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Lookout Landing

Draft Thread, Rounds 2-30

The first day of the draft was excruciating.  The first round featured 5+ minutes between picks leading into a completely unnecessary five minute break before finally picking it up to one minute for the compensation round.  In all, it took about three hours, and the Mariners only had one pick that came towards the end of it.

With that one pick the Mariners grabbed a big high school right hander named Taijuan Walker, who you can read about here.

It was an interesting first day to be sure.  Coming into the draft it looked as if no one had any idea where anyone was going after Harper, Taillon and Machado, and that's just how it played out.  There is no shortage of quotes and tweets out there from industry veterans saying that this was one of the most hectic day ones ever.  Several highly regarded players made it through day one without having their names called, leaving a better than expected group of players on the board for day two, including two of the players Seattle was connected to pre-draft - SS Marcus Littlewood and CF Joc Pederson - as well as high quality arms Stetson Allie, Brandon Workman, A.J. Cole, Brett Eibner* and position players Austin Wilson, Jedd Gyorko, among many others.  That said, some of these guys could continue to tumble due to signability concerns.

*Eibner reportedly wants to be drafted as a position player, but teams prefer him as a pitcher.

Today's session - beginning at 9am PT (follow along here) - will see much quicker selections, but since they're covering 29 rounds it figures to take eight or nine hours.  Pace yourself.  Please don't stare at your monitor all day waiting for Seattle's picks.  Break up your work day by checking in every so often.  We'll update this with the picks as often we can.

Mariner Picks

Round 1: Taijuan Walker, RHP, Yucaipa HS (CA) [picked yesterday]
Round 2: Marcus Littlewood, SS, Pineview HS (UT)
Round 3: Ryne Stanek, RHP, Blue Valley HS (KS)
Round 4: James Paxton, LHP, Indy leagues
Round 5: Stephen Pryor, RHP, Tennessee Tech
Round 6: Christian Carmichael, C, Mililani HS (HI)
Round 7: Maguire Wiswall, 1B, Boston College
Round 8: Jabari Blash, RF, Miami Dade CC
Round 9: Luke Taylor, RHP, Woodinville HS (WA)
Round 10: Tyler Burgoon, RHP, Michigan
Round 11: Jon Keller, RHP, Xavier HS (IA)
Round 12: Stefan Romero, 3B, Oregon State
Round 13: Jason Markovitz, LHP, Cal St. Long Beach
Round 14: Tyler Linehan, LHP, Sheldon HS (CA)
Round 15: Charles Kaalekahi, RHP, Campbell HS (HI)
Round 16: Jordan Shipers, LHP, South Harrison HS (MO)
Round 17: Danny Lopez, SS, Pittsburgh
Round 18: William Kesler, RHP, New Mexico
Round 19: Frankie Christian, CF, Upland HS (CA)
Round 20: Matthew Bischoff, RHP, Purdue
Round 21: Luke Guarnaccia, C, St. Thomas Aquinas HS (FL)
Round 22: Stephen Landazuri, RHP, Carter HS (CA)
Round 23: Jandy Sena, RHP, Marion Military Institute
Round 24: Bennett Whitmore, LHP, Concordia
Round 25: Ernesto Zaragoza, RHP, Kaiser HS (CA)
Round 26: Robert Anston, CF, Boston College
Round 27: Nick Fleece, RHP, Texas A&M
Round 28: Tim Griffin, RHP, Rollins College
Round 29: Jonathan McGibbon, 1B, Lindehurst HS (NY)
Round 30: Derek Poppert, SS, U San Francisco

0 recs  |  881 comments

Comments

So this starts in 30 minutes?
Somehow I read over that entire thing but didn't connect my brain with 9 am. Maybe cause its 830 am.
I made an edit
Self-esteem rising... rising...
Some people I know could get drafted. That's weird.
Someone I know got taken by the Rays (Drew Vettleson)
Hopefully

he eschews the Rays and follows through on his OSU commit. If you have his ear tell him that the beavs NEED him!!!

Go beavers!

Jon, Matthew and I are very busy today

Please be understanding if this post isn’t updated as often as you’d like.

Just hand me the keys....
I've seen that Boston and Texas have already signed some of their players for example..

What’s common practice as far as how soon those guys will be in the minors? Immediately, barring any other baseball commitments?

I'm just guessing here

but short-season A ball starts next week so I would assume a lot of the non-stud prospects will jump right in at that level, as you say barring any other commitments.

Pirates got Allie.
And the MLB.com people are talking over it and missed it.

Professionals!

In your opinion is Taijuan better than Allie?

It seems Allie is more… polished?

Nope.

Taijuan was more signable though. His projections isn’t bad though, you just have to be confident that you can teach him a functional pitching motion.

It was about time we started drafting pitchers early that were relatively new to baseball and/or were very projectable but had no command.

Finally.

A lot of people like Mauricio Robles.

Not a draft pick, just point it out.

*pointing
I like Robles a lot.

Was he basically that same kind of pitcher at the time of the trade?

Yep.

Change-up wasn’t quite as good though.

He’s only been pitching for about four years.

That may be going a bit far; he was a moderately successful guy in the FSL at the time of trade.

That’s a big difference from ‘HS kid who occasionally looks brilliant, occasionally gets blasted.’ But yes, both were quite raw.

Robles wasn't playing basketball though.

Probably because he’s 5’11.

So yes, another reason why he's not perfectly analagous to Taijuan.

As raw as Robles was, he was putting up decent numbers in A+. Walker is an entirely different level of raw.

I'm only trying to say that because a guy hasn't been pitching long, he's not a horrible selection.
I didn't say he was horrible.

Just that it’s nothing new to us.

I'm overreacting to everyone in the USSM comments screaming Ian Snell and Brandon Morrow.
I was thinking more Aumont.
But of course Aumont was even more raw.
I would take either one of those gladly from that slot
Allie was ranked #8 prospect in the draft by BA

That really says how bad his signability made him fall. I wonder if being a round 2 pick will decrease his leverage much?

Probably not.
He's a reliever 100% too.

Unless he’s a starter, I’d pass unless he’s something profoundly special.

I like what they are doing.

Last year they went cheap on Sanchez in the first round (but he’s playing well) to add higher-ceiling players in later rounds who dropped due to signability. Adding Taillon and Allie to the mix? Good stuff.

Nitro High School!
They'd better not have a mascot like the Teddy Bears or anything
They are the

Wildcats

I'm still hoping for Blasty The Dynamite Stick
Not the Gladiators? Shame. Nitro was my favorite
I like this

Wiki says Wildcats

BOOOOOOOORING

They should have some sort of anthropomorphized stick of dynamite as a mascot. Or a funny car.

FUCK YES
Can I pay you in money or beer to stick around and keep people better informed than any of us could?
Am I serious?!
I need something to do between rounds

when I’m not researching every single name that comes up for the M’s.

I’m going to slip behind pretty quickly I think, it gets a little rapid fire later.

Yeah, I imagine people like you both love and dread the later rounds
They took Jedd Gyorko.

Sorry everyone.

It was the Padres.

Those devils.

