one walk while striking out 9.

Kevin Munson: So far hasn't given up an earned run over 7 innings pitched. Struck out four in a 2.1IP save on March 5th, his first of the season.

Addison Reed: Defeated 2011 draft prospect Alex Meyer on March 4th going six innings, giving up six hits, two earned runs with a walk and six strikeouts.

Jameson Taillon: Had 10 strikeouts, hit 97 on the gun and yielded only three hits in a 2-0 loss for The Woodlands High School.

Jameson Taillon figures to be a high pick in 2010

Chris Sale: Recovered from an earlier poor performance to strikeout eleven in six innings vs. Wichita State. Through his first three starts, Sale's K/BB ratio is an impressive 21-3

Josh Mueller: Although the Eastern Illinois RHP struck out eight over 5.1IP, he needed 104 pitches to do so - not a good sign.

Logan Darnell: The Kentucky pitcher out dueled San Diego's Sammy Solis throwing a complete game shutout, yielding eight hits and two walks while striking out four.

Drew Pomeranz: Through three starts has a nice 28-4 K/BB ratio. Went six innings in his latest outing, striking out six while allowing two earned runs on six hits.

Matt Harvey: Facing Michigan, the UNC pitcher had his best performance of the year, striking out eleven over eight scoreless innings. An impressive eighty of his 120 pitches were strikes, and "he battled through a couple of rough spots when he wasn't controlling his fastball, but his stuff was solid...He stayed focused through the last pitch, too. That was impressive."

Deck McGuire: Similar to Sale and Pomeranz, McGuire's K/BB ratio is a solid 25-3 so far this season. Facing Rutgers, McGuire struck out nine over eight innings allowing just six hits and a walk.

Deck McGuire has been very solid so far this season

Justin Grimm: The Georgia junior continues to struggle. Though he struck out seven, he allowed seven earned runs on eleven hits and two walks.

Griffin Murphy: Struck out five while walking only one over three scoreless innings.

2010 MLB Draft Class: Strengths and Weaknesses

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:41:12 EST

Jason Churchill of espn.com recently polled a number of talent evaluators to "rank the areas of depth in this year's class, weighing the impact talents within four categories: college bats, college pitching, high school pitching, high school bats." Here's what Churchill found out:

From one responder: "It's kind of even, including at the very top of the draft, but the first day may be filled with these high school arms, but I'm not sure a lot of them go early."
Another criticized the available hitters "it seems all of these guys have pretty major questions, aside from [Bryce] Harper, who is basically a high school kid for us. [Arkansas' Zack] Cox may or may not play third, he strikes out, and [Virginia Tech's Austin] Wates ... I'd like to get the chance to see if he can play center, he's played everywhere but there so we haven't got the look we want yet. There's no safe bet this year [in terms of college hitters]."

Can Zack Cox improve his draft stock by proving he can play third base professionally?

College hitters could be the weakest portion of the draft, especially if Harper is not included because he's basically a high school player at 17 years old anyway.

High school bats could be more sought after than collegiate ones: Josh Sale, Kris Bryant and Nick Castellanos all figure to be Top 20 picks.
Pitching is definitely the signature of the class, both collegiality and prep arms.

2010 MLB Draft Prospect Update: Hitters Feb 28-Mar 5

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:38:53 EST

Here's a review of on-field hitting performances by notable 2010 draft prospects for February 28th through March 5th.

Tyler Holt: The outfielder from Florida State walked twice, stole his second base and scored against Hofstra on 2/28. Holt finally struck out on 3/2, three times, but also added two hits.

Cameron Rupp: Texas' first baseman had a single and a walk vs. Stanford on 2/28 to raise his numbers to .364/.533/.455. Cameron finally hit his first home run of the season on Tuesday.

Micah Gibbs: The LSU catcher hit a double and three singles, walked, had a RBI and stole a base in Sunday's Game 1 win over William & Mary. Went 0-fer in Game 2.

Micah Gibbs

Leon Landry: Gibbs' outfield teammate at LSU went 3-for-7 in the double header with five stolen bases on the day.

