IBC

Three first rounders (a new personal record), let's take a look at how it all turned out:

Pick 1 (1): Buster Posey
Yeah I have Ryan Doumit, and as I've told everyone who asked about him "How many switch hitting 27 year old catchers with OPS's over .900 are there?", but I'm also a big fan of Posey who I got to see get taken out by my beloved Stanford Cardinal in the CWS. It was a much more difficult choice for me between Posey and Alvarez than I expected it to be (and Pat, enjoy Alvarez, he should be terrific), but at the end of the day I went with the rarer position. Posey should be a strong defensive catcher (whatever that one report about his struggles in Hawaii said), and his swing looks like it will play well at AT&T. Posey signed late and put up a .351/.467/.622 line between the AZL and NWL, before being promoted to San Jose for the Cal League playoffs. Posey came out like gangbusters in the HWL, but slowed a little bit at the end and finished with a .338/.405/.392 line in 76 AB, and was probably affected by being jerked around between the league and instructs without getting regular playing time. Right now Posey looks like a consistent .280-.310 hitter with 15-20 homers, plenty of doubles, and plenty of walks, but what really has me excited about him is that the Giants are planning to attach him at the hip to Steve Decker, the guy who took Pablo Sandoval from from .287/.312/.476 playing first base to .350/.394/.578 behind the plate at two levels of the minors and .345/.357/.490 in the MLB. Now he's got a pupil who can take a walk. Imagine the possibilities.

Pick 2 (4): Michael Inoa
My own personal great white whale, ever since the A's announced the signing I started scheming about how to get him. At the end of the day it cost me Dan Haren, but Inoa could make everyone forget about all pitchers not named Lincecum. Inoa (and yes, he will always be Michael to me) is a 6'7" 205 pound specimen. His body has been described as a basketball body with definition and room to grow. His fastball already has been clocked as high as 96 and sits between 91-93. His mechanics are phenomenally clean, which lowers the injury risk inherent, and he's never had any high level coaching meaning that the potential for improvement is utterly ridiculous. A number of scouts believe 100 MPH is a reasonably expectation for his fastball. More exciting, he already throws a curveball and a splitter, both of which have the potential to be plus or plus-plus. Sure I'm buying a lot of hype, but as we say out here in Billy we trust, if Billy Beane thought this was a worthy investment then I'm inclined to believe the hype. For those keeping score at home this is my second Dominican bonus baby, let's see who gets to the majors first.

Pick 3 (26): Tim Melville
Melville was a mid-first round talent who slipped due to signability questions, he had a strong commitment to North Carolina. The 6'5 205 Missouri product has a fastball that sits in the low 90's, dials up to 94, and is projectable to more. He also has a kunckle-curve with the potential to be good (and I love that pitch), and he has a change and some other breaking pitches that could develop. The Royals took Melville as backup in case they couldn't sign Eric Hosmer, I suppose Melville could be the same thing for me in case Inoa doesn't work out, but like the Royals ended up with both Hosmer and Melville I expect to have both Inoa and Melville in my rotation at some point in the 2010's.

Nice work Jake.

Nice haul indeed

You two (Jake and Andrew) are both having great drafts. Three of the premier players in the draft, and the two Royals arms were guys I had a lot of interest in at 18 and leading up to the draft was hoping one would fall to me.

Not to pick on Jake, but why are people referring to this as the 2009 draft? It's not 2009. The players aren't from the 2009 draft. And they're not getting 9's in their names. Nobody ever mixed up the years before, why now?

RedSox wrote:Not to pick on Jake, but why are people referring to this as the 2009 draft? It's not 2009. The players aren't from the 2009 draft. And they're not getting 9's in their names. Nobody ever mixed up the years before, why now?

Stop picking on Jake!

RedSox wrote:Not to pick on Jake, but why are people referring to this as the 2009 draft? It's not 2009. The players aren't from the 2009 draft. And they're not getting 9's in their names. Nobody ever mixed up the years before, why now?

I'm referring to this as my draft class for the 2009 season because OOPSS got confused with Dan's thread and the actual draft thread at one point, and I figured that the fewer threads with 2008 draft in the title the better.

I fixed that, it was actually a problem in my logic could be reproduced all over the site (December 2008 Transactions would also confuse it). Will go back and fix at some point.

Q: If the Rangers had been successful in their attempt to sign Michel Inoa to a contract this past year, where would he rank among our current pitching prospects? Would it have been considered unfair for us to add yet another pitching prospect for other clubs to be jealous of?

Goldstein: #1 or #2. Easy five-star prospect. You don't even have to think about that one. People that I have spoken with say that they have never seen anything like him.

Tigers wrote:Q: If the Rangers had been successful in their attempt to sign Michel Inoa to a contract this past year, where would he rank among our current pitching prospects? Would it have been considered unfair for us to add yet another pitching prospect for other clubs to be jealous of?

Goldstein: #1 or #2. Easy five-star prospect. You don't even have to think about that one. People that I have spoken with say that they have never seen anything like him.