Jedd Gyorko should've gone to Nitro High School
We all should have gone to Nitro High School
And Yordy Cabrera :(
Should've gone to the Reds.

Fits perfectly with Yasmani and Yonder.

I was thinking yesterday that they're clearly just going for some kind of "Killer B's" thing for 2013.
Two picks away...

quality players still available.

And they're showing the wrong video for the Rays.
Marcus Littlewood.

hey, obvious.

I don't think I need to recap this much.

Bad feet, great hands, debatable power output. A team would have to be confident that he can hit for power at third, otherwise he’s a utility guy.

Was that a good pick given the spot and the talent on the board?
It wasn't a bad pick.

A lot of people loved the guy and thought he was a first-rounder. BA and others thought he was around 100 out of their top 200

Wasn't it rumored that they had a deal in place for him already?
Nick Franklin at time of draft > Marcus Littlewood at time of draft?

And by how much?

Yes, and by a fair amount.

Littlewood has a bit more power, but is less likely to stay at short.

Marcus Littlewood

M’s got their guy afterall

I like the name Drew Smyly too
Perhaps related to Gy Smyly?

MLB Draft Tracker thinks that we are in Comp Round A
Littlewood sounds like a position player who will struggle to make contact.
So we just drafted a guy who can't make contact, won't hit for power and probably doesn't stick at short?

sounds like a winner!

New Tui!
Not to make too big a deal of these things, but if he'll struggle to make contact and has debatable power output ...

Well, at least he’d be a good defender. Wait, he has bad footwork.

Boy James Paxton looks silly right about now.
Oh, irony.
Churchill's folks seem to like Littlewood better than your folks, JY
Churchill does have his scouts he likes to lean on.
Sounds like they think his bat can play at 3B
He's not going to be an all-star I don't think, but he can do it.
He sounds a bit like Matt Mangini, although a HS kid

Is that a fair comp?

Could be.

But he’s a switch hitter and has a lot better hands. He’ll have similar trouble with bunts though.

Keep forgetting he is a switch-hitter
Speaking of Mangini,

what the hell? Where’d the power come from?

Even you could hit for power in a hitter's haven like Cheney Park, Matthew
It seems like a weirdly productive year for some of our downgraded hitting prospects.

Wilson, Halman, Mangini, Triunfel, Raben, Peguero

How different is the player development department under Zduriencik compared to Bavasi?
Other than stopping the super aggressive promotions, I have no idea
Because I am an optimist about these things I'd like to think they're responsible for fixing broken prospects
We're encouraging better plate discipline from our sluggers.
I was telling Scruffy last night, I really don't know.

His peripherals haven’t changed any, he’s posting a slightly worse eye, he’s just hitting for power now. I’d credit a mechanical tweak.

Mechanical tweak has to be scout speak for "we have no idea".
I'll have to look at his GB/FB/LD
Few more FB, nothing noteworthy as far as I can tell.
Actually, factoring in park factors, there's pretty much no change at all.
Exactly.

So, mechanical tweak.

Is West Tenn really that difficult of a hitting environment?
No, I mean no change in batted ball rates.
The eye is slightly worse, but given that he went up a level...
Right, that's nothing to knock him down over.
He really should've had power to begin with; it's why he was drafted so high.

A mechanical tweak has to be part of the answer. Scouts never could figure out why he wasn’t hitting for more power in college, but after he couldn’t hit for power in Adelanto, I’d basically given up on him. Part of me still worries this is a SSS power binge that happen to everyone in the PCL eventually, but it’s really, really good to see with Mangini. Esp. with his defense, he’s simply got to have power to be useful. Now he looks useful.

Hey, you know who's probably better than Tui right this second?

Mangini.

Mangini can't field bunts.

Okay hands, but somewhat immobile.

Yeah, but Tui
Tui cannot field anything.
Mike Morse 2.0!
Morse may have been abetter hitter!
Is there any Langerhans type out there we want?
I want Langerhans to go play for a different team so someone can appreciate his talents =(
I want him to go to Japan and go all Tuffy Rhodes on them.
Stick him on Hanshin with Kenji and Messenger.
THE NEW WORKOUT REGIME SHOWING THROUGH!
But seriously I wonder if this is making a difference because its completely focusing on hitting strength.

And Minor Leaguers are required to do it.

I read this as you bulking up

Then I chuckled

I need to bulk down.

I’m getting fat.

We're pretty set at third for the next 10 years though
You never draft for need.

You don’t know what the needs are going to be by the time these guys are ready.

I think that was a Jose Lopez joke.
I was hoping for a killer whale response.
I'm also hoping for Garin Cecchini, who is a probabl third baseman.
Why would we intentionally block our best prospects?!
I love the pick

Hopefully he signs

Boston got Workman?

They are having a nice draft. Boston, StL, and Pitts all look pretty good.

Pittsburgh needs to develop a pitcher sometime this decade.
They'll just pick up all the big names in free agency instead.
At least they are giving themselves a chance to do so!

I have a soft spot for the Buccos. I’d like to see them do well.

At least they have a young, smart GM. Unlike Houston.
There's at least a plan in order in Pitt, a franchise centerfielder, some decent prospects...

I like Pitt, but they do have a ways to go.

Boston doesn't seem to care about spending money in the draft. They just keep snatching up the

best college player left on the board with each pick. It’s disgusting. I’m envious.

Aww I wanted Dietrich

The rich get richer.

The Rays are my bandwagon team purely because of Sale and Vettleson.
The Rays are my bandwagon team because two years ago Jeff told me they should be
Best draft so far?
Most Northwest draft so far.
Angels stocking up on pitchers.

Well, at they rate they go through them…

Hope they have their wills in order
And they, like the M's, went for hitters last year. I can't believe the ONE kid who's doing better than Franklin in the MWL

is Mike Trout. Damn Angels.

Trout can walk.

Franklin doesn’t very often, but has better power.

If Trout ends up being a corner outfielder, then I think we come out on top.

Does Franklin really project to have more power than Trout though?
Right now, yeah.

It’s kind of bizarre, he has about as many home runs right now as we ever projected him to have.

Depends on a lot, but it really looks like Trout has elite contact skills

and if he can stay at CF, etc.
I’m ecstatic with Franklin, don’t get me wrong, and if he keeps this up, I don’t care about anything Trout does. But I find it odd that when we finally get a prospect to put up a nearly .400 wOBA as a teenager in the MWL, the Angels have a kid put up a .430. Show-offs.

What pick does Seattle have in the third?
I think #17 of each round
ya 17, should've been more specific
BPA

Looks like AJ Cole and Gibbs, the catcher from LSU are available. As is Paxton

Beat me to the punch.

Those were the three names I was going to hone in on.

I would love to get Gibbs. What's going on with the Wilson kid? No chance to buy him out of his

Stanford commitment? I love what I’ve seen of that kid.

Probably not.

I’d think the M’s have a chance because they are known to fund educations, as they’re going to with Baron, but it depends on if the kid wants to go to college sooner or is willing to put it off.

