Per Matt Leach:
The Cardinals announced on Wednesday that they have signed two “draft-and-follow” players from the 2006 First-Year Player Draft. Right-handers Mark Diapoules and LaCurtis Mayes agreed to terms after spending the 2007 season pitching at the junior-college level.
Diapoules was the Cardinals’ 21st-round pick out of Martin County (Fla.) High School, and Mayes was a 23rd-rounder from Riverside (Calif.) Poly High School and is also a product of the RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities) program.
With the new labor agreement, draft and follow has been done away with. These two will be the last draft and follows. I don’t know if that’s for good or bad for sure. It did bring the org Blake King, Blake Hawksworth and Tyler Johnson. Doing a little Googling I found this blurb on Mayes at Perfect Game-
Mayes is a two-way prospect at the college level. I first saw him on the mound and he was good, with an 86-91 mph FB and a quick arm. At times his slider (78-81 mph) was an above average pitch but too often it spun flat in the zone. However, his arm action is good for the SL. His feel of the CH was pretty good too. Even mixed in a 12/6 type CB in the 70-71 mph range. Offensively he showed a quick bat and an aggressive approach. He is slashing type of hitter and can spray the ball. Another player that could end up very highly sought after out of a JC. He also could be a decent draft/follow prospect (on the mound for me).
This scout nailed it with the draft and follow prediction. I couldn’t find much on Mark Diapoules other then some blurb on Palm Beach Community College’s site that he throws a fastball, slider and a change. [UPDATED] The TC Palm has a bit on his stat line from JUCO…Diapoules was 8-3 with 78 strikeouts and a 3.00 ERA at PBCC this season. He gave up only 56 hits in 84 innings.
Both are most likely ticketed for Johnson City. Maybe they’ll be in a tandem together if the Cardinals decide to go that route for their short season clubs.
Filed under: 2006 Draft, LaCurtis Mayes, Mark Diapoules
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I was a fan of the draft an follow. I’m still not sure I completely understand the logic behind removing it.
I’ve known Mark very well and I have been keeping up with his progress (I am his girlfriend). He had an injury last year playing in Johnson City that didn’t leave him with the best of stats. This year he is playing for the Quad City River Bandits and hes been doing pretty good so far (knock on wood!). He’s played 3 games with one win under his belt, pitching 13 innings leaving him with a 1.38 ERA. He has already managed to win “pitcher of the day” by his first game.