Crack of the Bat
by Patrick Ebert

Draft Day Quick Hits

The televised draft obviously slowed down the pace of which teams have been accustomed to, getting through only five rounds on the first day of the two-day event.  That alone may prompt some teams to stop drafting well before the 50^th round during the second day of the event (mostly kidding, but the second day of the draft is going to be a long, long day for those going another 45 rounds).

Since only five rounds have passed, I’m going to offer some quick observations, with more observations to come in next week’s column.

First Surprise

I don’t think the fact that I am a Brewers fan has much to do with me saying that their selection of Florida first baseman Matt LaPorta (whom the Brewers intend to groom as a left-fielder) was by far the first big surprise of the draft.  I think most expected him to be in the mix for the first round, but not that early.  I had to remind myself that heading into his junior season, LaPorta was ranked among the top 10 draft-eligible players in the nation, and even a sensational senior year didn’t seem to completely wipe away the memory from followers like yours truly of his disappointing junior year.

All of the players selected in the first round had at some point been bantered as possible picks for the initial frame, except one:  Ben Revere.  That isn’t to say the speedster wasn’t worthy of a first-round pick, and the Twins have certainly have pulled out some draft-day surprises in recent years.

Short Fall

Matt Wieters didn’t fall very far in the draft, as the Orioles plucked him with the fifth overall pick.  I’m happy to see him taken that high, because as I noted two columns ago, his talent is definitely worth a very high pick.  Of course, the O’s still need to sign him.

Rick Porcello, who three days ago was expected to be the Royals pick with the second overall selection, slide to the Tigers at the 27^th overall pick.  This marks the third time in three years that the Tigers have shown a willingness to take a player that has fallen to a certain degree due to signability issues, and there is no reason to believe the Tigers can’t make this one happen as well.  That approach will help keep the Tigers on or at least near the top for years to come.

Andrew Brackman also fell a little, but not out of the first round, as the Yankees nabbed with the final pick of the frame.  Don’t be surprised to see the Yankees follow Brackman through the summer to see how his arm responds, and if he rebounds on the Cape or wherever he ends up pitching, don’t be surprised to see the Yankees give Brackman a big pay-day before the August 15^th signing deadline.

Julio Borbon slid to the Rangers in the supplemental first-round, Matt Harvey fell to the Angels in the third round while Jake Arrieta made it to the Orioles in the fifth.

Jack McGeary’s name has yet to be called, and you can be sure that he is Stanford bound.

Aflac All-Americans

It wasn’t a big surprise that seven of last summer’s Aflac All-Americans were selected in the first round, with another six being selected in the sandwich round, but it’s always nice to see such good players poised to move onto the next level.

College vs. High School

I think most people expected the talent from the high school ranks to be prevalent among the first round picks, and that held true as shown by the 17 to 13 margin they held over their collegiate peers.

Braves Bats, Short Arms

The Atlanta Braves landed two players they reportedly have been scouting very hard over the past year with their first two selections:  Jason Heyward and Jon Gilmore.  They added a third powerful bat and fellow Aflac All-American in Freddie Freeman.

The Braves also selected two very powerful bullpen arms in Josh Fields and Cory Gearrin.  The styles of the groupings of players contrast each other greatly, but once again the Braves did an excellent job adding some incredible tools into their system five rounds into the draft on day one.

Padres, Giants Pickin’s

Two National League West division foes had quite few extra early picks, and each team took a different approach on the way they chose to potentially add talent to their system.

The Giants conducted an Aflac All-American reunion tour of sorts, taking Madison Bumgarner, Tim Alderson and Nick Noonan with three of their six first and first-round supplemental selections.  They added two more prep players, Wendell Fairley and Charles Culberson (teammate of another Aflac All-American, Josh Smoker) and a college catcher in Jackson Williams.

The Padres not surprisingly stuck with the college ranks, taking five collegians with their six first and first-round supplemental selections, highlighted by Arkansas ace Nick Schmidt, James Madison slugger Kellen Kulbacki and Oregon State backstop Mitch Canham.

It will be interesting to see how many of these players each teams ends up signing.  The Padres Moneyball-esque approach may allow them to sign more of their early picks, as I will be impressed if the Giants are able to sign four of their aggressive, high-potential selections.

Familiar Face

Without a doubt, having the draft on TV was a long time coming.  I only watched parts of the broadcast, mostly curious how ESPN would pull it off.   For the first year, it is hard to complain with the results, and I’m sure everyone involved has a million of ideas of how to improve the televised production moving forward.

I will say it was very nice seeing a familiar face sharing his thoughts on some of the players, David Rawnsley .  Even before my time at Perfect Game I have been a big fan of David’s work, the same goes for Allan Simpson, who spent his day with the radio broadcasted version of draft day.

And in my mind that was the best part of the broadcast, having someone on the show that has actually seen the players being talked about and not just hearing about them from second-hand sources.  That type of first-hand knowledge will be integral to the success of the televised baseball draft moving forward.

Congratulations to all of the players drafted.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA .  Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.