It's far too early in the spring for teams to have their draft boards finalized, as Keith Law pointed out at ESPN.com this week. With nearly two months remaining between now and the draft, a lot can change, but that doesn't stop Law from passing along the latest on the early intentions of some teams with high picks:
- Law hears that the Mariners will take either Gerrit Cole or Anthony Rendon with the second pick in the draft, depending on which player is available after the Pirates select first overall.
- The D'Backs, who pick third, covet Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen, according to Law.
- The Orioles are 'extremely likely' to take a college pitcher with the fourth overall pick. They could take Hultzen or Georgia Tech left-hander Jed Bradley.
- The Royals (5th pick) are also likely to take a college arn and they're interested in UConn right-hander Matt Barnes, Hultzen and Bradley.
- The D'Backs (7th pick) and Cubs (9th pick) have Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray high on their internal rankings, according to Law.
Keith Law is just awful
Why?
That first bullet point.
Okay so we didn’t need KLaw to tell us that, but the rest of the stuff is reasonable for him to write about.
Oh yeah, he’s pretty knowledgeable and astute, especially within his field… just that first bullet had me laughing.
Fair enough
This information was in a short blurb at the bottom of the page on an article about various prospects. Read the actual article before passing judgment.
lol
Once again the Mariners play second fiddle, only this time it isn’t as painful to watch Strasburg get drafted first over all and them taking Ackley, I hope they get Cole, I don’t know why, but I feel he will be better than Rendon.
I like that the Royals are thinking outside the box and are going after a college Arn…
Unfortunately, the Buccos don’t get the #1 overall when there is a hands down favorite like the Nats enjoyed the past two years. I’ve personally hoped for Rendon since probably last June, but Cole is certainly worthy. I just feel like there is no power at all in the system, especially from the right side, whereas they at least have a few kids they think will be an ace some day, so I still lean Rendon, I guess.
Tough call for me, let alone Huntington.
That’s a nice problem to have though. At least you know Huntington isn’t planning on going with the next BB. Either you’re probably gonna have Cole and Taillon to build the future rotation around, or a lineup that starts something like:
Tabata
Walker
McCutchen
Alvarez
Rendon
Either one is going to be awfully nice in a few years
I would take Cole over Rendon.
Good young Starting Pitching is such a Hot Commodity in this league and very hard to come by.
position players are far more rare and suffer career ending injuries far less.
How can you say it’s unfortunate to chose between a college arm that is a potential ace and a 3rd baseman who is said to field like Zimmerman and hit like Longoria? It’s a great problem to have and I’d guess there will be some great debates among pirate management. If Cole was lefty I’d lean towards him but I am hoping we go with Rendon.
Rendon has had 2 ankle injuries, a shoulder problem, and is dealing with a loss of batspeed.
I don’t want a guy who is just gonna hit a ton of balls into the dirt. I’ve had enough of Andy Laroche!!
Yeah we talked about this before. It’s so much easier, and less expensive, for small market teams to acquire offensive talents vs ace power pitchers. That being said,if the Pirates have 3 or 4 power arms in their system that’s not a bad thing because the giants have shown you can win with pitching. Also,I can easily see teams lining up to trade their surplus power position player for an under 25 ace power arm. I say, stack up on power arms as much as possible because you can always find bats in the 2nd-4th rounds, especially in this years draft.
What do you think jays will take?
A-Pitcher
B-Fielder
C-Catcher
D-Infielder?
When is the draft again? June 11?
outfielder
why?
Just a hunch since they drafted about a million pitchers in the first few rounds last year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see AA go for a toolsy speedster like Anthony Gose or maybe possibly a power bat.
I would take Bubba Starling if he falls that far who is an outfielder/pitcher. He’s a tough sign but boy, I would love to see the Jays pick him.
I’m sure they will go with best player available and in this deep pitching draft, it will likely be a pitcher.
Jays could use infield depth though.
A.
I’d take the guy with the Johan Santana change up and a 95 mph fast ball to compliment it if I were the Pirates.
I’ll pass on the positional guy who can’t stay healthy for a college season. Health tends to go downhill, not improve. If the Pirates wanted a player like that they’d have signed his MLB equivalent – Eric Chavez.
I would love to see a couple of teams reach for a player so one of those top 5 guys fall to the Indians.
The Royals will take Starling, I believe. He’s local to KC. He’s toolsy. He’s an athlete. He plays CF, which is about the only position the Royals don’t have in their system. And the Royals have no problem drafting Boras clients. They’re also supposed to have interest in Dylan Bundy.
I like Starling as well for KC. I’ve not heard the team showing much interest in him publicly, but the local ties make it so obvious that the Royals probably want any leverage they can get against Boras if they really are interested. Factor in Boras and probably giving up football, Bubba will need to get PAID. Something tells me if Bubba was from Georgia Dayton Moore would be willing to give him Strasburg money.
If I was the Pirates GM, you’d be stuck with the injured Rendon.