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Possibilities For Padres At No. 3
The Padres have the third overall pick in the June draft, and ESPN's Keith Law has info on their preferences:
Keith Law has learned that the Padres, owners of the No. 3 overall pick, are high on Cartersville High School (Ga.) CF Donavan Tate, USC SS Grant Green, Missouri RHP Kyle Gibson and Fort Worth Cats RHP Aaron Crow.
In a mock draft released today, Baseball America projected Green as San Diego's pick.
Both articles linked in this post require subscriptions to read fully. As someone who devours tons of baseball information every day, I highly recommend subscribing to both Baseball America and ESPN Insider. You can get three months at BA for $26, and a year of ESPN Insider for $40.
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Ah if only the Padres had lost a couple more games this article would be about who the Nats are taking while the Padres would be waiting to pull the trigger on Strasburg come June. Oh well, Grant Green or Tate would be a nice consolation prize. Having an OF or SS of the future would be a nice upgrade for this team. Suprised they are not high on Ackley though, he would likely develop and be in the majors more quickly than Tate. Crow and Gibson are nice but we need a bat, hopefully that's what they do, regardless of if it's Green, Tate, or Ackley.
Posted by: SDPads4life | May 14, 2009 at 05:59 PM
for now, why dont they sign Grudz?
Posted by: lakersdodgersyankees4life | May 14, 2009 at 06:03 PM
Not worth the money, this team is trying to cut all salary possible, not to mention they need that money to sign whoever they take at #3.
Posted by: SDPads4life | May 14, 2009 at 06:10 PM
Perhaps they don't anticipate Ackley still being on the board when they pick.
For my money, he's the clear choice for Seattle. As much as I'd love to see him fall to the Orioles at #5.
Posted by: James F | May 14, 2009 at 06:26 PM
Do they still give free ESPN Insider with their magazine subscriptions? If so, it's cheaper to just get a sub. I bet you could find one for about $4
Posted by: jza1218 | May 14, 2009 at 08:11 PM
Tim this is the third reply I've left today and each time I've had to sign in to TypePad, even though every time I've checked the box to "remember me". That makes no sense.
As for Klaw, he also mentions in his latest chat that it's way too early for anyone to accurately predict who will take which player in the draft.
From Klaw:
"It's just way too early for a mock draft unless you want something pulled out of my ... ascot. Outside of #1 (Strasburg) and maybe #2 (they're trying to work something out with Ackley), it's just some preferences now. Example: San Diego likes Grant Green, but Tate and Gibson are in their mix and they may be warming on Crow. Oakland has strong interest in Matt Hobgood. Atlanta's top three seem to be Matzek, Zack Wheeler, and Shelby Miller (who was apparently nails in front of a big crowd the other night). And so on. But a projection now would be absurd. After the conference tournaments, I'll start doing projections."
Posted by: rememberthecoop | May 14, 2009 at 09:44 PM
hey tim. love what you're doing here, the mock draft said the m's are taking ackley right? also; taking green seems like a good idea for the pads right now. need a good SS to win most of the time
Posted by: kkingevan | May 14, 2009 at 10:14 PM
sorry, by said, i meant predicted, i don't want to sound like an idiot who thinks these things are 100% correct
Posted by: kkingevan | May 14, 2009 at 10:15 PM
The 6'3" 210 lb Donovan Tate may be the best overall athlete expected to be drafted in the first round. He is already committed to North Carolina as a Quarterback and wants to play baseball for the Tar Heels as well.
Tate has blazing speed, his 6.4 in the 60-yard is .3 faster than any current player in the Padres system, and he throws a 92-93 mph fast ball.
But it is as a hitter and an outfielder that most teams are looking at Tate. Tate is projected to have 80 speed, 70 arm and 60+ defense, while hitting with 20+ home run power as a professional.
The drawbacks are that Tate is very raw as a hitter and is lacking in patience at the plate. Combine that with Boras as an agent/adviser and the fact that he has already committed to the University of North Carolina in football and that his father, Lars Tate, was a former NFL player and you have a potential signability problem.