Im just checking Keith Law and a couple other sites
Law was high on Littlewood, correct?
Law and Churchill.
Bryce Harper looks older than me.
Worst drafting team of the last decade, 1st round?

St Louis?

Didn't they just get Zack Cox at like #18?
Astros Astros Astros
Sounds like podcast material!
I've not been invited yet.

Though apparently I may be doing a radio gig in Spokane on Wednesday.

Do you have Skype?
I could get it?
I suppose you could
You will get it
You cannot get it
You already have it
You lost it
You had it and lost it.
You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
You gave it to somebody else
You broke it
You emerged from it.
You pushed it down and called it names
You could but its treatable
You spilled something on it.
You exposed yourself to it.
You rubbed it the wrong way
You rubbed it the right way
You cut its head off, removed the innards, and skullfucked its eye sockets
No fun without innards
You gave it back spasms
It emerged from you like a child, only to reject you in its maturity.
It removed your eye and skullfucked you.
You taught it everything it knows.
I just wonder about how fair it is to judge the Astros when they haven't hadnt nearly as many picks as most teams.

Though in the last decade only 1 player they drafted has so far made the majors, Chris Burke. Jio Mier and Jason Castro look like decent prospects. Colby Rasmus might be enough to put the Cards over the ’Stros and Shelby Miller. But overall, they have stunk. The Cards that is.

Brett Wallace too, I think.
And Daric Barton.

There’s more good there I suppose.

I think you mean Lawrie?
Nope, that was the Brewers.
GAH! Stupid Wallace and his always moving.
How about the Cubs?

Outside of easy pick Mark Prior, the cupboard is empty.

Not this year
Rasmus? Walrus?
And they just got Shelby Miller last year too
The more we discuss this, it seems like this statement might as well have been "The San Antonio Spurs do a terrible job in the NBA draft"
So... we want Paxton in round three, right?
Was he good this year? I remember last year he was hyped. I want Gibbs.
Didn't really pitch
Gone to the Cubs.
He's one I'd be interested in.

The M’s liked him last year.

He would be my top choice.

Though I wouldn’t be disappointed with Gibbs.

4 more picks

Good chance Cole, Paxton, or Gibbs is available

Aaand three more picks to go.
Really, really good chance.
We have to remember we're not the ones picking. They could be looking at someone totally different.

Which is the hard part about being the draft spectator.

I feel disappointment looming
Yeah - probably someone off the radar.
I foresee a lot of "Who?" posts.
Look at who everyone else has picked

Who we want and who GMs want is different… On another note, there goes Gibbs

Gibbs: gone.
So without ever having seen him

and knowing he is from Utah and his father’s name is Mike, I ask – Marcus Littlewood – white or black?

Very white.
His name is LITTLEwood, do the math
So he's definitely not Jewish.
Asian?
You've gotten racist in old age, Coach
Don't get all defensive.
Fucking Cubs took Gibbs
I just turned on MLB.com's coverage

This is terrible.

Don't expect the M's to draft a catcher any time soon.
I think I'd rather have Paxton than Cole
Another Washington kid, Tampa?

Really?

Get on the bandwagon damnit.
I need to get my kid ready when the Rays come to WA
They're really relying a lot on that west coast scout... huh.
Another local guy.
Ryne Stanek it is.
Ryne Stanek
Good lord this guy's all limbs.
Ryan Stanek

RHP, committed to Arkansas

Ryne Stanek.

Okay… Midwest guy. Probably good.

GREAT PICK

I think.

He’s basically the same build as Walker but he’s been pitching all the time.

Is there any way he is a better pick than Paxton?
Paxton may still be a tough sign

Especially for a 3rd rounder.

He had better get on with a team at some point...
Doesn't seem like this guy is going to be the easiest sign either.
True

but they seem to love their projectable power arms.

But at that point you just offer him whatever money you think he's worth

there’s plenty of precedent for unsignable guys getting drafted in the tenth round or whatever and getting first or second round bonuses because they were actually good players

We love tall pitchers it seems
Shades of the late 90s/early 2000s!
Mid 2000s we draft no one shorter than 6'4.
Worked for the Sonics!
I think you mean the Thunder
No, I do not mean that.
Let's get another 7'1 center from the eastern hemisphere with the footwork of a glacier.
Glaciers have been showing improved footwork of late!
Always on that cutting edge!
You can't teach height!

Though Swift, Petro, and Sene proved that you can’t really teach talent either.

And then they drafted Ibaka and GOD
I mean they didn't draft God, just signed Him to a contract
I wonder what Robert Swift is doing these days.

Scruffy: your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to gif Robert Westervelt on top of Robert Swift in the mold of Master-Blaster from the funtimes 80s movie Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Writeup at royalsprospects

http://royalsprospects.com/?p=1559

Those guys seem to have an uncanny interest in our players
if a Mariner player washes out

he’ll probably end up playing for the Royals.

From perfectgame.org

“Ryne Stanek is a 2010 RHP with a 6’4’’, 180 lb. frame from Overland Park, KS who attends Blue Valley HS. Slender young build, minimal present strength. Clean delivery, drives to the plate, long loose arm action, 3/4’s release, good out front. FB steady upper 80’s, projects more in future. CB shows nice sharpness, big 2-plane break, potential plus pitch, tends to aim CB to LHH’ers, good feel for change up. Good 3 pitch mix with idea on command, should continue to get stronger. Showed ability with the bat, some power potential. Strong follow for next year’s draft. Good student.”

Is this his myspace? Can't check it at work:

http://www.myspace.com/rynestanek

If it is we have drafted the most awkward looking baseball player ever.
God I hope not
Nope

Ahahahahaha.
Early Fogel!
5"1 also

Has a player that short ever played in the majors?

So all high school so far?

We really are prepping for 2014.

Some of the BA guys had him as a Top 50 guy
Law had him at #62

I wonder if his committment to Ark is a problem.

BA had him #38 just to followup
I feel like this is going to be the 2008 draft all over again when we hoped we would pick Tim Melville every round untilt he Royals screwed us by picking him
Just checked BA

Ryne Stanek is ranked the #42 best player, next to Tyrell Jenkins and James Paxton, for what thats worth

Stanek was 4th-BPA at ESPN after two unsignable guys and a college pitcher
Seems like a pretty good pick.

Hope he’s not in love with Arkansas.

We've bought out Arkansas commitments before.
Also, Germantown is the greatest name for a town in history.
I missed it, are they talking about Germantown, TN?

Because Germantown, TN is a fucking hole.

Paxton and Cole are still on the board, FYI

Does anyone know if Cole is committed to any college?

Found it - committed to Miami
That's usually a hard commitment to pull someone away from.
Probably why he's lasted so long
We sort of tried with Raben as a prep.

But we waited until the 49th round I think to take him. Then the next time around we grabbed him out of college.

I'm still very surprised he's left

Maybe he has made a strong committment.

And he's off the board.
There's no way the Nats can sign him...
The Nats aren't that poor
Assuming he dropped due to signability issues, signing him and Harper is a tall order for any team.
Yeah - they may have to punt on much of the rest of the draft

But if they get Cole signed – good stuff.

A.J. Cole is gone to the Nats.