A couple of other notes that the guy who conducted the above chat with Kevin passed along to me:

Goldstein said that every scout he spoke with said Inoa was the best young arm since Josh Beckett. His body, make-up, and pure stuff could make him a legit #1 starter by the time he is 21. Some scouts even think he is the best 16 year old arm they have ever seen.

He also said that he is leaning towards ranking Inoa #1 in the A's system.

Pick 4 (86) Cutter Dykstra

I was pleasantly surprised to see Nails' younger son still on the board a round later then he went in real life. I don't expect him to stay on the infield, though it has been rumored that the Brewers were overhauling his second base mechanics in Fall instructional leagues. Seriously, how tight a lid do teams keep on those things? There seem to be enough prospect-obsessed people out there to justify more updates about it. I'm hoping Cutter will develop into roughly the player his dad was (.285/.375/.419 was Len Dykstra's career line) with good defense in CF, and that he should be coming along roughly at the end of Mike Cameron's line. After adding two high impact arms in the first round it's time to add some positional prospects, and I like Cutter's potential as a useful CF'er.

Pick 5 (104) Brandon Crawford

Figured we'd keep the Bay Area theme going with Giants fourth rounder Brandon Crawford, a shortstop out of UCLA. It's always nice to have a kid put up a .306/.398/.493 line from the SS position in college and have that be considered a disappointment, but that's what happened to Crawford after a truly shitty Cape Cod season that seemed to sap his confidence going into this year. He started very slowly, with a .217/.321/.217 line to start the year in February. His MLB draft report, which came in mid-March, seems to reflect this slump. After February ended he went .315/.427/.529 with all of his XBH, and lit it up in the post season to the tune of 6-16 with 2 2B 1 3B and 2 HR. His glove is expected to play at short, and he hits left handed with raw plus power. He signed late and only got 14 AZL AB (for the AZL champion Giants), and went 0-2 in a game with Salem-Keizer. Hard to say whether the Giants will start him with the juggernaut that is Augusta or in San Jose with Villalona and Bumgarner, but with Burriss finding a home at second base, Charlie Culberson falling flat on his face and Renteria on a two-year deal there's nothing blocking Crawford but himself to get to the big show.

Pick 6 (116) Danny Espinosa

The last three shortstops to come out of Long Beach State were Bobby Crosby, Troy Tulowitzki, and Evan Longoria. Two out of three ain't bad... Espinosa has solid pro tools, is a good defender, and a switch hitter (though he's still learning how to hit left handed). He hit .328/.476/.359 in 93 AB NYPL at bats with 17 BB/17 K which is the most impressive stat for a rookie for the Vermont Lake Monsters. His offensive upside isn't as high as those who proceeded him (or Brandon Crawford's for that matter), but hopefully the power will develop some, even if he's a 10-15 home run per year guy with good on base skills that is solid. I hate safe picks but this looked like the time for one.

Athletics wrote:Pick 6 (116) Danny Espinosa

The last three shortstops to come out of Long Beach State were Bobby Crosby, Troy Tulowitzki, and Evan Longoria. Two out of three ain't bad... Espinosa has solid pro tools, is a good defender, and a switch hitter (though he's still learning how to hit left handed). He hit .328/.476/.359 in 93 AB NYPL at bats with 17 BB/17 K which is the most impressive stat for a rookie for the Vermont Lake Monsters. His offensive upside isn't as high as those who proceeded him (or Brandon Crawford's for that matter), but hopefully the power will develop some, even if he's a 10-15 home run per year guy with good on base skills that is solid. I hate safe picks but this looked like the time for one.

I like the Espinosa pick--he was hard to pass up

Pick 7 (146) Nino Leyja

Keeping with the theme of shortstops (is it a little obvious that I'd like to fill that hole?) and Bay Area players, my last pick seemed like a good chance to take a flier on A's 15th rounder Nino Leyja, who blew up the AZL this year. In his own words: I have a younger sister age 8. I live with both parents. I respect adults and elders, I am positive kid with goals to accomplish in life. I have many volunteer hours in the community with projects such as inner city church youth Christmas party, food drive, and attending to neighbor's landscaping. Hard worker, leader not only through actions but also vocally, very coachble (sic) and ready to learn new and better things to improve my game. I spend extra time working to improve all the time.

He could certainly be a better writer, but there was nothing to complain about from his AZL performance. Leyja put up a .315/.383/.479 line as an 17 year old, putting up 19 XBH (12 doubles, 6 triples and 1 homer) in 165 AB with 19 BB and 31 K after leading his high school team to the Texas 5A state title (he hit .440 and stole 40 bases). He mostly played shortstop in the AZL, and should have enough speed and range to stick there, though he may show up as a super utility player on the MLB level. The bat should continue to be a strength as he moves up the ladder, and he has more upside than any shortstop still on the board. Leyja's my just for fun pick, hopefully he'll do more for me than Drake Britton and his filet mignon tender elbow did.