Future Redbirds

202. Oliver Marmol, SS, College of Charleston. Another reach pick. Marmol was considered a 8 to 12th round talent the Cardinals picked in the 6th. Baseball America says-

Marmol has good middle-infield actions but little offensive upside. He’s a plus runner and has a plus arm.

For someone with good middle infield actions, he committed 23 errors at shortstop. Marmol hit .345/.458/.550 with 28 steals in 34 attempts. He got hit by a pitch (22) almost as much as he walked (29) and struck out (25). Myeh, we’ll see how he does.

232. Deryk Hooker RHP, HS, Calif. Finally, a high school arm. Hooker was rated by BA as the 58th best prospect out of the talent filled state of California. Says BA-

San Diego State signee Deryk Hooker reached the low 90s most of the year with a somewhat mechanical delivery, flying open too early at times. He’s wiry strong at 6-foot-4, 190 pounds and has good armside run to his heater. He primarily works off the fastball and has a decent changeup as his second pitch.

Commited to SDSU, it will lake some sweet cash to sway him. For his HS, he struck out 98 to just 10 walks.

262. Tyler Henley, CF, Rice. I like this pick quite a bit, it sort of reminds me of the selection of Nathan Southard the previous year. In the leadoff role he hit .307/.421/.452. Says BA-

Outfielder Tyler Henley could have gone in the first three rounds after a strong sophomore season at Rice and summer in the Cape Cod League, but he hit just .310 with five homers during the regular season. He looks more like a sixth- to 10th-rounder, and he may not be signable in that part of the draft. A 50th-round pick by the Astros as a draft-eligible sophomore last June, Henley has solid tools across the board and plays hard. He’s a better athlete than most 5-foot-10, 200-pounders, and he can play center field.

Hmm…hopefully they can get him to commit. He has a great defensive reputation, draws walks and some think he could hit for more power.

292. Mike Stutes, Oregon State, RHP. Another pretty solid pick here. Says BA-

Mike Stutes could fit into the first five rounds, as he emerged and thrived in the Friday night ace role. Stutes pitches off a fastball that consistently sits in the 90-91 mph range, and he holds his velocity up to 100 pitches regularly. His curveball, at times his strikeout pitch, remains inconsistent, and he doesn’t throw his decent changeup enough. His slider is a distant fourth pitch. At times he loses the feel for changing speeds and falls into pitch patterns, but the equipment is there for Stutes to be a big league fourth or fifth starter.

322. Beau Riportella, CF, College of the Sequoias (JuCo)- Hit .360/.443/.471. Hit only 1 homer all season, but stole 31 bases out of 32 attempts, an all time school record. Walked 27 times to 22 strikeouts.

352. Adam Reifer, RHP, UC Riverside. He was hurt much of the season, but is well thought of. Per BA:

Reifer missed most of the spring with what was originally diagnosed as a bone spur in his right elbow. He did not need surgery after a second exam found a stress reaction in the bone due to tendinitis. He was back throwing off a mound in April but had not returned to game action. He threw 95-96 mph before he was sidelined. Reifer could apply for a medical redshirt and return next year as a junior and possible first-round pick, but he also could be one of the new-style draft-and-follow picks this season. With the Aug. 15 signing date now in effect, players with questions will be drafted in June and followed through their summer leagues before teams decide whether to sign them.

Luhnow called him “the steal of the draft.” He’ll likely close for whatever team he pitches for, most likely Batavia once signed.

382. Brad Zawacki Ill, HS, RHP. He’s committed to AZ state. Sinkerballer that has hit 94, scouts are not real comfortable with his arm action and secondary offerings.

412.Steven Hill, 1B, Sam F Austin U. Hill is his schools all-time leader in hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and stolen bases. This season he hit .385/.486/.819 in 221 at bats. That included 24 homers, 46 walks to 24 strikeouts. He also stole 10 bases. That’s pretty impressive. He did have an easy schedule, but his home park has a park factor of .820. So he put up Bonds type numbers in a Petco type atmosphere. Adjusted for park and strength of schedule, his OPS comes out to be a whopping 1.469. He’s been playing first, hopefully he can move to a corner OF spot somewhere. He used to catch, maybe he’ll get a shot there. Suffice to say I really like this pick.

442. Josh Dew, Troy, RHP/1B. Yep, he’s one of those rare 2-way players. He’s a big fellah at 6-5, 225 and profiles more as a pitcher. Says BA-

Dew has dealt his way in to the top 10 rounds thanks to a 90-92 mph fastball that has plus sink. He works from a low-three-quarters arm slot that creates deception, especially against righthanded hitters. His sweepy slider is below-average and doesn’t have enough depth or bite to serve as a legitimate second offering in pro ball. He’s a strike thrower and has an aggressive approach, which helped him rack up 90 strikeouts in 60 innings.

As a hitter, he did pretty well, too. He hit .325/.440/.500, though Troy is a hitters haven to say the least. Could be this year’s Luke Gregerson.

472. Chuckie Fick, RHPinata, Cal St. Northridge. They say it wasn’t all based on the fact that he’s Chuck Fick’s son, who is a scout with the Cardinals. This isn’t quite as bad as picking Wil Pujols in the 6th round a couple years back, but still stinks. Fick walked 34 to 26 strikeouts and had a 7.11 ERA. Yeah.

Skipping down a bit…what, did you expect me to tell you about all of them?

862. Ross Oeder, SS/2B, Wright State. Eckstein like sized infielder, with spunk and grit intact. Hit .408/.496/.649 in a weak conference but in a tough park. He also stole 25 bases out of 33 attempts and hit 8 home runs. Adjusted for park and strength of schedule, his OPS comes out to be 1.117. I can’t argue with those results despite his size.

1125. C.J. Ziegler, 1B, U of Arizona. Power hitting junior hit .355/.434/.645 in 59 games for the Wildcats, including a team high 13 homers. His adjusted OPS comes out to be 1.053. Also set the Coastal Plain League record for HR’s with 13 the previous summer. His value is all bat, nothing else, but for 37th round pick it’s worth a shot. Chances are he’ll go back to ‘zona for another year.

1152. Adron Chambers Pensacola JuCo, OF. Teammate of DFE D’Marcus Ingram. Chambers is a two sport athlete and played at Mississippi State on a football scholarship. So why was he playing baseball this spring for a juco? Apparently Adron was getting ready for his NFL days way, as he was arrested and found guilty for attempted sexual assault. Yeah. He’s was suspended from the program. Chambers hit .358 with 16 steals in 17 attempts this season. He may still choose football, somewhere.

1313. Dan Thomas, RHP, University of South Florida. Alan Mathews of BA noted this pick at his blog, saying:

An injury derailed Dan Thomas’ season, but the Cardinals scooped up the righthander from South Florida in the 44th round. Thomas pitched well early this season, including seven one-hit innings with eight punchouts against Manhattan with more than a dozen scouts in attendance to see him and Manhattan first baseman Matt Rizzotti. He went down with a shoulder injury shortly thereafter, and the injury was diagnosed as fraying in his right labrum. He had surgery in May.

1385. Mateo Marquez, Cal State Dominguez Hills, OF. Hit .357/.432/.607 in 52 games, but struck out 30% of his at bats. Also stole 19 bases in 27 attempts. Says Luhnow:

“He’s got five tools; his big issue is that he strikes out a lot,” Luhnow said. “He’s put up some pretty impressive numbers, he can play center, he can play right. [The] strikeouts are a little bit of a concern, [but] we think he’s the type of guy that there’s enough there to work with — he can be pretty exciting.”

I’m sure there were other I could’ve made mention of, those are the picks that stood out to me.