Anyone on their bandwagon now?

Great pick

I’m with the Reds and Jays for now, however.

OK, come on Paxton!
I remember last year when we didn't draft hardly any high school players.
Completely different draft to last year, and I like it.

Not that last year’s was bad, but I keep remembering McNamara’s point about grabbing the 3rd best hitter over the 17th best pitcher. I like getting the oh, 6th best prep arm over the 15th best college arm or 15th best prep bat or whatever.

It also shows that we're willing to go with what's on the board and aren't locked into any one philosophy.
That's why I like it! Strategic flexibility>>>>>>Draft fetishes.
Absolutely.
He must look really terrible now or something.
Didn't do well in the indy leagues
Anyone got a BPA list right now, other than Paxton?
Bryce Harper's brother and then accidentally write the contract with Bryce's name instead
Kevin Gausman, James Paxton, DeAndre Smelter, Kris Bryant
I was looking at Bryant earlier and he seemed interesting

But I kind of want a guy named Smelter.

There is a town in Idaho called Smelterville
I wonder if DeAndre Smelter is white.
James Paxton could totally be black
Was I an idiot to think this would be on tv?
MLB.tv.

It’s every bit as painful as you’d think.

GOD

This is horrendous. Missing picks and crap production. Why am I watching this?

I can't watch this
Well, I guess I'm rooting for Paxton here.
I'm rooting for a continuation of awesome drafting.
True. I think Paxton would be good value here, but the fact that he's still available gives one pause
I still want Garin Cecchini.
What's the word on Jesse Hahn?

Some of the Twitterers seem to be freaking out that he’s still available.

College RHP.

Great stuff, debatable as to whether he ends up starting.

By the fourth round, shouldn't we be open to drafting good relievers though?

they’re not hard to find, but good ones are still pretty useful. No, Josh Fields, I am not looking at you.

If we pass on him again I might actually be a little upset.
Cubs will grab him like they stole Gibbs.
I wonder if we could take Austin Wilson and buy him away from Stanford with a shitload of money
Probably not?
Seems like a tough sign
Especially if he's still available in the 3rd round
He'd be well gone by now if that was a real possibility. Keith Law just said 10% chance he signs.
Awwwww well we got Paxton
Rays are up - BPA from WA
Two Hunter's selected in a row.

I didn’t know there were two people named Hunter on the planet? Well besides Hunter S. Thompson.

Hunter Hearst Helmsly.
I've got a nephew named Hunter.

Course, he is a Montana kid, so it fits…

Rays finally drafted outside of WA
PAXTON!
Are we happy?
As T.I. would say:

Is you happy?

I'm ecstatic with this draft so far.
YES YES YES

Wanted Littlewood, wanted Paxton. Walker is intriguing.

Huh

I guess I read the writeup on Littlewood wrong then. Seemed like a guy who was unlikely to become an impact player,

People are mixed on him.

I’m not one of his backers, but I think he could be good.

Well after Nick Franklin

I suppose we should just assume that every switch hitting middle infiielder we draft is going to be a pleasant surprise.

I think he's as good a fit for the organization and its strengths as any.
That's a great point.
Or maybe Marcus Littlewood will wOBA .490 next year and some random Angels prospect can go fuck themselves after putting up a .479 wOBA
I like this idea.
It seems like he is great at nothing, but also not particularly bad at anything either
This was my impression, but also that he wasn't all that toolsy

which seems like the kind of guy that stalls out at AA. Then again I formed my opinion by skimming Jay’s and Jon’s blurbs on him.

I think Jon was higher on him than I was.

I hated him at #43, but I can get on board at #67, particularly with how awesome the next two picks were.

Did you know much about Stanek pre-draft

or is this one of those things where the pick looks better and better the more research you do?

I wasn't really researching anyone predraft.

This draft proves how hard it all is to predict, and our array of picks wasn’t exciting at the time.

I just don't really know what to think of pre-draft write-ups on prep athletes in the post-Franklin world.

He’s got good hands, and I like the size/athleticism. Draft day’s always for hope anyway….

Paxton

Everyone got their wish!

Well, this makes the scouting report easy.
What have you got? I can't find ANYTHING
The thought was that we might take him in the supplemental last year

He’s been covered quite a bit.

I know - I'm just jerking your chain
God I need coffee

That was blatantly obvious now that I look at it.

People are excited based off of name recognition, right?
And being good?
Paxton Paxton Paxton!
Yeah!! Although didn't he suck this year?
It's the fourth round and he's still a talented player
Yeah, and reading MLB's report it sounds like he showed 94 fastball and an above average slider

Great pick

Doubt he would go back to Indy Ball a 2nd time also, so probably very signable?
That's what I would think. He needs to get into a pro organization
Would think so. M's have done great the last two rounds.
VIVA EL JACK
Jason Churchill is probably having an orgasm
His last Tweet: Best. Draft. Ever.
It's a good value pick, that's for sure
Paxton?

Paxton!

Blank? BLANK?! You're not looking at the big picture!
Don't YOU worry about Paxton, let ME worry about blank!
I can't believe someone that's been talked about so much here today actually got drafted.

Jesus, the man-crushes for a fourth round pick will be epic.

I was a little down on the kid we took last night, but I love the three guys we took today

especially the two arms.

Who the shit is Paxton?
Austrian pop star
I think he was on the Bob Newhart Show
Lefty from University of Kentucky

drafted in supplemental round last year, but turned down a big bonus to return to school. UK then pushed him out due to some concerns about improper contact between his ‘advisor’ (Scott Boras) and an MLB front office.
So he went to indie league ball.

In his junior year, he was a dominant strikeout pitcher whose ERA/RA looked sort of mediocre. Combo of GBs and tons of Ks look great for pro ball, however.

So he was screwed by his college?
I think UK got spooked by 'possible' contact between him and Boras, and booted him
Right. Paxton and his lawyers interpret this as getting screwed by his college, but everything's open to interpretation.

In any event, we drafted him, he’s got a great arm, yay.

Does anyone else think the Twins representative sound a lot like Jack Z?
I guess the real question is what it will take to sign him
Paul Allen's yacht.
I doubt he wants to go the Indy League route two years in a row
He has no leverage.
So Paxton decided to go back to school and because of that fell 3 rounds?

Did he suck this last year?

He didn't go to school, though

He’s just toiling in the Indy Leagues.

He was in the Indy leagues last year wasn't he?
There was a dispute with the NCAA

so he couldn’t pitch for Kentucky. He went to the Indy leagues and did just ok.

He didn't really go back to school per se.
Law had Paxton as his #21 player

Possibly the best value pick of the draft?

Absolutely.
Think of it this way - would we have been excited with Paxton at 43? I say yes.
Paxton.

Game over man. Game over.

ImageHost.org

But either JY or marc w - This probably needs its own post.

Do you think it possible that any of this power output from our minor leaguers has to do with the new workout they’re forced to do?

Yes.

They’re tweaking swings too as far as the leverage they get.

Horizontal movement!
Basically, it's a different kind of swing they're after now.