Tate may be the first high school player taken in the June Draft and he may fall out of the top 10 rounds depending on how hard teams feel it may be to sign him.
Grant Green has had a very bad year with the glove and has showed absolutely no power with only 3 home runs and is now being projected a a 2b as a pro. His 31-17 SO/BB ratio is not promising for a light hitting infielder either. On almost every draft board he has dropped out of the top 10. I would be flabbergasted if the Padres picked him at #3.
Kyle Gibson is a good possibility. This University of Missouri pitcher burst out of the gate so strongly this season that many felt he may go as high as 32 overall. While he has come down to earth a little, Gibson still has a 9-3 record in 13 starts with a 3.73 ERA. Gibson has given up 84 hits and 15 walks in 91.2 innings while striking out 115.
Gibson has a low 90's fastball which many scouts believe will improve in velocity as he bulks up from his current 208 lbs on a 6'6" frame. He also has a very good change up which he commands well and a devastating slider which grades out as a ++.
While Gibson lacks the high upside potential of some of the other pitchers in the 2009 draft, because of his outstanding control and size, in my opinion he is the most likely to reach his full potential as a professional.
In the past the Padres have chosen a large number of college pitchers with good control, so do not be surprised to see Gibson's name called when the Padres pick at #3.
Aaron Crow is a possibility at #3. Crow is a 6'2" 205 lb power pitcher who is a fierce competitor. His fastball touches 96 mph and he normally sits 93-94 with with good command to both sides of the plate. He also throws a hard biting slider and a change up that shows real promise.
He was drafted with the 9th overall pick by the "Natinals" in 2008, but they failed to come to terms and Crow went on to pitch for the Cats.
A potential drawback is a hitch in his pitching mechanics that has many scouts leary of future injuries.
Where Crow goes in the June draft will depend heavily on how he pitches for the independent league Ft. Worth Cats who started their season May 4th. Crow threw 4 scoreless innings in his first start before giving way to the bullpen.
Dustin Ackley is nearly the athlete that Tate is and a much safer pick as a 5 tool player coming out of college. The left handed batting Ackley was hitting .400 with a ridiculous .726 slugging percentage and 15 home runs through 49 games. He is far and away the best college hitting prospect available in the draft.
The problem for the Padres is that while he has played CF recently, Ackley has primarily played first base following Tommy john surgery in July 2008. First base is a position of strength already in the Padres system headed by Adrian Gonzalez at San Diego with Kyle Blanks, the power hitting Felix Carrasco and 2008 1st round pick Allen Dykstra following close behind.
Many feel Ackley will move back to the outfield as a professional and while there are many outfielders in the Padres system with potential, none have stepped up and showed they can be a major league starter.
If he is on the board I expect the Padres will take him at #3.
Posted by: Websoulsurfer | May 15, 2009 at 06:21 AM
I think that there are a lot of ways that the Padres could go with this pick and stil end up being fine.
Obviously the choice between the polish of Ackley and the tools of Tate should be difficult, but there's a decent possibility that they won't even have that choice, as the Mariners are looking hard at Ackley in the two spot.
The Padres could also look at some good high-upside pitching though, something that their system really lacks at the top outside of Mat Latos and Adys Portillo.
Taking a guy like Scheppers, Crow or White out of college, or an upside arm like Turner, Miller or Matzek, could end up being a good call as well.
Then again, in my opinion the drafting process should be pretty simple, considering how far away from the majors these guys are: always take the prospect that you think is best, regardless of your organizational or major league positional needs.
"Perhaps they don't anticipate Ackley still being on the board when they pick."
There's been a lot of talk that the Mariners are likely to take Ackley with the second pick in the draft, because Ackley is moving up draft boards and appears to be establishing himself as the frontrunner for being considered the second best prospect in the draft.
Posted by: scribbletone | May 15, 2009 at 11:17 AM