Jordan Cooper Rumors

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.

Continue Reading...

Earlier we posted Keith Law of espn.com's review of Day One of the 2009 MLB Draft. Let's check in on his thoughts about Day Two.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates opened eyes with their controversial pre-draft deal for Tony Sanchez and then took him with the #4 pick of the draft, well ahead of several better talents according to most evaluators. Their approach to the draft was not to spend a lot of money in Round 1, but perhaps splurge a little bit in the later rounds on some talent with higher salary demands than might be normally seen in the later rounds. The Pirates added Jordan Cooper, Zach Van Rosenberg, Colton Cain and Trent Stevenson - all players who feel because of signability concerns.

Oakland Athletics

Hopefully the As are prepared to spend some money on their amateur draft because they grabbed guys who have potential signing issues. Their second round pick was Max Stassi who fell because of the perception that he'll require over draft slot money. The grabbed Ian Krol who was booted from his high school team for some off the field issues and is committed to Arizona and will take some money to wrestle free. Last, but not least, their first round pick was Grant Green who is represented by Scott Boras.

Tampa Bay Rays

Injury questions are a theme of the Rays draft. They grabbed a potential first round pick, Luke Bailey, who fell to them because of Tommy John surgery earlier in the year. Their 10th round pick, Derek Dennis, is kind of an unknown because of how late he blossomed.

Los Angeles Angels

We'll let Keith Law handle this one perfectly "The Angels' draft was all over the place, with toolsy prep bats, big college arms with bad command and some projectable high school arms"

Atlanta Braves

For whatever reason, the Braves have seemingly changed their draft philosophy from an upside-high school based approach to a more conservative college-based one. Their first pick was Mike Minor who, while solid, doesn't project to have much upside. All in all, they didn't take a high schooler until the 10th round. Perhaps they were not interested in the financial commitment high schoolers often require.