Early Saunders, that was kind of the old regime, guys who look great but never hit for the type of power you expect. Ackley would be the new regime, some guy who doesn’t pass the eye test of the power hitter, but can do it anyway. They did a whole study on this.

I remember the video about using Ackley as the best swing example and Saunders the worst.

Hopefully Saunders took to this. But it still seems like he has a vertical hitch in his swing.

He also seems super-wristy in his swing - almost like Cal Ripkin Jr.

But Cal was one of the only guys to make a swing like that work. I wonder if Saunders can.

Personally, I'd guess that has more to do with it.

There’s no way they did enough in a few months of off-season work to change Franklin’s body such that he could produce this much power with his old swing. This is about the swing, but that tells you that the player development folks did good work, and that’s potentially more important.

Or conversly do you think it's messed up our ML players?

Since they’re already set in their ways.

They didn't have to do it.
So yes?
Yes in the fact they should've adopted the program.
They weren't required to use the program.
Maybe?
No, they weren't.

It was optional, most didn’t.

Kotchman?
Emphasis on the "most didn't" and that's why he's being benched for Carp
Garin Cecchini, Jesse Hahn, or Kris Bryant

Cecchini was in many people’s top 50’s and has only dropped so far because of injury.

Bryant or Cecchini and I might go into shock
God damn Red Sox.
Fuck you James Baldwin.
haha I was waiting for the first post like this
He was the first pitcher that I found truly painful to watch.
No Steve Trout? Milt Wilcox?
I didn't become a big baseball fan until I saw Mike Cameron rob that Jeter homer in 2000.

That and I was born the year Trout pitched for Seattle.

You lucky bastard.
Red Sox got Cecchini.

I WANTED Cecchini!

Keith Law's chat

Justin (Seattle)
James Paxton has got to sign this year, doesn’t he? Wouldn’t it be a disaster for his career if he didn’t? Great draft by the M’s though!
Klaw
Yes, can’t see him going back a third time. He should sign quick and get out in pro ball ASAP.

Woohoo!

Hey, that's me!!!
I asked Keith how excited I should be for Paxton "on a scale of 1 to Jason Churchill"
Klaw is a great username.
mlbtraderumors: Mariners announced they have signed RHP Scott Patterson to a minor league contact out of the Atlantic League.

He’s 30 and that’s all I know. Anyone else know anything about this fella?

He is probably bad
That's what they said about

BOBBY MOTHERFUCKING MADRITSCH

Not James Paxton
According to Wikipedia, he is a switch pitcher.
Then I love him.
But he is not actually.
Then I don't.
His ML K/9 and BB/9 are 13.5 and 11.6
Hah, they almost did this a year or two ago.

He was a great reliever in the Yankees org a year or two ago, and played on the M’s (et al) affiliate in the Venezuelan Winter league.
Lot of strikeouts.

Very, very high arm slot, sort of deceptive, thus gets a lot more K's than his raw stuff would indicate.

Different means of getting to a deceptive delivery, but deception + undrafted +indie league vet = poor man’s Sherrill?

I'm guessing

it isn’t this Scott Patterson, trying for a comeback.

Uh, no.
Doesn't look as though

he ever got out of AAA.

Well, except in the movies.

So, uh, BPA?
We're probably taking Joc Pederson.
Yeah.
Is that a good pick in your opinion?
Pretty good yeah.
They'd better pick him because I premptively did the write-up.
The last two things I did that for

was us trading for Brignac and us re-signing Branyan.

Yikes.
Maybe I should write one for us trading Cliff Lee
Good plan.
How is that a maybe?
I'm pretty lazy
Maybe you should pay me to write one for us trading Cliff Lee
I'll give you $20.
It goes up to $40 if the article works and he doesn't leave.
Okay, I wrote it.
I'm guessing it's under 30 words

“Today the Mariners traded Cliff Lee. We got some prospects back.”

Hold on, be right back.
It is now 42 words.
Almost $.50 a word!

$1 if it works.

Might do one where he walks at the end of the season too
Walks?

That would be pretty uncharacteristic.

You should write one for us signing Rob Johnson long term, too
We're all worse off never seeing Graham's piece:

“Jeff Clement-All Star Catcher”

"Rob Johnson lives long healthy life"
Endocrine disruptor

avoid it if you can, don’t drink bottled water.

The M's are probably sad about the Royals taking Jason Adam.
They always screw us over and take our players

I MEAN, REMEMBER TUG HULETT?!

The Red Sox steal all of our utility players.

Bill Hall, Tuglett…

Didn't they pick up Nick Green for a while too?
Yep. He ended up starting quite a bit for the Sox last year.
Yeah, I was blanking on the last name.
And Beltre. >:(
Beltre turned down 3 years, 24 million for 1 year and 10.

Looking pretty smart right now.

And Chris Woodward!
Wait, so Puerto Rican players are eligible?

Huh.

Puerto Rico is a United States territory
Kind of like Canada
I know this.
United States territories are eligible for the first year player draft
Oh, the draft.

1000 players taken.. hopes for each player ranging from minimal to significant…

7 2010 Mariners drafted by M’s:

Rob Johnson
Adam Moore
Matt Tuiasosopo
Michael Saunders
Doug Fister
Mark Lowe
Shawn Kelley

God and four of them are terrible and two are injured and the last one is apparently dead
That was all under Bavasi though, or does the GM not really play a large role in the draft?
Ms drafted plenty of players in the Majors

you can’t look only at the ones still on the team

My point is that we are looking at them and wondering what their future with this organization is.

Not that they don’t have value. You aren’t looking at Paxton and saying “Can’t wait to trade him to the Pirates”

It’s pretty common though. The White Sox have 3 2010 players they drafted: Beckham, Lucy, and Buerhle.

Buerhle?
Three players on their 2010 roster were draft picks at one time.
Okay,

I read that wrong the first time.

Ken Griffey was on the team last week
Dickie Thon

Teehee.

I KNEW I'd laughed at that name before

Dickie Thon Jr., son of Dickie Thon who played in the 80’s.

Dickie Thon getting beaned by Torres was one of the scariest things I saw as a kid.

Like, way scarier than Mt. St. Helens.

Agreed. Always impressed he came back from that.
He was never the same, though.

Too bad. At one time the Majors were loaded with great Shortstops. He was right up there with Ripken and Trammel and ARod.

Jablonski Noel is fun to say.
All the players we've drafted have had boring names.
Taijuan Walker? Ryne Stanek?
Marcus Littlewood was ambiguously black or white

and what about Taijuan Walker?

Taiwan is a cool name

Not as cool as the Cubs last pick, Matthew Szczur.

Is that pronounced like Scuzzer?

Or Scissor?

They said "Caesar"
He needs to buy a vowel.
Most eastern European people do.
I don't care if we draft 20 John Smiths as long as they're good players.
We will never sign a Latin player with the last name Bastardo.
We'll lose a ton of money on name stitching though, hindering our budget for years
Ian Kendall is a whitey white name.
Awesome. Matt Szczur to the Cubs.

Why is this awesome? Cause he won’t be playing football for Villanova next year and can’t eat my Grizzlies alive again in the finals…

He might not sign.
Let me dream!

