Wow. I’m really zonked. Who knew that the draft could be so exhausting? Thanks everyone for tuning in, this was far and away the most trafficked day in FR history. I was trying to keep with it all, so sorry if the quality of content wasn’t quite up to snuff. Here are my meaningless, off-the-cuff ratings of how things went. I’m scratching my head on a few picks. Disclaimer: I reserve the right to flip flop on my opinion of any of these players. Heh. These are extremely premature evals.
*****-Wow pick!
****-Very good pick
***-Solid
**-Huh?
*-What the!?!?
By round:
- Brett Wallace, 3B, Arizona St. **** Best pure hitter of the draft, should hit 25 HRs with a high OBP annually, but can he stick at third? Law’s Ranking, 9th. BA rank, 20th. My personal preference-Brett Lawrie, 3B/C.
- Lance Lynn, RHP, Ole Miss. ***, maybe ***1/2. Some of you hate this pick, but I don’t think it’s bad. Lynn has a decent fastball, clean mechanics, good control and a solid breaking ball. Law’s Ranking, 23rd. BA ’s 83rd. Yes, he’s like a lot of starters in the system now, but pitching depth is always a good thing. My personal pick-Destin Hood OF, St. Paul’s Episcopal HS, AL, but realistically, he has some signabilty questions.
- Shane Peterson, OF/1B, Long Beach St. **1/2. I don’t get this pick at all at the moment. He doesn’t hit for the type of power a typical corner OF does. He possesses extremely quirky batting mechanics. Strikes me as Cody Haerther, + OBP, with quirks. It’s not like I can’t change my mind on this, but right now I’m not really digging it. BA’s ranking: 75. My personal pick-Tyler Ladensdorf, SS.
- Niko Vasquez, SS/2B, Durango HS, Las Vegas, NV. *****. At this spot this is a great pick. A young, power hitting infielder. He’s far from a finished product, but I don’t think Luhnow could’ve done any better here. Law’s ranking-38. BA-65. Personal pick-Vasquez is fine, as Melville isn’t signable, reportedly.
- Scott Gorgen, RHP, UC Irvine. ***. Some may call three stars generous. Not too many scouts are his fans due to his size, but he’s got a decent sinker, a great change and reportedly off the charts makeup. He’s his school’s all-time K leader, definitely a results guy. BA ranking-183. My personal pick-Adrian Nieto, C, American Heritage HS.
- Jermaine Curtis, 3B, UCLA. **?. One positive is he walks more than he K’s. Had a great season in the Cape but didn’t live up to expectations this year. Solid defender. I’ll need to do some more digging, but from what little I’ve seen, this is a weird pick from my standpoint at the moment. My personal choice-Zach Putnam, RHP, Michigan. What is the story there, I wonder???
- Eric Fornataro, RHP, Miami Dade CC. ???. The bright side is Matt Marquis, Eric Thames, Brett Hunter and DJ Mitchell are still available, amongst others.
Luhnow took some head scratchers, to be sure. How is that any different than what he does every year? I would take his info over BA, Law or PG Crosschecker and again, these are extremely reactions are very knee-jerk.
My general feeling so far is: Yay for Wallace and Niko, and Lynn. Myeh on the rest. Overall: Upside? But, time will tell, and the draft ain’t over yet. And I still say Luhnow deserves of slack from the fans for turning the farm from being totally barren to respectable again. And I’m sure cares more than I do, it’s his job on the line. All I’m going by is a lot of secondhand info from different sources that I trust.
I’ll be around tomorrow for more coverage.
Filed under: Brett Wallace, Eric Fornataro, Jermaine Curtis, Lance Lynn, Niko Vasquez, Scott Gorgen, Shane Peterson
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Kudos on your coverage today. I’ve certainly learned a lot - and you’ve been comprehensive in your evals.
I think Wallace can stick at 3B, for one.
Thanks for the coverage, Erik.
Thanks for all the info today. You do a great job, I’m excited to see how these FutureRedbirds do.
I’m really not sure why everyone is so down on the Peterson pick. This post is in response to all the negative talk on Peterson and not just to the thread starter.
BA seems to think really highly of the guy. And I’m not sure where the Skip Schumaker comparison comes in (not sure who it was that made it), but it is off-base. So, is the presumption that he has no power. From BA’s scouting report:
“Peterson can hammer the ball to all fields, and has cleared the deep center-field fence at Blair Field, one of the stingiest D-1 hitter’s parks in the country”
Also, it has been stated in a staff post here that Peterson cannot stay in the OF. Again, BA clearly disagrees with this assessment:
“Peterson is a legitimate first-two-rounds candidate and has enough bat to be a regular at a corner position.”
Sounds pretty solid to me. You have to be able to rake to be a regular in a corner OF spot. Also, the Cardinals seem to have drafted him right where he should’ve been drafted. This is a good pick and Luhrnow does some goofy things later in this draft and every year, but overall his body of work has been good.
For this pick specifically, there is another scouting report suggesting he has 20 plus power. Combined with the BA scouting report this pick should be being praised. Sometimes though, I think with these type of things people just gripe to hear themselves talk. (Again, not directed at this thread specifically). Most of the people bashing this pick have never even seen the guys they are championing instead. Most of us (really all of us) are basing our opinions on scouting reports and short video clips we scoured on the internet. And considering all the scouting reports I’ve seen on this guy are quite positive — I don’t understand the fuss.
