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2015 Amateur Draft

Diamondbacks Draft Dansby Swanson First Overall

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The Diamondbacks have selected Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson with the first overall pick in the 2015 Rule 4 amateur draft. Swanson ranked atop the draft prospect leaderboard compiled by Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel, also ranking second among draft prospects according to MLB.com and Baseball America, while placing third on the Top 100 of ESPN’s Keith Law. Despite the fact that he was not seen as the consensus No. 1 talent by each of those outlets, Swanson was projected to go first overall by each, as the D-Backs are believed to have had their eye on him for quite some time.

Scouting reports peg Swanson as a strong candidate to remain at shortstop and praise both his speed and on-base skills, making him a candidate to hit at the top of a Major League batting order. While he doesn’t currently project as a major home run threat, Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis at MLB.com note that he presently has gap power and outstanding makeup. BA writes that Swanson can hit the ball to all fields, and the main question about him defensively is whether or not he has a plus arm. (Regardless, BA notes that most expect him to stay at shortstop.)

Law notes that Swanson has more power than collegiate shortstop peers Alex Bregman (LSU) and Kevin Newman (Arizona), both of whom also project as first-round picks. His colleagues Eric Longenhagen and Chris Crawford wrote a lengthier scouting report opining that Swanson could eventually develop 15 to 20 home run power to go along with his speed. Back in April, McDaniel called him a plus runner with 10- to 13-homer power that is also a plus runner — a nice No. 6-10 pick in most drafts but a more appealing commodity in this, a thin draft class.

The No. 1 overall selection in this year’s draft comes with a slot value of $8,616,900, though the Diamondbacks don’t have to spend the entirety of that sum on Swanson. In fact, based on most reports, it seems unlikely that they will. Swanson will add a top-tier prospect to a D-Backs farm system that is fronted by right-handed pitchers Braden Shipley, Aaron Blair, Touki Toussaint and Yoan Lopez. His addition gives the team a high-ceiling position player to join that quartet of promising pitchers. It is of further significance, because Swanson represents the first selection made under general manager Dave Stewart, senior vice president of baseball operations De Jon Watson and scouting director Deric Ladnier, each of whom is new to their position and to the D-Backs organization.

2015 MLB Draft Primer

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The 2015 Rule 4 Amateur Draft will begin tonight at 7pm ET, when the Diamondbacks will be on the clock with the first overall pick. For those who haven’t followed the draft to this point but are interested in a quick crash course on tonight’s event, MLBTR has you covered.

First, a brief recap. Each team has an allotted spending pool from which their signing bonuses come. The league has assigned a slot value to each pick in rounds one through 10, and a club’s draft pool is the sum of the slot values for each of their picks. Players selected after the 10th round do not count toward the pool, so long as they receive no more than $100K. Anything over $100K would count toward the pools. (e.g. Arizona signs 12th-round pick for $150K — $50K comes out of its draft pool.)

Should a team exceed its draft pool by five percent, it will pay a 75 percent luxury tax on the overage. A five to 10 percent overage results in a 75 percent tax and the loss of next year’s first-round pick. A 10 to 15 percent overage results in a 100 percent tax and the loss of a first- and second-round pick in 2016. And, exceeding the draft pool by more than 15 percent results in a 100 percent tax and the loss of two first-round picks.

However, teams are not bound to the individual slot values. For instance, the Astros could cut a deal with a player with the No. 2 overall pick ($7.42MM slot value) and sign him for $6MM, then use the $1.42MM they saved on that slot to entice tough-to-sign picks further down the draft board. (For those interested, I provided a breakdown of changes in draft pools from 2014 to 2015, sorted from largest increase to largest decrease, back in March.)

Under these rules, no team has been willing to pay the price of forfeiting a future pick, so no team has exceeded its pool by more than five percent.

All that said, here’s a rundown of the draft order, slot values, the top ranked draft prospects (via multiple outlets) as well as mock drafts from some experts who have devoted seemingly endless hours of their time over the past few months to provide the best insight possible.

