The first round of the MLB draft takes place tomorrow night. Here are the latest notes on the draft:
- The Phillies intend to spend their entire draft pool of $4.9MM on their first ten picks and will draft a position player early, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes.
- White Sox scouting director Doug Laumann told the Chicago Tribune's Dave Van Dyck he doesn't expect to find an immediate impact player in the draft. “It’s probably as thin as I've seen in a decade,” Laumann said. “We see that it's pretty thin right now in the college ranks."
- Brewers amateur scouting director Bruce Seid doesn't think there much of a talent dropoff after the first ten picks, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. The Brewers have the 27th, 28th, and 38th selections.
- Nationals GM Mike Rizzo isn't letting the new CBA impact his draft strategy, says MLB.com's Bill Ladson.
- The Padres will keep an eye out for shortstops in the draft, says Corey Brock of MLB.com.
- The Astros have the first overall pick in the draft for the first time in 20 years. MLB.com's Brian McTaggart recalls how that missed pick (Phil Nevin) affected the franchise.
Nevin had a great career. The problem was less about not getting Jeter, and more about not ever giving Nevin a shot to play full time.
Targeting positions is not exactly a sound idea.
I read rumblings that the Phillies were looking at a couple highly touted high school catchers.
Personally, I think they take a college position player if available. Not their typical high school toolsy outfielder approach.
Really liked their draft last year. (still waiting on Larry Greene, Mitchell Walding and Roman Quinn to take the field… but I loved those picks).
Valle & Rupp look like possible big league catchers though.
Valle doesn’t walk enough. Defensively, he’s legit but his walk rates are REALLY bad…
Rupp is more than likely never going to be more than a back up catcher… and quite frankly, you can never have enough catching prospects.
One question- the draft pool covers bonuses and not salaries right? Why can’t a team just not offer a bonus, but a high salary instead?