DRAFT NOTEBOOK
By Allan Simpson
June 14, 2007

Signing Phase Off To Slow Start

The Twins pulled off the biggest surprise in the first round of this year’s baseball draft, selecting Kentucky high school outfielder Ben Revere with the 28^th pick overall. They then executed another surprise by signing Revere to a reported bonus of $750,000—the smallest first-round bonus given to a non-pitcher in 10 years.

Revere became the initial first-rounder to officially sign, agreeing to terms with the Twins on Tuesday. There are reports that several other first-rounders agreed to deals before the draft, but none of those signings had been announced.

Twins scouting director Mike Radcliff acknowledged the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Revere was not a consensus first-rounder, but said he made the bold move to select him in the first round because he knew Revere wouldn’t be available when the Twins made their next selection, late in the second round at No. 92 overall.

“I think the rest of the baseball world is a little surprised,” Radcliff told mlb.com after his team’s selection of Revere . “He was most likely not going to be picked for another 30, 40, 50 picks—somewhere into the second round.

“But this is a pick that we gained conviction on over the course of the spring. And in the last few weeks, we realized that we were going to put this guy up into the first round.”

Revere was ranked No. 87 on PG Crosschecker’s pre-draft list of the top 200 prospects for this year’s draft.

His signing to a below-slot bonus also raised eyebrows as the corresponding pick in last year’s draft, North Carolina righthander Daniel Bard, was paid a bonus of $1.55 million—more than double what Revere received. Only three times in the last 10 years have first-rounders received as little as $750,000—or less. But all those cases had extenuating circumstances.

In 2003, the Padres gave righthander Tim Stauffer, the fourth overall pick, a discounted deal of $750,000 when it was revealed just prior to his signing that Stauffer had a sore shoulder. He signed for less than a third of the $2.6 million bonus that had been earmarked for his signing.

In 2000, the Mets agreed to a $1.7 million deal with lefthander Billy Traber, the 16^th overall selection, but ended up paying out only $400,000 when a routine physical disclosed that Traber had a partial tear in the medial collateral ligament in his elbow.

Righthander Nate Bump, the second of three first-round picks by the Giants in 1998, signed for a discounted rate of $750,000 as a college senior.

There were no such special circumstances in the signing of Revere , other than he was a reach in the first round. Every other first-rounder this year is expected to sign for a bonus of at least seven figures, but the fact that none had done so a week after the draft may be an indication that the signing of early-round picks this year may occur at a much slower rate than in the past. A 10 percent rollback on bonuses to players in the top five rounds, as recommended by the commissioner’s office just three days before the draft, is expected to cause a drag on signings.

“Predictably, it’s been slow,” an American League scouting director said. “No one wants to be the first to jump. I think everyone wants to see the market settle.”

Jays First Team To Drop Out

With the implementation of a uniform Aug. 15 signing deadline that coincided with the abolishment of the draft-and-follow rule, it was anticipated that teams would begin dropping out of the draft anytime after the 30^th round. It was also expected that few clubs would still be around for all 50 rounds.

The Blue Jays were the first team to drop out, passing in the 31^st round, but the surprising total of 21 teams drafted players through all 50 rounds.

Toronto scouting director Jon Lalonde defended his club’s position to stop drafting players after 30 rounds, the earliest a team had dropped out since 1986, when the January drafts and the June secondary phase were abolished.

“There were a number of reasons why we dropped out when we did,” Lalonde said. “No. 1, it reached a point where we had met all of our player development needs for this year. No. 2, the board had also lost its passion by that point; there was really no one left that our scouts wanted to fight for.

“We took six or seven players to tie up as summer control players. But we felt that if we tied up more players with no real intention of signing them, then it really wasn’t fair to the player. Another consideration is our scouting staff also has pro coverage this summer, and we felt it would be a strain on the staff if our scouts also had to chase down a lot of summer follows.”

Predictably, the abolishment of the draft-and-follow rule resulted in the drafting of significantly fewer junior college players. In 2006, there were 383 players drafted out of junior colleges. That number dropped to 176 this year—a 55 percent decrease.

“We expected the junior college numbers to drop,” an AL scouting director said. “Once the draft-and-follow was eliminated it took a lot of those guys out of the equation. They are long-shot gambles now that we don’t have 11 months to evaluate them any longer.”

A contributing factor in the sharp decline in the junior college numbers was a record 76 players under control from the 2006 draft that signed prior to the draft, including the likes of righthanders Matt Latos (Padres), Jordan Walden (Angels) and Chad Robinson (Brewers), lefthander Cole Rohrbough (Braves) and outfielder Lee Haydel (Brewers), who all received signing bonuses in excess of $500,000.

There were also 55 fewer high school players drafted after the 25^th round than a year ago. In the past, many of the high school players selected in the back half of the draft were headed to junior college and earmarked as draft-and-follows. Many of those players simply went undrafted this year.

Class of 2008 Falling Into Place

Within a week of the conclusion of this year’s draft, a promising 2008 class is rapidly taking shape.

