Draft Notes: Bradley, Bundy, Hager, Starling, Cubs
The first and supplemental rounds are over and teams are reaching out to their top picks and setting up media conference calls with them. Here’s the latest on the draft from the players and teams themselves…
- Archie Bradley (selected seventh overall by the D’Backs) says fellow Oklahoma high schooler Dylan Bundy (selected fourth overall by the Orioles) pushes him to be a better player. “With his workout and the way he goes about the game, it puts some weight on my shoulders to try to equal that or better that” Bradley said.
- High school infielder Jake Hager (selected 32nd overall by the Rays) wants to start his pro career soon. Though he sees himself as a shortstop, he remains flexible to playing elsewhere on infield if that’s where the Rays want him to play. Hager describes himself as a hard worker who’s coachable. The Nevada native “had a feeling” the Rays would take him, since they were scouting him hard most weeks.
- High school outfielder Bubba Starling (selected fifth overall by the Royals) describes himself as an equally good football and baseball player. The Kansas native admits to being a Royals fan, though he says he didn’t have time to see tons of games, since he plays so many sports. Starling says he felt stronger later in the season, after returning from a tweaked quad muscle.
- Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken explained the selection of Javier Baez (ninth overall). “Javier has a tremendously live bat, is versatile in the field and we are happy to welcome him to the Cubs organization,” Wilken said in a team statement. “He has a great arm and is a smart baserunner in tune with the game.
Pirates Select Gerrit Cole
The Pirates may be headed for a 19th consecutive losing season in 2011, but if their assessment of Gerrit Cole is accurate, they're a little closer to becoming a winner again. They have officially selected the UCLA right-hander with the first pick of the amateur draft.
Cole stands 6'4" and doesn't turn 21 until the fall. He throws a slider and change-up, plus a fastball that regularly reaches the mid 90s. His stuff didn’t translate into the statistical success you’d expect for a first overall pick (teammate Trevor Bauer posted more impressive numbers). Cole finished the season with a 3.31 ERA, 119 strikeouts and 24 walks in 114 1/3 innings – impressive numbers, but certainly not Strasburg-esque.
Cole has experience as a first rounder. The Yankees selected him out of high school in 2008. He declined to sign, even though he’s a Yankees fan who counts Roger Clemens and Mariano Rivera among his role models.
The Pirates have had the first overall pick three other times in their history. They selected Jeff King in 1986, Kris Benson in 1996 and Bryan Bullington in 2002. Scouting director Greg Smith and GM Neal Huntington also considered Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon, Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen and others with the top pick.
I talked to Cole about his season and the draft in March and MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes introduced us to Cole and a number of other college right-handers last week.
The Pirates have until August 15th of this year to sign Cole, who is represented by Scott Boras. The commissioner’s office recommended a $4MM signing bonus for last year’s top pick, which turned out to be Bryce Harper.
Photo courtesy UCLA athletics.
Rays Sign Lance Cormier
The Rays signed Lance Cormier to a minor league deal, according to Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times (on Twitter). The Rays also released Triple-A right-hander Edgar Gonzalez, according to the Tampa Tribune (on Twitter). Back in May, the Dodgers designated Cormier for assignment and they appear to have released him since.
The 30-year-old right-hander pitched 13 2/3 innings for the Dodgers this year and posted a 9.88 ERA with 4.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. Cormier, an eight-year veteran, has a 5.07 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 over the course of 290 big league appearances, mostly in relief. His 63.8% ground ball rate places him 12th among relievers with at least ten innings pitched (Cormier's career mark is 51.6%).
Gonzalez has Major League experience in parts of seven seasons, but hasn't appeared with an MLB team since he suited up for the '09 Athletics. The 28-year-old had a 3.72 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 48 1/3 innings as a starter for the Durham Bulls.
Dodgers Designate Gibbons, Castro For Assignment
The Dodgers announced that they designated Jay Gibbons and Juan Castro for assignment (Twitter link). In related moves, the Dodgers optioned Ivan DeJesus and John Ely to the minors, activated Juan Uribe, Blake Hawksworth and Marcus Thames from the disabled list and called up top prospect Dee Gordon.
Gibbons, 34, hit .255/.323/.345 with one home run in 62 plate appearances this year after signing a one-year, $650K deal with Los Angeles in the fall. In 2010 the nine-year veteran returned to the Major Leagues after a two-year absence and hit .280/.313/.507 in 80 plate appearances for the Dodgers.