Also, nice work today guys. I like the Niko Vasquez pick.
if wallace can’t play 3rd, why not try and hide him in left? his bat is too good to be used as trade bait and allow another team to reap the rewards.
erik,
Harold Martinez is also still available. After red baron’s petitioning for him for the past few months at VEB, I’m starting to become a believer and hold out some hope for him as well.
Great job today Erik. You certainly had a much better day than did Luhnow and co. Maybe he’ll get a good night’s sleep and and have a better day tomorrow (and I liked the Kozma pick at the time).
Kevin Goldstein was incredulous in the BP chat when someone suggested Wallace in LF, but he was 16 for 20 in SBs last year so I think it’s at least a decent plan B is he can’t handle 3rd.
Cards are going to need to pop a couple of HS picks who fell b/c of signability or I am going to really wonder if they are just letting a computer make their picks.
They seem content to draft players based on their college stats and not their MLB projection.
Peterson is a Brad Hawpe guy for me….Peterson K’d way too much in college.
ryan braun and matt laporta have moved from the corner infield spots to the outfield, so wallace could as well. i’d love to see a future top of the lineup in:
1. rasmus
2. kozma
3. pujols
4. wallace.
Great job, Erik.
Looking forward to seeing how that Vasquez/Curtis middle infield looks. I can see those first two pitchers moving fast and the third one arrested for possession and unlawful dispensation of flunitrazepam.
Liam, you forced a snort with that remark.
Well, it didn’t play out the way I hoped it would, but the ‘computer’ comment is a bit ridiculous. I think the first few college players they took have some upside and development left in them. One thing about Peterson is that he’s very young (if the MLB draft tracker is right) - basically like drafting a JuCo player.
And I’m interested in hearing what they see in guys like Fornataro and Vazquez.
what, me worry?
below are typical starting line-ups for cubs and cards with the player’s draft status listed (udfa=undrafted free agent) all from the cube. cubs have one 1st round, while we often two, though counting ankiel may not be cricket. in any case, i give this one to the “draft is a crapshoot” crowd.
Cubs
soriano udfa
theriot 3
lee 1
ramierz udfa
fukudome udfa
soto 11
edmonds 7
derosa 7
Cards
schumaker 5
duncan 1
puhols 13
ludwick 2
ankiel 1
glaus 2
miles 19
izturis unfa
i made the schumaker reference after reading a couple reports…i later said that this guys scouting reports from different places couldn’t be more different…so my schumaker comment may have been wrong…just depends on which report you look at
Lance Lynn gets an extra 1/2 star from me for being, well, an Indiana kid.
cardsfan — “ryan braun and matt laporta have moved from the corner infield spots to the outfield, so wallace could as well. i’d love to see a future top of the lineup in”
Braun is much more athletic than the other two and he hasn’t been particularly good as a LF. LaPorta’s been a butcher in the OF. He’s been Adam Dunn/Mann Ramirez bad. I wouldn’t be holding those two up as shining examples. Not to mention that Wallace isn’t necessarily the same build as those two — he’s just not built to run around in an OF.
I’d love a Harold Martinez flyer by the way. It’d be a great gamble.
that what i said earlier. some of the stuff ive read really pumps him up on everything. While others drag him through the mud, they criticised everything.
Ill hold off on my opinions of him till he starts playing later this year.
AZ, i meant to point that out also. Walaaca isnt even close to braun and laporta athletically. I highly doubt that he will ever cut it as an outfielder. Its pretty much 3B or bust for us.
To Jared about Shane Peterson:
I just don’t think he is any better than Jon Jay and not many consider Jay a starting outfielder. They did coming out of the draft, but not so much now. If Jay doesn’t crack the starting lineup, I don’t see how Peterson does.
Anyone that says Wallace can’t play 3rd or OF please reference Terry Pendelton & “Mr. Big But” himself Kirby Puckett.
And by the way that song was awesome anybody know if you can find it on the net?
i don’t think we have to worry about finding starting outfielders anyway. we already have ankiel, rasmus, mather, and if ludwick keeps hitting like he has you can add him to the list. when you figure in that wallace may also end up in left, you have a pretty stacked outfield that doesn’t even include schumaker and barton.
as for curtis, i would have much rather had tony delmonico for florida state. he is a better hitter, probably has more power, and can steal some bases.
I wouldn’t be so sure to say Wallace is the best pure hitter in the draft. Just don’t want to get hopes too high.
Jay doesn’t have the 20 plus homer potential Peterson does.
I’m not trying to be the biggest Peterson guy here, but I think it is WAY TOO EARLY for everyone to be so down on the pick of a guy who went EXACTLY where he should’ve gone in the draft to most sources.
fewgoodcards, I agree that OF is one of the Cardinals deepest positions. However, I disagree about two points. 1) Joe Mather is never going to be a quality major league regular. Backup/super-utility sure, but his swing is too long. He kills AAA, fine. He’s also not a kid. I won’t believe that he can be a QUALITY regular corner OF until I see it for myself.
2)Drafting for need in the baseball draft is the biggest mistake a team can make. Sure the Cards have OF, but if Peterson was the best on their board, then they should’ve and did draft him.
Not sure Peterson has 20 HR power. If he does, then he’s worth the pick. Most seem to think he doesn’t have a swing capable of hitting for power. I think you’re looking at a .300, 10-15 HR guy. Thats what Jon Jay is supposed to be.
Also just because we have 3-4 guys who project to be starting major league outfielders, doesn’t mean its ok to take a guy that profiles as a 4th outfielder(unless he has the extra power). Take good trade bait at that point by taking BPA.