It’s better this way than wishing injury on someone, eh?

Seriously I'm sick of it being rubbed in my face by these kids.

I sucked at all sports, they can play at the college level at least in two.

That's why I played Red Alert for the UoMontana College Gaming Team.
Do they have scholarships for things like this?

Maybe I’ll go to college

If they had, I probably wouldn't have run out of cash and never graduated...

The fact that I was gaming a lot had nothing to do with it.

Well we all wanted pitchers last year
Steven Prior?

Huh.

*Stephen Pryor
Via Tennessee Tech's website...

Majoring in exercise and physical wellness.

I like it a lot

Great FIP, great K:BB

Stats! http://tiny.cc/zafsi

So he's like fat, cheap Brandon Morrow
I'd say he's a svelte, cheap Joba.
Get him on some yoga and BOOM! A cheaper Strasburg
I could be on board with that, too
"We think he is a redraft..."

Might be my favorite intro ever.

Pryor is massive. 6'4", 250 pounds.
Throws 98, definitely a reliever.

Maybe a bit of an overdraft.

Maybe.

I think of him as a continuation of the Mark Lowe, Stephen Kahn tradition, hopefully with better health.

He's Mark Lowe?
Bigger and less goofy looking.
Does he throw like Mark Lowe?
I make the comp because he throws really hard.
We are so tall
We're going to build a team of giants around Chone Figgins.
Baseball America says:

Tennessee Tech closer Stephen Pryor has emerged as one of the hardest throwers in the draft and was expected to go in the sixth-to-10th round range, but he may have jumped up draft boards by hitting several 98s on radar guns in a matchup against Middle Tennessee State and probable first-rounder Bryce Brentz. Pryor gave up a home run but struck out two and showed off his power stuff and sturdy 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame in front of an assortment of scouting directors, assistant general managers and even some GMs who were in to evaluate Brentz. While Pryor is just 3-3, 5.04, he’s also struck out 57 in 30 innings, including Jacksonville State prospect Todd Cunningham during one extended outing when he recorded all nine of his outs via strikeout.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=2142

Sturdy.....
I guess?

Pudgy?
Husky?

Lardo?

Just keep him away from the Silva diet

double cheese burgers

I forget if Jake Locker signed with the Angels.
Yes he did.

They’re having a dispute about him not playing baseball this summer so he can focus on football.

He did with a clause permitting him to play football
Yes

Basically free money.

Well he's not about to give up that 1st round (top 10) NFL contract

Could be #1 even

plus he's a Mariners fan I'm sure
He'd be a baseball project.

In football he’s a legit prospect.

Seriously he's going to get 10 times as much guaranteed money at least.

And after he pulls a JaMarcus, he’ll be back in baseball in no time.

He won't pull a JaMarcus.

He’s actually willing to put in efffort.

He used to always stay in the weight room after his class left in highschool and lift weights with my class.
Jake or JaMarcusaurus?
Back in my day we called that pulling a Mirer.
But Rick Mirer was bad

JaMarcus Russell at least had talent

300 pounds of talent.
Rick Mirer broke the rookie record for yards and TD's I believe.
I think you're correct.

He wasn’t as bad as he seemed.

It was kinda sad to see all that talent wasted.

I think Oakland was his main problem.

It's not like they passed on Calvin Johnson, or Joe Thomas, or Adrian Peterson or anything.

Oh wait, you HAVE to take a QB first. You’d think of all the times the Raiders did exactly the opposite of what you’re supposed to do, this would be the one time they decided to do the typical thing and draft a QB first. Raiders were the problem, JaMarcus was the problem. They all suck.

Obviously JaMarcus was the problem he was a lazy fuck that never did anything.

I’m saying the Oakland environment probably contributed to it.

It sure didn't help.
I'm agreeing with you.
God the Raiders are bad.
I know,

ain’t it cool?

It's freaking awesome.
Or a Gelbaugh or a McGwire.
John Friese!!!
Has LaSorda been doing the Dodgers picks?
Why, did he pick a bacon cheeseburger, large fry and a chocolate shake?
I haven't been paying attention.

But Tommy Lasorda is uniquely hilarious as a conference call voice.

The world needs more Lasorda.

And he’s working hard to give it to us.

No Italian food?
I thought the rumor was that the Dodgers are intentionally punting picks
Deglan aside, the Rangers haven't really impressed me yet.

And they probably overdrafted Deglan.

Jay, who would you have drafted if you were the GM of the M's and they still had their first round pick?
Bryce Harper
Ooh going for the controversial pick I see.

I think this is where we say, “Thats why you’re not the GM.”

I would have crawled into the corner and cried because the Rays just drafted Sale at #17 and we had #18.
Fair enough.
I loved a lot of the picks that came up in the second round, for whatever that's worth.
He asked what you would have done, not what you did.
I didn't cry because I like the Rays.
Oh yes there is that.

So best draft so far?

Best draft outside of us because we fucking rule.

may be the bias talking.

Bias? Nah.

I do like the Rays though. And apparently they like the NW.

I didn't realize that Rays didn't sign their first pick last year.
LeVon Washington, as I remember.
Drafted by Cleveland this year.
LeVon...

LeVon likes his money.

You gotta think that the Red Sox and Pittsburgh have been the headliners of the draft
Red Sox are also gonna have to pay out the ass for all their draft picks.
They won't sign everyone

But they have a lot of talent to work with

This is a problem for them?
Blue Jays and Angels?

Just by quantity. And Nationals of course.

We got Harper, Strasburg and Ackley

what more could you want?

Pittsburgh has to develop a pitcher at some point.

Red Sox have been doing pretty damned well though.

Do we have a pick coming up anytime soon?
Do we ever!

They’re in the midst of a five-minute break.

We're back. 6th round just started, so middle of the round.
What if the mlb.tv guys have to use the bathroom?

Seems like they don’t get a break.

Ooh moving right along now
wow whitesox voice

That guy sounds like a zombie.

Bad connection.
Hey Andy Sisco got drafted again.

Wait, wrong Andrew Sisco.

Holy fuck the Rays just got better.

They took Hahn.

My heuristic for draft evaluation is whether or not the player has scouting comments listed in the MLB Draft Tracker

Tampa has cleaned up.

Christian Carmichael?

A Catcher? Really?

yeah, why not?
I know you don't draft for need or anything. This just seems weird getting a defense only catcher.
Is that all he is for sure?
Nothing is for sure this early.

But that’s what he seems to be.

I don't think it is.

Considering how runs our terrible defensive catchers have cost us.

I know nothing about this guy

did we just draft another all glove catcher?

It's the sixth round
The 6th round in baseball is like the 18th round in football.
That's exactly my point
I'm agreeing with you.
That's exactly my point
I guess I should have said "yeah" first.
That's exactly my point
Just what are you trying to say
I'm not quite sure yet what you're getting at...

What’s your point?

Boy did we.
Does he not have a body or something?
Reading a new report that he;s all glove

and legs that go on for days

He'll prove everyone wrong

He’ll be rich and he’ll be famous. He’ll be where he belongs.