Castro, 38, appeared in seven games for the Dodgers this year and collected four singles and a walk in his 15 plate appearances. The versatile infielder split the 2010 campaign between Los Angeles and Philadelphia, posting a .194/.237/.233 line in 140 plate appearances overall.
Astros Release Bill Hall
The Astros announced that they intend to give Bill Hall his unconditional release. They asked for release waivers on Hall and activated infielder Jason Bourgeois from the 15-day disabled list in a related move.
The transaction will take effect Monday and if no team claims Hall by Wednesday, he’ll become a free agent and will be able to sign with any team. Last offseason, Hall signed a one-year, $3MM deal that included a $4MM mutual option ($250K buyout) for 2012. The 31-year-old posted a .224/.272/.240 line in 158 plate appearances as Houston's second baseman this year.
Hart Talks Success Late In Draft
When John Hart says high draft picks are generally the ones who become stars, he's speaking from experience. The longtime Indians and Rangers GM saw first rounders like Manny Ramirez and C.C. Sabathia develop into some of the best players in the game. Now a senior Rangers advisor and MLB Network analyst, Hart says truly successful drafts will also feature late-round gems.
“You have to have success after the first day of the draft,” he said, pointing out that he and the Rangers staff selected Ian Kinsler in the 17th round of the 2003 draft. “When everyone’s reconnects [after day one] you say ‘hey boys, there’s a lot of big leaguers out there. Let’s go get big leaguers.’”
Players like Richie Sexson (24th round, 1993), John McDonald (12th round, 1996) and David Riske (56th round, 1996) became 'finishing touches' for the Indians under Hart. Those drafted earlier on attracted more attention, but Hart soon learned that you can’t just survive on your first and second rounders.
Most general managers don’t have the time to see hundreds upon hundreds of players, as an amateur scouting director would, so a GM is most heavily involved early on in the draft. Hart, who would typically see six to ten amateurs in anticipation of each draft, would step back after a few rounds, make notes and ‘scout his scouts.’ It helped fill the time between picks, which can be particularly excruciating if a team is hoping a specific player falls to them.
“If you’ve got one guy that’s clearly your front guy and you’ve got three picks to get there. It is a long time waiting to get that guy,” Hart told MLBTR this week. “And when that club calls the name [of another player], there’s a lot of excitement in the room – guys are very happy.”
The Rangers had a college right-hander in mind when they held the 12th overall pick five years ago, Hart's first season in his current role. It appeared that they would get their man when, with the tenth overall pick, Tim Lincecum became property of the San Francisco Giants.
“We were fired up and ready to go and your heart gets broken,” Hart said, reflecting on the Rangers’ near miss in 2006. “It really does. There’s just an empty feeling in the room when you lose your guy.”
Especially since the player Texas selected instead, left-hander Kasey Kiker, has yet to throw a Major League pitch and currently has a 6.75 ERA in Class A. One way for GMs to make sure that they don’t telegraph their intentions is to stay away from the ballpark when a top target is playing.
“Once a GM comes into a ballpark, that word starts spreading and the next thing you know, you can run guys up a board,” Hart said.
GMs generally stand out more than scouting directors, especially at a high school or college game. Though it’s the scouting directors, cross-checkers and area scouts who do most of the legwork, general managers are forever linked to the players their front office selects.
“It’s funny,” Hart said, “I was talking to [current Rays executive and longtime Astros GM] Gerry Hunsicker today and we were both kind of laughing that a lot of times you get credit for players that your scouting director picked and sometimes you get trashed because of guys that your scouting director picked. But ultimately it does come down to you.”
Photo of Kinsler courtesy Icon SMI. John Hart will be part of MLB Network’s coverage of the 2011 MLB first-year player draft on Monday, June 6th at 6pm CDT.
Draft Notes: Starling, Phillies, Bauer, Bradley
Peter Gammons of MLB Network runs through some of the most intriguing 'what-ifs' in the history of the draft at MLB.com. Here are more draft links, as we wonder what would have happened if the White Sox had drafted Barry Bonds in 1985…
- Florida prep shortstop Francisco Lindor's workout with the Diamondbacks was scheduled for today, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The Monteverde (Fla.) Academy product is a candidate for their pick at No. 7.
- Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (via Twitter) has received more pre-draft bonus demand letters. Wyoming's Brandon Nimmo is seeking $3MM, first baseman Dan Vogelbach wants $1.65MM, and Pennsylvania outfielder Derek Fisher is eyeing a bonus of $2.25MM.