Andy Wilkins: Arkansas' first baseman had two hits prompting a scout to say "I learned...this weekend [that] Wilkins can hit." On Tuesday, Wilkins had two doubles in three at-bats, raising his batting average to .435. On Friday, Wilkins went 2-for-4 with a homerun against Cal.

Zack Cox: The third baseman mirrored his Arkansas teammate with a two RBI single and got the identical praise from the same scout. Against Cal on Friday, Cox was 1-for-3 with two RBI.

Cody Hawn: Held his own against Oregon State right hander Greg Peavey on Sunday going 1-for-3 with a walk.

Blake Forsythe: Struggled much more than his Tennessee teammate, Hawn, against Peavey: 0-for-4.

Rick Hague: The Rice slugger finally hit his first home run of the season on Tuesday.

Rick Hague has struggled in 2010, but finally hit his first homerun

Christian Colon: The Cal State Fullerton shortstop has struggled offensively this season and did not improve on Tuesday, going 0-for-3.

Kyle Parker: A relatively unknown outfielder from Clemson, Parker hit his fourth home run of the season on Wednesday. So far he is hitting .464/.531/.893 on the season, with only three walks, but only four strikeouts.

Bryce Brentz: Middle Tennessee State's star outfielder has a .985 OPS this season and was 2-for-4 on Wednesday against Southern Illinois. Bryce finally homered on Friday, going 2-for-4 with a single against Jacksonville State on Friday.

Hunter Morris: A power hitting first baseman from Auburn, he is hitting .351/.368/.486 so far after going 2-for-7 on Wednesday, but does not have a home run yet. Sort of a problem for a power hitter.

Corey Vaughn: The son of former major leaguer Greg Vaughn has people concerned with his 1/13 BB/K ratio despite going 2-for-5 with a double on Thursday. The double was just the third extra-base hit of the season for Vaughn.

Todd Cunningham: Jacksonville State's star outfielder out dueled the aforementioned Brentz in their match up Friday, hitting a single, double and homerun to go with his two walks.

Gary Brown: After three singles on Tuesday against San Diego, Brown was 3-for-6 with a triple and a homerun on Friday, raising his numbers to .432/.447/.784 for the season.

Pepperdine's Cole Cook Continues To Impress

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:10:17 EST

Pepperdine's Cole Cook had a successful outing recently against the #2 team in the country, LSU. Although Cook took the loss, dropping his record to 0-2 on the season, and yielded three earned runs, he still threw effectively. Cook's line was very respectable 7IP, 7H, 1BB, 3ER and 9K - especially against one of the top teams in the country.

Cole has been known to struggle maintaining his velocity late into games, but his last pitch was a 92 mph fastball, not much of a dip from where he threw all day. His fastest pitch was recorded at 94. "Better, I'd say, and maybe that's a matter of how early in the season it was for him," an NL club's area scout said.

Pepperdine's Cole Cook had a solid outing against #2 LSU

"He was aggressive," the scout said. "This was a nice test and he didn't back down. I had him in the low-90s for much of the game, and by my count his last fastball there (in the seventh inning) was 92. But the key for him was the split, it was very effective. And he was much better at avoid the middle of the plate, and for the most part kept the ball in the lower half of the zone."

Against LSU Cole showed his two breaking pitches - an upper 70s true slider and a slower, bigger slurve. "Pick one and go with it -- and I'd prefer he transitions (into throwing) the curveball," the NL scout said. The scout mentioned that if he's not going to throw a changeup, but a splitter instead, the curveball is a better compliment.

Cole faced off against two possible first round draft picks, Micah Gibbs and Leon Landry. The two LSU prospects combined to go 3 for 8 against Cole with two RBI, though each struck out once.

Despite the 0-2 start, Cole has yielded just seven earned runs in 21IP and has struck out 18 while giving up just five walks.

Concerns About Bryce Harper

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:46:35 EST

Often considered the unanimous #1 pick in the 2010 draft, some scouts still express concerns about Bryce Harper's professional future. Buster Olney of ESPN.com recently made the decision to draft Harper with the first overall pick (or even a high draft pick) to the debate many NFL scouting directors are having trying to evaluate Tim Tebow's professional prospects.

