I'm a little surprised they passed on Fulmer.
I'm a little surprised they passed on Fulmer.
Yeah I think Keith Law's reporting had Benitendi as the Sox top target.
Overall not a good draft class. I mean there COULD be some stars, but judging from the draft results it was a pretty poor year for high school position players and pitchers, and that is normally where your star upside comes from. Benintendi probably won't come under slot- he is a college sophomore, so he has more leverage than the average college draftee.
The way the Sox work especially with the new CBA ... expect them to start piling up some guys they can get below slot ... and then chase down some tough signs later.
Benintendi is a polished college bat with some power and speed. He hit for power in college, but he isn't going to be a big basher in the bigs. He's got projection as a hitter for average, solid speed, double digit HRs, and will stay in CF.
Hal sucks
Red Sox select Austin Rei with their third rounder, C from UW. Good D catcher who hit well after an injury. Highest ranked college catcher in the draft per MLB.com
Hal sucks
He is a solid choice for sure. Very college heavy top of the draft this year - which to me reflects a general lack of star power in this group. Doesn't mean there aren't good players here - but not sure they can plop Benintendi in Portland right away for instance. My guess is he starts in Salem next year at worst - low-A or Instructs are lower level than he saw in the SEC.
Benintendi will be in Greenville next yr after he spends some time in the NYP this yr
Hal sucks
Benintendi will be in Greenville next yr after he spends some time in the NYP this yr
Hal sucks
Keith LAw recap of Sox draft
http://espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/insider/post?id=2362
Andrew Benintendi (1) was either a reach or a steal at the seventh overall pick. He's a power-hitting center fielder and a 55 runner who destroyed SEC pitching this spring, but he has no track record of performance beyond those four months and wasn't on anyone's radar as a potential Day 1 pick coming into the year. That makes this a higher-risk pick (in that we have less data and fewer scouting looks). That said, he has significant upside as a power-hitting center fielder with feel for the strike zone, the kind of player who would have been in consideration at 1-1 if he had done it for three years and a couple of summers. (He turns 21 in July and thus was draft-eligible as a sophomore.)
Austin Rei (3) was one of the better college catchers in a weak class, an average receiver with power who played sparingly coming back from a torn thumb ligament. He has power, but a lot of swing and miss. … Tate Matheny (4) is a strong fourth-outfielder type with good instincts, although I had scouts question his makeup this year based on his on-field demeanor. … Jagger Rusconi (5) has a grade-70 name. As for the player, he's a switch-hitting high school shortstop whom Boston drafted as a center fielder. He's less than six feet tall, possessing a hard left-handed swing with no load and a longer, higher-effort hack from the right side. … Travis Lakins (6) was a good value where he was taken, a draft-eligible sophomore with four pitches that are mostly average to better, along with a good feel for how to pitch. … Logan Allen (7), who pitched alongside Jacob Nix at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., has some effort to his delivery, but he gets good plane on his fastball.
Baseball America had this to say about Mike Trout, the 25th overall pick, after the 2009 June draft, "...he has a chance to be a solid-average hitter with average or better power."
It is hard to call these things. He won't likely be Mike Trout, but I like the pick.
"As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome." - Noam Chomsky
Mike Trout was a very special case and one of the fascinating ones.
He was from Southern Jersey - and Billy Rowell (former O's prospect from same area) totally crapped out. Northeast prospects are already facing negative perception - the level of competition is bad compared to Florida or California. And you remember the winter of 2009, right? Just brutal - record snows and whatnot. Scouts just did not have chances to see him, his games kept getting cancelled. So you were speculating on looks against inferior competition during a season where you had very few chances to see him in person. Made for some serious foggy information.