- Chris Cox of MLB.com profiled University of South Carolina outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who is unsure of where he'll land after suffering a wrist injury. Bradley, who has garnered comparisons to Jim Edmonds, will likely wind up being selected in the supplemental round.
- Right now there's not a whole lot of clarity in the top 15 of the draft, writes Keith Law of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required). Law has Anthony Rendon pegged to go No. 2 to the Mariners though he believes that outfielder Bubba Starling could wind up going in that spot also.
- More from Law (via Twitter) as he hears that the White Sox are potentially looking at Stanford left-hander Chris Reed as a sandwich round pick.
- Phillies scouting director Marti Wolever suggested to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com that the Phils will be looking for offense this year. "I always love to get bats, but that's kind of what we're looking at," Wolever said.
- Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports shows that UCLA right-hander Trevor Bauer is talented, feisty and unorthodox. Could he be the next Tim Lincecum? One American League scout says he "could be as good as [Lincecum] or better."
- As Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic explains, high school right-hander Archie Bradley faces a difficult decision: start at quarterback for the football-crazed University of Oklahoma or let his 100 mph fastball carry him to a seven-figure bonus and a baseball career. It sounds as though the affable Bradley will sign with an MLB team if he's offered enough money, since baseball is his first love.
- Check out Tim Dierkes’ writeup about Bradley from last month.
- Virginia left-hander Danny Hultzen has pitched his way up teams' draft boards and remains a candidate to go first overall to the Pirates, Jonathan Mayo writes at MLB.com.
The Phillies’ Approach To The 2011 Draft
The Phillies haven’t had the first overall pick in the amateur draft since 1998, when they selected Pat Burrell. This year, their first pick will be number 39 overall, but Phillies amateur scouting director Marti Wolever says it’s a good problem to have, since it means the Major League team has played well. Just don’t expect the Phillies to draft with an eye on their 2011 win total.
“You have to look down the road and I don’t think you can look for a quick fix necessarily,” Wolever said on a conference call with reporters. “Often if you look back at those [picks] they don’t work out the way you planned them to work out.”
The Phillies are eyeing catchers and middle infielders, though they will be ready to adjust since they realize many of their top targets may already have been selected by the time they make their first pick. It’s “one of the deeper drafts" in recent memory for position players, so Wolever will be looking out for bats, but he’ll also monitor pitchers, particularly southpaws.
“I love offensive players and I think everyone does,” he said. “But strong pitching certainly gets you to where you need to be when the bats aren’t going quite right.”
This draft features a strong group of college pitchers, some of whom the Phillies acknowledge they aren’t drafting. Though Wolever and his staff saw every elite prospect in preparation for Monday’s draft, the Phillies know that they have zero chance of obtaining certain players. Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer and Danny Hultzen are among the pitchers who figure to be long gone by the time the Phillies make their first selection.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Almonte
Here's the list of players to be outrighted to the minors today:
- The Brewers outrighted Erick Almonte to Triple-A and he has accepted the assignment, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (on Twitter). The 33-year-old had been on the 15-day DL and the move opens up a spot on Milwaukee's 40-man roster, which now stands at 37.
AL Central Notes: Tigers, Twins, Hernandez, Dunn
On this date in 1997, the Tigers drafted Matt Anderson first overall (under management that has since been replaced). The flame-throwing right-hander briefly became the Tigers' closer, but didn't match the success of others in his draft class like J.D. Drew, Troy Glaus, Vernon Wells and Lance Berkman. Anderson attempted a comeback with the Phillies this year, but has since been released. Here's the latest from around the AL Central…
- David Mayo of The Grand Rapids Press defends Tigers manager Jim Leyland and GM Dave Dombrowski, saying the Tigers are annual contenders and “give the Michigan summer a sporting purpose.”
- Yes, the Twins are just 18-37, but GM Bill Smith tells John Shipley of the Pioneer Press that it's not too late for a comeback. Smith says better health and more home games and intra-divisional series could get the Twins back into contention. Smith also noted that his re-worked bullpen "hasn't worked" and expressed confidence in Alexi Casilla's skills.
- The Royals have been linked to international prospect Elier Hernandez, according to Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The outfielder is likely to command a $2-3MM bonus once he's eligible to sign after July 2nd.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports suggests that Adam Dunn's struggles and $56MM contract with the White Sox could affect the way American League teams build their rosters going forward. Red Sox DH David Ortiz tells Morosi that DHing is harder than it seems (for more on Ortiz's market value, click here).