Draft Notes: Rodgers, Diamondbacks, Fernandez

A look at recent draft history suggests the Diamondbacks should take shortstop Brendan Rodgers with the No. 1 pick, MLB.com’s Jim Callis writes. Rodgers headed into the season as the consensus top talent in the draft, and teams who have picked No. 1 overall in recent years have avoided consensus top talents at their peril — No. 1 picks like the Rays’ selection of Tim Beckham and the Royals’ selection of Luke Hochevar haven’t worked out as well as they would have if the Rays and Royals had simply picked more straightforwardly. Here’s more on the draft.

• The Diamondbacks currently appear more likely to take Vanderbilt pitcher Carson Fulmer first overall, according to John Manuel of Baseball America’s latest mock draft. The Diamondbacks seem to want a college pitcher, and Fulmer seems to be gaining a slight edge over UC-Santa Barbara’s Dillon Tate. The Astros then take another Commodore, infielder Dansby Swanson, in Manuel’s mock before the Rockies take Rodgers at No. 3. Manuel suggests the collection of injured top pitchers (Brady Aiken, Michael Matuella and Kolby Allard) will fall to the end of the first round.
• Cuban right-hander Yoandy Fernandez has been declared eligible for the draft, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports.  Fernandez has far more seasoning than your average draft candidate; he’s 27 and has six years of experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional league, where he posted a 4.22 ERA, 72 strikeouts and 62 walks over 157 2/3 innings.  Almost all of Fernandez’s work came as a reliever, and Sanchez notes that teams are still figuring out if he projects as a starter or a reliever in MLB.  Perhaps more information will be determined later this month, as Fernandez has several tryouts scheduled for various teams.