2014 MLB Draft Open Thread (Rounds 3-10)
Phew, that was some first two rounds, right? Remember that selection where the guy who we didn’t think would be picked was picked? That was really something. All right, so after last night I didn’t have that much time to look into things so my commentary will be limited, which means under 500 words. Maybe.
Two things surprised me so far. One was Kolek over Rodon. I had myself convinced that the Marlins would either take Rodon on what he would add to the franchise as a Cuban-American or they’d steal Jackson from us. Neither happened. The other was exactly how far Gettys and Gatewood slipped. These were fellows who were top ten picks coming into the year and one wonders, with the new CBA that I’m so fond of referring to, if they sign or go to college knowing that they could be in the top five three years from now.
The Jackson pick gives the Mariners a player who will likely be their top prospect in the winter. What I can add that I haven’t already is that the rock-back-and-forth mechanism in his swing looks to have been toned down quite a bit. The Other Ripkin Brother and Cornelius Clifford Floyd were talking about it as they went over the hitters and Jackson mechanics have gone from what I pointed out to more of a lift-lead-foot, plant, and-swing thing. It’s still a hitch that could be exploited a bit, but the severity of the issue has been diminished. One hopes it can be fixed entirely.
I have less commentary on Gareth Morgan. One of the first things I noted was that someone, in reply to the MLBDraftTracker tweet announcing his pick, made a Stanton comp, which I can only assume means that he’ll change his name on arriving in the majors. From what I’m reading, he seems to have extraordinary hitting tools but limited skills and is lacking the speed to play outside the corners. The former isn’t entirely surprising given that he’s from Ontario. One hopes that they’ll be able to get him a little more focused and disciplined in his approach, but he’s committed to NC State and who knows if he’s signable.
Regarding the draft so far for the M’s? Well, I don’t know why you’d ask two picks in, first off. But secondly, it’s interesting to note that thus far the M’s have not dipped into pitching and that they have bucked the perceived strength of the draft. I seem to remember them doing the same in the past. Be it contrarianism or some other inclination, I still expect them to go into pitching pretty quickly in day two, and have more faith in their development of said pitching since they’ve had some success teaching breaking balls. Since they went HS with the first two, they may also go college in their pitching in an effort to keep costs in line. It’s also worth noting that the M’s had three corner OFs in their top ten draft picks last year and we’re only adding to it. Depth can turn into strength, can turn into the surplus that you deal from.
Three through ten, starting at 10 am.
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12 Responses to “2014 MLB Draft Open Thread (Rounds 3-10)”
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Who are the guys we *taught* breaking balls to? Walker, I’m assuming, at least had his breaking ball refined by us, but Paxton and Hultzen had them when we signed them, right? At least, I hope that’s true, and the guys we taught them to aren’t the ones whose arms keep flying off.
Is this like the Middle Infield depth that we’ve been trading from with such notable success?
Okay you two- BANNED from the draft thread. Optimism dammit. Rampant optimism, or bust! (I’m painting that on the back of my car…)
Let’s go Mariners! Let’s go! As mentioned elsewhere, the M’s get useful parts in these rounds, which is all kinds of more fun than just lucking into the first pick when A-Rod or Griffey Jr. just happens to be ripe.
Optimism!
I’m one of the more optimistic fans out there (see my assumption that the cause of our pitcher injuries predates them joining the Mariners, as well as my continued faith in Brad Miller and Nick Franklin).
Walker was one, but his injury has to do with the fact that he was throwing too damned much in the offseason and tired himself out before he even got on the field.
And as for trading from depth, I was thinking more in line with the Fister (ugh) and the Vargas (meh) trades.
“Kolek over Rodon” – you’re just sneaking names of Vulcans from Star Trek into this to see if we’ll notice, aren’t you?
I still like the Vargas trade. So, fair point!
I’m not nerdy in that way, I’m nerdy in ways that are largely unintelligible to most people.
Yarborough has to be an underslot play, college senior, no distinguishing marks, etc.
The Blue Jays just made a pick where you could audibly hear Rosenthal, Mayo, and that other guy whispering to each other “Who is this?” “I have no idea.”
It’d be super funny if the next line was…
“No seriously, the guy’s name is– Ihav Noheidiuh, came here from Cuba.”