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2011 Amateur Draft

Padres Agree To Terms With Jace Peterson

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The Padres have agreed to terms with Jace Peterson, whom they selected in the supplemetary round of Monday's Draft, reports Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter). Peterson will receive a bonus of $624,600, which matches MLB's recommended figure for his slot, according to Jim Callis of Baseball America.

Peterson, a left-handed-hitting infielder out of McNeese State, was the 58th overall pick and the Padres' fifth selection.  The Padres gained the pick when Type B free agent Kevin Correia turned down their arbitration offer and signed with the Pirates.  On Friday, the Padres signed their first first-round pick, Corey Spangenberg, who was selected at No. 10 overall.

San Diego has now agreed to terms with 19 of its 53 picks, with first-rounder Joe Ross (25th overall) and supplementary picks Michael Kelly and Brett Austin (48th and 54th) among the notables who remain unsigned.

Draft Notes: Appel, Brooks, Bichette

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On this date two years ago, the Nationals selected the most heavily-hyped amateur pitcher in history with the first pick of the amateur draft: San Diego State right-hander Stephen Strasburg. Since the '09 draft, Strasburg has signed a $15.1MM contract, posted a 2.91 ERA in an electrifying rookie season and had Tommy John surgery. Here are some draft-related links for Thursday…

  • The draft is officially over, so MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo is already looking ahead to 2012, when Stanford right-hander Mark Appel could be the first overall selection. 
  • The Royals agreed to terms with ninth round pick Aaron Brooks last night, MLBTR has learned. The right-handed pitcher led the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes in a number of categories and finished third in the NCAA in BB/9.
  • Conor Glassey and John Manuel analyze each team's picks and approach at Baseball America. 
  • Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer said supplemental first rounder Dante Bichette Jr. isn't overly pampered, though he has family ties to the game, according to Chad Jennings of the Journal News. "He is a worker," Oppenheimer said. "His regimen, his schedule, his routine, from the way he eats to the yoga to spending time at the gym to hitting. It’s second to none.” Bichette’s father made four All-Star teams with the Rockies.

AL East Notes: Barnes, Wakefield, Orioles

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The latest from the AL East before the first-place Red Sox attempt to complete a sweep of the Yankees in New York…

  • Red Sox first rounder Matt Barnes grew up rooting for the Yankees, according to Nicole Auerbach of the Boston Globe. Barnes is preparing to switch his allegiances and he doesn't expect the change to be too difficult, since he has "always respected" the Red Sox.
  • Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says he was wrong to question Tim Wakefield's place on the Boston roster earlier this spring. The knuckleballer has a 4.84 ERA with 4.3 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 through 48 1/3 innings this year and is a Hall of Famer in the eyes of Robinson Cano.
  • Jim Callis of Baseball America gives the Orioles high marks on their draft, according to MASNsports' Steve Melewski. "They got the best pitcher in the draft and depth after that," Callis said. "They got tremendous quality and quantity."
  • Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun says he would have interest in signing J.J. Hardy to a two-year extension if he were running the Orioles. Hardy has a .276/.346/.457 line 131 plate appearances into the season.

Central Notes: Humber, Cubs, Rasmus, Draft

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The Central divisions are home to not just the four worst records in baseball (the Twins, Astros, Cubs and Royals) but also to the Cardinals and their MLB-best 37-25 record.  Here's some news from the middle of the baseball map…

Draft Notes: Giants, Angels, Hudson, Garrett

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The MLB draft is coming to an end, which means scouting directors will start preparing for next year's draft before we know it. Here at MLBTR, we're still focused on the '11 draftees. Here's the latest:

  • The Giants selected Benny Sosnick out of Jewish Community High School of the Bay with their 49th round pick. Sosnick led Northern California high schoolers in batting average and is the younger brother of Matt Sosnick, the agent for Jay Bruce, Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco and others.
  • If this year's draft is any indication, Angels scouting director Ric Wilson appears to like college players, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times.
  • MLB.com's Tom Singer runs through the current Major Leaguers who were drafted latest, including Kyle Farnsworth (47th round), Orlando Hudson (43rd round) and Mark Buehrle (38th round).
  • John Manuel of Baseball America explains that Amir Garrett is a natural at two sports: baseball and basketball. The Reds will try to convince their 22nd rounder to give up a basketball scholarship at St. John's for a pro baseball career.

Springer On Athleticism, Astros, Bonus

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George Springer credits his father – a “tremendous athlete” – for passing along the genes that prompted Baseball America to suggest that the Astros’ first round selection may be the best college athlete in this year’s draft. Springer’s mother passed along something other than athletic genes; she introduced her son to gymnastics at a young age.

“It helped me tremendously with body control and body awareness and just being able to understand my own strength,” Springer said on a conference call. 

The 11th overall selection can do flips standing or on the run, but his biggest asset on the baseball field is speed. Springer plays an aggressive, energetic center field for the UConn Huskies, though he’s open to shifting to a different position if that’s what the Astros want.

Before Springer joins the Astros’ outfield, they have to sign him. The commissioner’s office has typically recommended bonuses in the $1.5-2MM range for 11th overall selections, but Springer’s college season is still underway, so he says he has a “long way to go” before negotiating a potential bonus with the Astros.

“I really don’t know,” he said. “I’m still focused on helping [UConn] win.”

