Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham had a huge weekend. Here is a quick look at how some of the other top draft prospects faired.
Hitters
Jemile Weeks 4-12, HR, 2B, SB, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 walks
Prototypical lead-off man showed off his all around game this weekend.
Yonder Alonso 4-10, 2 2B, SB, 3 RBI, 3 walks
Homerless so far, but still an on base machine.
Roger Kieschnick 5-11, 3 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 walks
The big 6′3″ 200 pound right fielder is off to a blazing start. He is hitting .371 and already has 6 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 homers. He is a possibility in the sandwich round, but if he keeps raking he might move up into the first round.
Gordon Beckham 7-14, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 7 R, 3 RBI, SB
Beckham is making a serious push for the top 15 hitting .519 and slugging 1.000 through his first 27 at bats with only 1 strikeout. A shortstop with his kind of bat won’t last long.
Buster Posey 6-15, 2 2B, HR, 6 R, 3 RBI; 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 2 saves
The do it all Florida State star is the top college catcher in the draft.
Pitchers
Scott Green 7 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts
The huge righty turned down $800,000 from the Red Sox to return for his junior year, and it looks like he made a great decision. For the season he has 19 strikeouts and 0 walks in 12 innings of work.
Christian Friedrich 6 innings, 2 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 9 strikeouts
Friedrich is going to put up crazy strikeout numbers this year. He already has 20 in just 11 innings of work.
Filed under: 2008 MLB draft | Tagged: Yonder Alonso, Jemile Weeks, Christian Friedrich, 2008 MLB draft, Roger Kieschnick, Gordon Beckham, Buster Posey, Scott Green
erik
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fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I was at the Miami game and I wasn’t particularly impressed with the Canes top prospects. I’ve seen lesser talent work harder. Dennis Rabin is still nursing a bad back.
Florida State needs to get their act together and find pitchers that can get the job done and develop starters, relievers and possibly a closer. Scouts don’t particularly like the top catcher in the draft doing double duty in a game, they used to cringe when Weiters did it.
what did you think of cole figueroa from florida? i know he is only a soph. and isn’t draft eligible, but he just seems like a great pure baseball player.
I think he could really be a pitcher’s nightmare (as you see) good discipline waits for his pitch and watches for the pitcher’s mistake. He’s getting it together.
here’s an interesting question from john manuel’s college chat at baseballamerica.com today
Q: David from Orlando asks:
Which 2008 draft-eligible guys have really pleasantly surprised you with their performances to date? Any really unpleasant surprises?
A:
John Manuel: Dykstra turned around Brett Hunter and that caught some attention in the seasons’ first weekend. Aaron Crow is off to a very good start and for me has edged in front of Brian Matusz, who hasn’t had his best fastball so far, for the race for No. 1 pitcher. But Tanner Scheppers has just blown me away for his big stuff and great start. Read Aaron’s blog and you’ll see why. As for unpleasant surprise, Brandon Crawford is fighting it at UCLA and hopefully he can just relax and let his talent flow, instead of trying a bit too hard.
sounds like our boy tanner scheppers is gettin some attention.
so how is this for the top five pitchers that the FR community wants the Cards to draft (on March 3)
1. Crow
2. Matusz
3. Melville
4. Scheppers
5. Freidreich
Crow, Matusz, and at least two of the last three are expected to be unavailable but if one was available, he’d be snatched up, no problem, right? Unless one of the stud hitters is available.
yeah, i wonder if it’s too good. I caught this blurb about Shooter Hunt versus Brett Hunter I thought was interesting.
“Those guys showed big velocity all the way through, they showed the ability to maintain the velocity, but I have questions about the command,” said a National League scout who was in attendance. “Hunter looks more like a reliever to me, whereas Shooter could be a legit, front-line No. 1 or No. 2 guy. He was very, very good. He overthrows a little bit, but he showed the ability to maintain that velocity deep into games, he shows the ability to spin a breaking ball and get it in the zone, or he can bury it when he wants to. I liked him better because of the intensity and the better presence.”
KG thought he may be a possibility for the Cards. I can’t help but to think of this guy when i hear his name.
Another NL scout added, “Hunter has a huge arm but he just needs to go to the bullpen and blow in pro ball. Hunt has a chance to start because he has some pitchability and can locate the breaking ball better, plus he’s an athletic kid.”
jackson- i actually am not sure on Crow. I’ve heard his mechanics aren’t too pretty, like he’s an injury waiting to happen. i would bet even if he was on the board at 13, the cardinals would pass.
i doubt they would pass on crow. check out the video on the side bar, his mechanics are pretty solid except for the ball wrap at the back.
jackson, that is the list, and at this point i would probably have it in that order. gerrit cole fits in there somewhere, but i can’t decide if it is before or after friedrich.