Unlike with Stephen Strasburg last year who was the best pitching prospect, well, ever, Harper (and Tebow) present a more difficult challenge. How do you rectify someone who has such incredible physical ability with possible major mechanical flaws? Sure, these flaws have not manifested themselves yet in their respective competition level, but will they be able to "get away with it" at the professional level? Right now many are saying that Harper, because of his young age, will either be able to mature out of his flaws or correct them. Tebow is a more difficult project.

Bryce Harper hits tape measure home runs right now, but will he as a pro?

No one questions Harper's bat speed, but already the whispers are growing that he strikes out far more often than someone of his ability should at the junior college level. Despite hitting a respectable .408 early in the season for the College of Southern Nevada, he has 17 strike outs in 71 at-bats. Scouts are concerned with Harper's lower body when he swings and some have noted that it is a violent swing - different from Joe Mauer when he was the #1 pick back in 2001.

Physically, Harper is enormous - at 17 years old, he is 6'3" and 205 lbs. Scouts can only imagine how big he will big as he continues to mature and develop into his twenties. Some scouts feel that he might end up being too big to play catcher professionally, something that impacts his value.

The biggest question is where Harper is drafted. Once considered a lock for the #1 pick, his flaws and young age raise concern among many scouting directors, sometimes to the point of simply hoping someone else takes him so they do not have to make that decision. Drafting Harper seems to be a high risk, high reward proposition and many teams would rather not have to make that decision.

2010 MLB Draft Update: Rob Brantley, Kevin Rhoderick

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:27:05 EST

ESPN.com's Keith Law had a few comments and observations to pass along about some west coast, collegiate prospects.

Rob Brantly: A catcher from UC-Riverside, if Brantley can convince professional scouts that he can stay behind the plate, he has a chance to be selected in the first round. He'll likely have to improve the lower body portion of his swing, but he has the potential to hit for power and a high average.

Kevin Rhoderick: Retired all five batters he faced in an impressive performance. Though his velocity was down to 90-92 from his normal range of 92-94, he demonstrated a really nice changeup with "hard fading action" that kept hitters off balance.

Kevin Rhoderick could be a solid reliever as a professional

Jordan Swagerty: Though he moonlighted as a catcher last year when he wasn't on the mound, his professional prospects appear to be best while toeing the rubber. Throwing in relief, Swagerty was 91-94 with his fastball and 78-85 with his curveball.

Jedd Gyorko, Tyler Holt and Andy Wilkins Lead Early-Season Collegiate Performances

tiaradio@hotmail.com (Knuckles) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:11:15 EST

Though the 2010 college baseball season has only just begun, the early performances of a few players will only help their draft stock. Here's a look at some of the top performers so far:

Jedd Gyorko: He's hitting .370/.485/.741 with six extra-base hits and a 6 to 1 BB/K ratio in his first seven games. While he's glove at shortstop is not professional quality, some team will find a place for his bat in their organization.

Tyler Holt: Sports an impressive .545 OBP through his first seven games. Though he struck out three times in his last game, it was the first time he had struck out all season.

Andy Wilkins: So far he has hit three home runs and three doubles while walking ten times and hitting .435. "He can hit the fastball, that's for sure," said an area scout. "But I think anyone will tell you that he's got to prove himself in the SEC to make a move (up the draft boards)."

Andy Wilkins hopes his early season performance will move him up draft boards

Cameron Rupp: He has reached base in 17 of his 34 plate appearances for an impressive .500 OBP, but hit just his first home run the other day and has nine strikeouts already.

Yasmani Grandal: On his chances of being selected in the first round, one scout said that it was "likely, barring a nightmare of a year." So far, so good: .385/.541/.538 on the season.

Gary Brown: The Long Beach State CF is hitting .419 with five extra-base hits and four steals in his first seven games. However, he has yet to draw a walk and OBP will be important for him professionally.

Josh Rutledge: So far, the Alabama shortstop is hitting .360/.400/.560. "Physically, the skills are present for him to hit enough for the big leagues," an AL area scout said.