USA Baseball announced its 20-man roster for the team that will represent the U.S. in the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , from July 14-19, and the World Port Tournament in The Netherlands, from Aug. 3-12. Of the 20, 18 are sophomores and the list includes the likes of Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez, San Diego lefthander Brian Matusz, California righthander Tyson Ross, Mississippi righthander Cody Satterwhite, South Carolina first baseman Justin Smoak, Virginia righthander Jacob Thompson and Arizona State first baseman Brett Wallace—all potential high first-rounders in 2008.

The 20-man Team USA roster that will be coached by Long Beach State ’s Mike Weathers:

PITCHERS: Ryan Berry (Rice), Brett Hunter (Pepperdine), Lance Lynn (Mississippi), Brian Matusz (San Diego), Josh Romanski (San Diego), Tyson Ross (California), Cody Satterwhite (Mississippi), Jacob Thompson (Virginia).

CATCHERS: Tommy Medica (Santa Clara), Petey Paramore (Arizona State ).

INFIELDERS: Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt), Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State), Logan Forsythe (Arkansas), Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State), Justin Smoak (South Carolina), Brett Wallace (Arizona State), Jemile Weeks (Miami).

OUTFIELDERS: Jordan Danks (Texas), Ryan Flaherty (Vanderbilt), Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech).

Sixteen more players will be invited to a week-long tryout to determine two more spots on the team, but those players will serve in non-playing capacity unless an injury occurs.

Meanwhile, the annual Perfect Game National Showcase will take place this weekend at the University of Cincinnati with approximately 90 percent of the nation’s top 100 high school players scheduled to take part. More than 200 players in all will attend the three-day event. Among the top rising seniors who will be in attendance are righthander Gerrit Cole (Santa Ana, Calif. ), lefthander Brett DeVall (Panama City, Fla.), outfielder Aaron Hicks (Long Beach, Calif.), first baseman Eric Hosmer (Cooper City, Fla.), shortstop Harold Martinez (Miami), third baseman Ethan Martin (Toccoa, Ga.) and righthander Quinton Miller (Medford, N.J.). All are potential first-rounders.

The three-day showcase will be the final event before rosters for the fifth annual Aflac All-American Game are selected. The Aflac Game, which attracts the nation’s top high school talent, is scheduled for Aug. 11 at San Diego State ’s Tony Gwynn Stadium.

NOTEBOOK

--Rice had 14 players selected in this year’s draft, tying a record set in 1982 by Arizona State and duplicated in 2005 by Cal State Fullerton. Both the ASU and Fullerton teams produced their volume of draft picks a year after winning the College World Series. Rice finished third a year ago, and enters this year’s College World Series as the nation’s No. 1 team after Vanderbilt was eliminated in regional play. Rice’s top pick this year was lefthander Joe Savery, drafted with the 19^th pick in the first round by Philadelphia . The CWS begins Friday.

--The Cape Cod League opens its 2007 season on Friday. Besides a top group of prospects for the 2008 draft, the league will also feature a number of summer follows—players that were selected in this year’s draft that will be followed closely by the teams that drafted them. Among the premium summer follows are three sophomores, Kent State righthander Chris Carpenter, Auburn outfielder Mike Bianucci and Georgia Tech lefthander David Duncan. All three players were expected to be premium picks, but slipped considerably because of signability concerns. Carpenter, an 18^th-round pick of the Yankees, is scheduled to play at Chatham . Duncan , a 23^rd-round pick of the Nationals, and Bianucci, a 23^rd-round pick of the Angels, are scheduled to play for Cotuit.

--A number of top high school players in the draft fell into the lower rounds for signability reasons, and the Red Sox scooped up more than their share of talent in the middle rounds. Despite not having a first-round pick and making their first selection at No. 55 overall, the Red Sox selected 12 players from PG Crosschecker’s pre-draft list of the top 200 prospects. Among the high school players Boston drafted that slipped below where they were projected to go were No. 37 Yasmani Grandal (27^th round), No. 76 Nick Tepesch (29^th round), No. 77 Will Middlebrooks (fifth round), No. 94 Matt Presley (24^th round), No. 107 Justin Grimm (13^th round), No. 115 Austin Bailey (16^th round) and No. 153 David Mailman (seventh round). In addition, Scott Green, a college sophomore ranked at No. 161, went in the 15^th round. Boston drafted a similar group of high-profile players in later rounds a year ago, and signed three to bonuses well above slot—including an $825,000 bonus given to first baseman Lars Anderson in the 18^th round. “Boston’s got a chance to go off the deep end with all the talent they drafted, and all the money they might spend this year,” predicted a rival AL scouting director.

--Among the 1,453 players taken in this year’s draft were 35 sons of former major leaguers, including first-rounder Beau Mills (son of Brad), brothers Justin and Garrett Bass (sons of Kevin), brothers Andrew and Austin Romine (sons of Kevin), and brothers Jonathan and Shawn Roof (sons of Gene). Also selected were the sons of three big league managers (Ozzie Guillen, Mike Perlozzo and Mike Scioscia), and the sons of three scouting directors (Bob Fontaine/Mariners, Ron Hopkins/Rangers and Larry Monroe/White Sox).