Some more links in anticipation of Monday's draft…
- The Scott Boras camp envisions Bryce Harper as a five-tool corner outfielder not unlike Larry Walker, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick. Harper's teammates told Crasnick that they enjoy playing with the presumptive first overall pick because he's a hard worker.
- EPSN.com's Keith Law has the Pirates selecting Jameson Taillon, not Manny Machado, in his latest mock draft.
- Law hears that the Royals would love to see Machado to fall to them.
- The Royals and Reds are leaning towards college players.
- The Blue Jays and A's are eyeing Michael Choice, Christian Colon and Justin O'Conner, according to Law.
- Nats GM Mike Rizzo told MLB.com's Bill Ladson that the draft is his "Super Bowl."
The Royals will get Tallion, Machado, and Pomeranz, in that order. Most likely, Tallionand Machado won’t fall to #4. So it’s really looking like it’ll be Drew Pomeranz over Sale.
Pretty sure they won’t get all three. :-)
We’ll end up with the busts in a few years :P (i.e Bullington, Humber)
Any clue on who the Braves take with their 1st pick?
I haven’t seen anything, but I want them to take Austin Wilson, an outfielder out of Harvard-Westlake School in California. I just hope he is there at 35.
He almost certainly won’t be, plus he wants a way above average slot bonus, which doesn’t sound like a Braves pick.
No way Machado slides to the Royals. If by some chance the Pirates take Taillon over Machado, the O’s should be all over that. They have no signs of any mlb quality shortstop in the farm system right now. Taillon would be nice, but pitching is a surplus for the Orioles compared to their infield situation.
Mychal Givens? Yeah he’s not hitting well at all in A ball, but he’s only 20. Give him some time. Regardless, I agree, Machado would be much better for the O’s than Tallion.
Yes but like you said, he’s only 20 so who knows, by next year he may be a pitcher again like he was in high school. He has pretty good stuff. I hope he does turn out to be the SS of the future. All I’m saying is we need more than one SS to rely on.
Don’t draft for need. Especially since most people think Machado won’t be a shortstop down the line.
Until Bryce can show he can hit with a wooden bat, I will stick by these words until proven otherwise, Bryce Harper is all-hype, nothing more.
Pirates need pitching, so I agree with Law on Pirates picking Taillon.
I personally think Choice with be a food choice for the Jays and O’Conner would be a good choice for the A’s.
Have you seen Harpers numbers in college with wood bats?
That’s college. Wanna count how many players were good in college, and sucked in the majors? So, until he reaches the majors and can leave up to the hype, I stick by my words.
Pretty funny considering he just hit .442/.524/.986 with 29 homers in 212 at-bats. Seems like wood, metal, rubber…doesn’t matter with this kid. Oh, and he did it at age 17 against older competition. Guessing not a lot of guys have done that.
I believe it was people on this very site that said, “Until a player reaches the majors and lives up to the hype, don’t speculate that he will be good.” I’m doing exactly that.
Those people are idiots to say that.
Why, pray tell, would someone discuss the draft if not to speculate about which players will be good?
I’m pretty sure the league he plays with, outside his own team, has one other good team and the other 3 teams combined to have just 4 drafted players last year. Great competition.
So it’s his fault that he’s not playing in Triple-A against better competition at age 17? Ridiculous. There’s a pretty good reason he’s being called the best position prospect in years, and to “fault” him for the level of competition he’s piled up ridiculous numbers against is nuts.
Compare his numbers to all his teammates then, still insanely ridiculous.
He DOES hit with a wooden bat, against much older competition.
Christian Colon is going to make some GM look pretty smart.
is it bad that i hope bryce harper fizzles out? does that make me a bad person?
Doesn’t make you a bad person. Just makes everyone else wonder why you want a kid to fail unless of course he killed your dog or dumped your sister.
He dumped my dog. Therefore I want him to fail
You’re rooting against a child you’ve never met because some writers don’t like him. Besides, many of your favorite baseball players, musicians, actors, etc., are lousy people. You don’t pay to have them as neighbors. You pay to experience their talent.
If the Jays take any of those three if they have the chance to draft Karsten Whitson then the I will be extremely angry. Those three guys are the best hitters in a extremely weak draft class for hitters, they are good cause everyone else sucks.
Jays, don’t draft some mediocre hitter if you can draft a future ace in Whitson, im glad that laws an idiot cause i hope that he’s wrong on this one.
Most people are projecting Whitson to go in the 15-20 range, I’m not sure why because the guy seems like a future stud. I saw one mock draft that had him available at 32 when the Yankees pick and I laughed pretty hard. ( But it did make me happy to think that it’s possible my team can draft this guy.)
I retract that statement, I was thinking of a different player, most other people have the Jays taking Whitson, who still looks to be a very good SP.
I REALLY hope that Keith is right.
Could somebody please tell me who Law has the padres picking. Thanks a lot