There were similarities, and there were striking differences. AZ gave his take on my list in the AM, now it’s the PM and here’s my take on his. Southpaws of the world, unite! –
AZ’s most overrated pick: Eddie Degerman at 20, easily. Degerman is neat. What else can I say? He doesn’t seem like that great of a prospect, at least for me. His control was awful in the spring, so he stayed in extended spring training to get under control. He did, and came and dominated the Midwest League for a short while. Upon being promoted to Palm Beach, he fell back into the crapper, walking about 15% of the batters he faced. I’ve seen him in person; he is a sight to behold. He has a Youtube worthy delivery, and a devastating curveball. But he’s around 87 MPH on his fastball and seems to be more suited for middle relief, probably to face just a batter or two at a time. I like Degerman as a cult hero type of pitcher, but a lot is going to have to break right for him for him to make the bigs, IMO.
AZ’s most underrated: Pete Kozma. Yes, we’ve heard his swing is…poop. No, Keith Law didn’t like him either. He has no spectacular tools, but good ones across the board, minus power. I get it. I still have high hopes for the Best True SS of the 2007 Draft™, and to put him at #16 seems a little harsh on the Koz. He projects to be the starting SS of the future, putting Martinez and Hoffpauir, who many feel are probably utility players, way ahead or right below Pistol Pete just doesn’t seem right to me. Can I call him Pistol Pete? Or maybe the Jello Puddin’ Pete? Koz, Cosby…get it? Finazzle Shazzle! Never mind. I had him at #8.
Where we agree (or at least where we are close): The top 5, Herron, Mortensen, Mather, Haerther, Martinez.
The guy on AZ’s list I predict to shoot up the rankings next year: I look for Jon Jay to rebound after an injury riddled 2007.
Where I feel AZ went wrong: There are a few things. AZ is right, I like hearing good reports and seeing good results from fresh blood, and I feel he is still too tied with some of the older prospects that have been disappointing. I’m talking about Mark McCormick, Blake King, Daryl Jones, and Tyler Greene. I am quite down on McCormick because of the nature of his injury. It was a shoulder injury and until I hear his velocity is back, I’m not all that excited about in him. I don’t know either way, so I couldn’t put him in my 25. He also has miserable control. I’ve seen him in person, I’m not questioning his stuff, but he can’t seem to harness it. Jones is all tools and no game, and has been for most of his career. His swing is a dreadful mess. Blake King is interesting, but like McCormick can’t harness his stuff. Greene has a lot of tools, he would maybe make my top 30, but he hasn’t been able to perform above the MWL and now the injuries are disconcerting for a former 30th overall pick. All of them have lots of potential, but all just seem so unlikely to reach it. I think others are ahead of them, like Norrick and Furnish, who AZ left out altogether. AZ doesn’t shop at the Leftorium, apparently.
2007 draftee to join the ranks next year: There are many to choose from here. I like Brett Zawacki here, but there are so many sleepers to this draft. Beau Riportella, Tyler Henley, Steve Hill, Adam Reifer and David Kopp are others I could see doing well in 2008. Kopp may not qualify as a sleeper, being a 2nd rounder and all. I would also not discount Daniel Descalso, either. Andrew Brown could surprise us as well; I could see him being Brandon Buckman, part 2.
In defense of Maiques: AZ, have you seen him pitch? Just wondering, because I think if you’ve seen him, you would be as sold as I am! 
Maybe he’s just my pet prospect.
Filed under: Top 25
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Leftorium — great name
are you a lefty???
Nope. I’m just looking out for the lefty peeps. It’s from the Simpsons. Ned Flander’s shop. http://www.leftorium.com/
So what do you guys think about the last couple of drafts. It appears that Luhnow has developed the ability to pick sleepers in the later rounds that will at the least provide depth to the system. He has sold me on that. But I think the top of the draft still needs work. I thinking if they would have taken the best available player according to BA in the first three rounds and usde Jeff’s strategy for the rest of the draft, they would have come out farther ahead than they have (I am thinking that we would have selected Joba Chamberlain instead of Ott.)
People need to remember that the cards were not the only team who passed on Joba. There were maybe 20 teams that took a player at all that wont pan out like joba or better. He had injury concerns at the time of the draft. Even the yankees took Kennedy before him. I think it was a huge risk, huge reward situation. Noone could forsee what hes done happening…and really all that matters is not what it looks like now but what it looks like in a few years. Personally I think Brackman could be a big swing and miss if Joba was the homerun.
Furnish is a guy I am rooting for next year. Maiques too. I could see Furnish really breaking out next year. We can only hope that Maiques is Oswalt light
BA is a great resource, but they get way too much credit for being reliable talent evaluators. They make plenty of mistakes.
For example, if the Cards just took the highest-rated players by Baseball America in the early rounds, David Huff would have been their first pick in 2006 and Matt Torra or John Drennen would have been their pick in 2005. Those players are no better than Rasmus+Ottavino.
All draft pick are a huge risk. Very few are huge rewards.