We drafted a catcher?
Another Hawaiian no less.
Should we play white or black with Christian Carmichael as well?
Where does Hawaiian fall on that spectrum?
From HI, going with option C.
Howlie is basically the same as white, but sunburnt
Z knows something we don't.

Right?

He knows he loves his all-glove catchers!
He knows that McNamara heads the draft, not himself.
Gauntlett Eldemire

Favorite name so far.

I want those kids from Freakonomics, Orangejello and Lemonjello to get drafted someday
Is this urban legend?

I just found this.

My mom taught kids named Oranjelo and Lemonjelo.

This was not an especially uncommon occurrence.

The funny thing is that in the urban legend page it tells me that one day someone will tell me that their mom taught kids with these names.
Go visit an elemntary school in the inner-city south.
If you search Intelius the name Lemonjello apparently comes up 3 times and Oranjello one time.

Oranjello and Lemonjello Snicket in Georgia. I wouldn’t be surprised if that literally was the only one. Up until this very day I was telling people I heard about these twins in Washington that went by this name and laughed my ass off.. Now, I’m not convinced it to be true.

Didn't know you could draft Final Fantasy characters
Holy fuck.

Did he go to MEHS?

Middle Earth High School.

That is a fantastic name.

That is like a 99th percentile name.

The Red Sox just drafted Kendrick Perkins?
They thought he was so good at basketball that they wanted him to play both sports.
Why am I still following this?

Very few impact players will be drafted from here on out… then you had the ‘99 draft where Pujols was a 13th rounder and Jake Peavy was a 14th rounder. So maybe that’s why.

There's no way of projecting that type of stuff though.

The MLB draft is a total crapshoot.

So eight years from now you can say 'OMG I REMEMBER HIM GETTING DRAFTED AND NOT CARING!!'
Please don't use chatspeak on LL and capitalise properly
Thank you for enforcing the rules SB.
Please spell 'capitalize' correctly.
Actually, we have several English members on Lookout Landing, and British English is considered perfectly acceptable spelling
and Australian...
Still... what would there have been to gain if you were following the draft then?

You would have known he would be Albert Pujols?

Albert Pujols was drafted in the 1000th round.

Right?

Whitesox need someone new ASAP

that guy is dying.

No shit. That was ugly.
Is 'that guy' Hawk?

Please say it’s Hawk.

AHHH

still happening

Maguire Wiswall!
Bwoston College is it?
Who was saying we had stupid names so far?
I take it all back.

Maguire Wiswall is a fantastic name.

Haha, Wiswall

That’ll be years of puns

We're just going to start calling him Wizzle Wozzle pretty much immediately.
I never thought Tim Noah would make his way into Mariners folklore
Damn another black or white pick.
Wait, so did the dodgers throw their picks?
"Throw"?

I don’t know. But when your draft budget is “zero” it makes it tough.

God that organization is in shambles.
A high profile divorce will do that.

Once the divorce is over they should have more freedom to act sensibly.

Yeah, I'd hate to be in the playoff race with Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw.
More to an organization than a CF and SP
Yes they have some nice parts right now.
Virgin islands.

Cool.

JABARI. BLASH.

This guy is begging to get a rum-based mixed drink named after him.

Now I wonder if he is black or white.

Tough one.

You're really fascinated with that, aren't you?
I was looking for the blackest name ever.

I think I found it.

Reggie Willits?
I know a white guy name Reggie as weird as that sounds.
Reggie Willits?
Holy shit I forgot he was white.

Damn.

Antwoin Kirby-Jones just got drafted by Oakland
Thats a pretty good one.
He's black.
Jabari Blash is also a great name.
With a name like that he better be able to hit dingers
I'm tempted to start work on a Sean Connery 'Funk Blasht' .gif in preparation.
Oh god that is excellent.
God tier .gif
That's definitely not Lasorda for the Dodgers.
This Astros guy seems really obnoxious
WOODINVILLE!

Luke Taylor

Hey first guy I've seen in person!
Mariners really like drafting Woodinville kids.

3 now since I’ve been following.

Luke Taylor

a local boy… nice to see

Washington guy, cool.
I recognize the name. Is he going to be a tough sign?
He's committed to Hawaii

No idea.

Since it was the Mariners probably a lot better chance.
So no.

Hawaii isn’t the best baseball school.

If you need further evidence, check out this years regionals!

(Go ASU!)

Not so sure you go to Hawaii for the schooling
The last Woodinville guy we got turned out to be shit.
He's still young.
The Rays are kicking themselves...
JY - How quickly could Pryor get to Seattle?
As long as it takes for Rob Johnson to somehow incapacitate every other Mariners catcher.
Two to three years.
That's a long flight
He doesn't have a lot of mileage on his arm.

He can take it.

I saw Kawika Emsley-Pai play in high school

Pretty pretty good

Tyler Burgoon.

Another awesome name.

Although it sounds a little too much like Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne...
Haha they just called Mat Gamel a 3B

Yeah right

So 7 out of 10 pitchers so far.
There are some EXCELLENT names drafted the last two days.
Best names ever?

Coco Crisp? Milton Bradley?

GAUNTLETT ELDEMIRE
I hope he makes it to the bigs.
And that we traded for him at some point.
So I'm just googling some of these guys and I see our new catcher got expelled for

 for his part in the alleged distribution of a pornographic video.

Haha. Oh Keanu

Now if only he hits like Hideki Matsui as well...
6 foot 5!
Not a bad looking pitcher.

Throws high 80s.

how much projection does he have?
Already 200 lbs, not a great deal more.

I’d think of him as more of a guy that they could do some mechanical things with. At this point, there’s nothing that’s going to knock anyone’s socks off.

So is this a pitcher heavy draft?
Yes.
Shows how much I pay attention.

Thanks Jay.

Well the M's are certainly taking a different route than they did last year.

Through 11 picks last year: 3 pitchers.
Through 11 picks this year: 7 pitchers.

Yeah thats why I asked.

Didn’t know if it was just us or a trend.

Also 6 high school players taken.

They didn’t take their 6th high schooler last year untilthe 34th round.

Hmm so it's possible we don't sign a good percentage of these top picks.
Not necessarily.

We got the money to throw around.

Do you know roughly the percentage of HS players that sign?
I know that it's lower than college!

It’s going to vary depending on when guys are picked, and late in the draft, there are a lot of teams that will select top prospects with strong college commitments just for shits, which skews the data pool.

That makes sense.

Thanks for putting your time into this.

Is the player the Dodgers drafted actually like a blue-chip QB prospect that will definitely star in football?

I heard the Dodgers claim that it wasn’t a punt, but come on… and next years draft is going to be so good, I won’t be surprised if there are a few teams that half-ass their signings if money is tight.

Zach Lee is a possible punt.

He was known to be a strong college commit that had minimal chance of signing. If they don’t get him this year, they’ll get a compensation pick next year.

Yeah thats why I'm thinking that teams will feel they have a bit more leverage than normal because of how strong 2011 is.

Of course, that’s not the goal, but if they feel pressured they may pull back and take their comp pick.