Draft Notes: Brewers, Astros, Bell, Beede, Braves

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Let's take a look at some draft-related items as Day 2 wraps up:

  • The Brewers took just one Scott Boras client across the first two days: his son, Trent Boras.  The younger Boras is a USC commit, but the club will try to convince him otherwise, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
  • The Mets could have gone the safe route and taken players that would help them in the immediate future, but instead they went for high-risk, high-reward types, writes Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal.
  • Astros first-round pick George Springer sounds as though he's very signable, tweets Stephen Goff of Examiner.com.
  • The Pirates are hoping that they will be able to sign high school outfielder Josh Bell, just as they were able to come to terms with pitcher Stetson Allie last year, writes MLB.com's Laura Myers.  Allie was a UNC commit, but the Pirates got him to sign with a $2.25MM bonus.
  • Blue Jays top pick Tyler Beede says that the decision on whether to sign will be based on money, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.  Toronto selected Beede with the 21st overall pick in the draft.
  • The Braves didn't take a high schooler until the 11th round (Seth Morando, an infielder from Buchanan High School in California), but that doesn't mark a shift in philosophy for the club, writes Carroll Rogers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • With pick No. 685, the Reds selected left-hander Amir Garrett, a left-handed pitcher out of Findlay College Prep in Nevada, who has committed to play basketball for St. John's.  The chances of him signing, however, are "infinitesimal", according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (via Twitter).  A source close to the family told Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated that Garrett would sign if he were selected in the first seven rounds and offered a bonus of around $1.5MM.

Pirates, Cole Talk First Overall Selection

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Gerrit Cole wasn’t the best pitcher in the country this year. He wasn’t even the best pitcher on his team (that distinction belongs to third overall selection Trevor Bauer). But the Pirates selected Cole with the first overall pick in spite of his good-but-not-great numbers because they see him as a future impact starter in the Major Leagues. 

"If we were focused on taking the player who performed the best this year, there might have been other options," GM Neal Huntington said on a conference call after selecting Cole. "Our focus is selecting the player that we believe is going to be the best for the organization two, four, six, eight, ten years from now.”

Cole posted a 3.31 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 for UCLA last year. Those numbers are good and Cole insists he’s capable of more.

“Obviously it wasn’t up to my standards, but you try not to think about it,” he said. “I didn’t really let it get to me or affect me very much. I just control what I can control and let the teams do the evaluation.”

The Pirates' top amateur talent evaluator, scouting director Greg Smith, was impressed with the way the right-hander battled through tough spots this season, so Pittsburgh selected a pitcher with its top pick for the second consecutive season (the Pirates selected high schooler Jameson Taillon last year). Smith and Huntington considered taking high school and college position players first overall before deciding that they wanted more pitching.

“You can never have too much of it. It’s the most valuable commodity in our game,” Huntington said. “We haven’t consciously gone out to stockpile arms. We play by the integrity of the [draft] board.”

Of course, Cole isn’t Pirates property just yet. The 20-year-old Scott Boras client already turned down first round money once, when he went to UCLA instead of signing with the Yankees in 2008. No first overall pick is ever cheap, but Huntington says he expects to work out a deal by the August 15th signing deadline.

“Signability is an issue with every player that comes off the board in the first round,” he said. “We’re going to work hard. We’re going to fight to find a common ground that makes sense for both sides.”

Quick Hits: Pettitte, Harper, Gordon

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The MLB draft continues today and many of the top remaining players have been selected. High school outfielder Josh Bell went to the Pirates, TCU lefty Matt Purke went to the Nationals and high school righty Dillon Howard went to the Indians. Baseball America has the details and we have some non-draft-related links from around the Major Leagues… 

  • Andy Pettitte said on the Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York 1050 that he is "loving" being home and that he doesn't expect to play ever again. "If I missed it so much and I felt in my heart like that was the thing I need to do, I would try to start thinking about it and start considering it again," he said. "But I'm just telling you right now, I don't think I will ever pitch again." Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork has the quotes from Pettitte.
  • Bryce Harper's arrogance is exactly what baseball needs, according to Yahoo's Jeff Passan. Harper is someone "who permeates popular culture by his actions and achievements," and he's fun to watch, even if you don't always like what he does.
  • Though Dodgers prospect Dee Gordon could have used some more minor league seasoning, Rafael Furcal's health issues prompted GM Ned Colletti to call Gordon up earlier than expected, according to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times.
  • Tom Verducci of SI.com looks back at some of the most productive drafts in recent history, including the 2005 class that produced Justin Upton, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki and many others.

Draft Notes: Nationals, Bundy, Cardinals, Astros

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Be sure to catch up on the results from the first and supplemental rounds of the draft. As we await day two of the big event, here's what you need to know:

  • ESPN.com's Keith Law lists the Rays, Twins and D'Backs among his day one winners while questioning moves by the Braves, Rockies and others. High school outfielder Josh Bell heads Law's list of best remaining players.
  • Bell, Daniel Norris and Dillon Howard are the best players remaining according to MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo.
  • Anthony Rendon, Alex Meyer and Brian Goodwin, Washington's first three picks, are all Scott Boras clients, according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson. The Nationals have a history of selecting Boras clients, going back to first overall picks Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.
  • Rendon plays the same position as Nationals cornerstone Ryan Zimmerman, but "the point of the draft is to take the best player available" regardless of the big league roster, Zimmerman told Ladson.
  • Top Orioles pick Dylan Bundy may be an especially difficult player to sign, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. “The numbers that were thrown out were true," Bundy said, without saying explicitly that he's looking for a $30MM bonus.
  • Cardinals scouting director Jeff Luhnow sounds confident that he'll be able to sign first rounder Kolten Wong before the August deadline for deals, according to MLB.com's Matthew Leach.
  • Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and scouting director Amiel Sawdaye broke down Boston's top four picks and Alex Speier of WEEI.com has the details. Epstein says he thought some things broke Boston's way.
  • Stephen Goff of the Houston Astros Examiner gets the sense that Astros' amateur scouting director Bobby Heck will take a pitcher with the 69th overall selection (Twitter link).
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