Eh, he's not that great. He's not an elite QB prospect or anything.

Probably like a Top 15 national QB recruit.

Hmmm, interesting.

Thank you.

Aw I though it was going to be Jacque. We need more French MLBers.
This is a shitty day for the SBNation links on Fangraphs.

Just lots of evaluation for a bunch of players we don’t give a shit about.

Keeping it in the NW.
Michael Goodnight.

He better be a closer.

Pierre LePage.

Frenchy.

LHP Jason Markovitz for us.

He is also fairly tall.
It seems they've all been 6'+.
Burgoon wasn't.
6 foot 240, damn.
That's almost my size!

/right fat bastard.

Reasons to be optimistic about the guys currently being drafted:

The chances of making is low, but there are certainly plenty of players that will draw interest over the next few years. Such as these guys are doing now, sure they are flawed but they are interesting. 7th round and later…

2009:
Brian Moran (7th)
James Gillheeney (8th)
Andrew Carraway (12th)
Anthony Vazquez (18th)
John Hesketh (20th)
Brandon Josselyn (25th)

2008:
Nate Tenbrink (7th)
Bobby Laframboise (8th)
Kenn Kasparek (12th)
Blake Nation (22nd)

2007:
Nick Hill (7th)
Shawn Kelley (13th)

2006:
Doug Fister (7th)
Kam Mickolio (18th)
Tyson Gillies (25th)

Most of the guys we drafted last year just seem like orginzational fillers
Not really fair to assume that only a year later
Yeah, and the list of "notables" is going to get shorter every year.

You draft 30+ players every year, you have a 40-man roster, only so many are going to make it.

I personally am high on Moran.

I think being drafted in the 7th round is a good luck charm. Wiswall!

Kaalekahi

Just excellent names, wow.

This is so weird.

First Wiswall kinda reminds me of Griswald.

And now Kaalekahi reminds me of the song in Christmas Vacation.

I hope there’s a kid named Chevy in this draft.

Charles Kaalekahi!

Names!

More Hawaiians!

Charles Kaalekahi, RHP

What's with the conversation? haha
That was hilarious.

Earlier I thought I heard “Jesus this is long”.

It is long.

It is so long.

I'm pretty sure I heard that followed by...

“So that’s where you went last night?”

Yeah I heard that.

They should leave that mic open.

way more entertaining
Shipers, not as interesting, but still a fun name.
So much pitching

Jordan Shipers, LHP. Is this a change of philosophy or just the best players available?

i think it could be a change in philosophy
Let's not forget this is a ridiculous run on high schoolers
Mr. Yencich, what's your thoughts on Romero?
GO BEAVS!
I was being nice and Civil about this whole War thing.

Then you had to just shout random offensive statements at me. Those lousy northerners will never learn.

This draft

has butt raped a good Horton recruiting class. *uck the *ucks.

GO BEAVS!

Baseball site. Take it somewhere else.
Uhhh...

the beavers and *ucks both play baseball… In fact the above comment is directly related to the *ucks baseball teams recruits being heavily picked over in the mlb draft, the thing we are currently discussing. Come on, man, keep up.

Oh thought you were starting a college football war. Carry on.
Yeah the *ucks suck at football too, glad you brought it up ;)
Well, we lost Tyler Matzek last year, so I'm sure it can't be worse than that.
This year's Vinnie Catricala.
I don't understand.

I wasn’t really following the M’s that closely last year.

Not a third baseman, mediocre power, will walk a bit.
He's only 5'10" :(
How fun would it be if they had this pace for the first round too?
Did the guy on the Yankees mic just say "this is a mistake..." right before the pick???
ProspectInsider If the M's opened the wallet, 16th round pick Jordan Shipers is a legit Top 100 prospect in this class.

hmmm

There is a thread on him on a Missouri State website where he's committed.

They really like him. His stuff is “electric” but the knock on him is the height of course.

Link

Is here. He seems tobe better than your average 16th rounder.

The M's have a great education program

I wonder how effective its been in convincing committed players in the past?

Helped get us Baron.
Also, undersized and a lot of effort in the delivery.
The Rays guy was opening a bag of pretzels.
9 HS players in 16 rounds.

You have to go back to 2003 to find a run on high school players like this for the M’s. That group included Adam Jones, Ryan Feierabend, Eric O’Flaherty, but also a lot of duds.

Jeff Flaig!
It would be more appropriate to scream "Casey Craig"

but there were other reasons for his bust.

Was Flaig considered... good? Or signable?
He was considered to be roughly comparable to Troy Glaus before he fucked up his shoulder.
He's 25 years old now.

He must have really fucked it up. I wasn’t quite following the minors by the time he was out.

Tore the labrum as I recall.

Couldn’t throw well after that, and couldn’t hit for power either.

By the way, it looks like from the 2003 year we didn't sign (or at least they never played for us) ANYBODY after round 10.

Is that right?

Inaccurate.

We had everyone up to Scott Maine, then Heid, Craig, Santin, Williams, and a few others.

Its just a weird thing about the baseball reference site that made it look that way.
Does anyone know the precentage of players drafted that will actually play for the M's?

Also, what kind of things factor into drafting a player? I know it is not soley based on talent alone but, a lot to do with signabilty. Are the Mariners looking for a paticular skill set when drafting a player? or just the best avaiable talent?

We'll sign thirtiesh players, probably more.
Willy Kesler...

Kinda looks like a doofus.

Aww he has a nice smile.
Joining fellow Lobos Bobby LaFromboise and Jonathan Hesketh in the system.
So Jay,

are you impressed with the draft so far?

Isn't everyone?
How many exclamation marks do you want?
19 will do I imagine.
I'm so excited. I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I should really close out of the draft window and accomplish something today

Just one more round

I know

I can’t even figure out why I’m still paying attention. I could just a read a recap later. But here I am.

Frankie Christian is black.

Someone was wondering.

He's the son of Ben Hur.

That’s gold.

Strasburg's next 4 starts (if he stays on schedule)

Pittsburgh, Cleveland, ChiSox, Baltimore… nothing breeds confidence like playing crappy teams!!!

We'll have a Strasburg thread up soon

but, yeah, he’s getting a soft landing.

Not sure if this was posted already:

Taijuan Walker Hopes to Get Started

Very cool. Thanks.
Since we're not doing live coverage

I can’t recommend enough Jay’s work at USSM and his own blog.

http://www.marinersminors.com/2010-articles/june/liveblogging-the-ms-10-draft-day-two.html

*I can't sufficiently recommend
Another NW Player!

Interesting!

When Jack Zdurenciek was with the Brewers they had a high school and pitching heavy draft in 2003.

In the 2nd round, they drafted hgh schooler Yovani Gallardo.

In the 31st round they drafted Kanekoa Texeira.

It should also be noted that nobody else in that draft has made the majors, except for the 3 at bats of catcher Angel Salome.

McNamara != Zduriencik.
It should be noted I meant 2004.
This is how most drafts work.
I brought it up because the names were interesting.
If we got a Yovani Gallardo out of this draft

I think just about everyone will call it some kind of a success

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