Draft Order/Slot Value (slot values via Baseball America)

  1. Diamondbacks — $8,616,900
  2. Astros (compensation for failure to sign 2014 No. 1 pick Brady Aiken) — $7,420,100
  3. Rockies — $6,223,300
  4. Rangers — $5,026,500
  5. Astros — $4,188,700
  6. Twins — $3,889,500
  7. Red Sox — $3,590,400
  8. White Sox — $3,470,600
  9. Cubs — $3,351,000
  10. Phillies — $3,231,300
  11. Reds — $3,141,600
  12. Marlins — $3,051,800
  13. Rays — $2,962,100
  14. Braves — $2,842,400
  15. Brewers — $2,692,700
  16. Yankees — $2,543,300
  17. Indians — $2,393,600
  18. Giants — $2,333,800
  19. Pirates — $2,273,800
  20. Athletics — $2,214,000
  21. Royals — $2,184,200
  22. Tigers — $2,154,200
  23. Cardinals — $2,124,400
  24. Dodgers — $2,094,400
  25. Orioles — $2,064,500
  26. Angels — $2,034,500
  27. Rockies (compensation for loss of free agent Michael Cuddyer) — $2,004,600
  28. Braves (compensation for loss of free agent Ervin Santana) — $1,974,700
  29. Blue Jays (compensation for loss of free agent Melky Cabrera) — $1,944,800
  30. Yankees (compensation for loss of free agent David Robertson) — $1,914,900
  31. Giants (compensation for loss of free agent Pablo Sandoval) — $1,885,000
  32. Pirates (compensation for loss of free agent Russell Martin) — $1,855,000
  33. Royals (compensation for loss of free agent James Shields) — $1,825,200
  34. Tigers (compensation for loss of free agent Max Scherzer) — $1,795,100
  35. Dodgers (compensation for loss of free agent Hanley Ramirez) — $1,756,100
  36. Orioles (compensation for loss of free agent Nelson Cruz) — $1,711,900

Draft Rankings/Scouting Reports

Free Rankings/Scouting Reports

  • Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel has created a sortable draft leaderboard, in which you can filter McDaniel’s Top 202 prospects by overall rank, risk factor, Major League ETA, future value (on the 20-80 scouting scale) and more. The leaderboard contains brief scouting reports and videos for many players, and there’s a separate tab to sort prospects by individual tools for those who wish to even further in-depth.
  • Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com have ranked the Top 200 draft prospects, providing ratings for each players’ tools on the 2-8 scouting scale in addition to full scouting reports and video of each player.

Subscription-Only Scouting Reports

  • Baseball America’s list of Top 500 draft prospects and video of the top 100 or so can be viewed by all. For their scouting reports on all 500 players, a subscription is required and highly recommended. BA’s list is the deepest of the bunch, and the rankings themselves (names only) are available for free to the public.
  • ESPN’s Keith Law ranks his Top 100 prospects in this year’s draft class, and ESPN Insiders can see full scouting reports as well as current grades of individual tools on the 20-80 scale as well as future projections for each of those tools.

Mock Drafts

  • Mayo and Callis published a dual mock draft today, with each taking his final stab at the first round. The MLB.com duo is in agreement that the first three picks will be Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson (D-Backs), Louisiana State shortstop Alex Bregman (Astros) and prep shortstop Brendan Rodgers (Rockies), respectively. The differences begin at No. 4, though, where Callis has the Rangers selecting UC Santa Barbara righty Dillon Tate, but Mayo feels Texas will select prep outfielder Daz Cameron (whose father played a game or two in his day as well).
  • BA’s John Manuel has posted his sixth and final mock draft (he has links to all previous iterations within). He, too, has Swanson, Bregman and Rodgers with the top three picks, followed by Cameron, Arkansas outfielder Andrew Benintendi (Astros) and Illionis southpaw Tyler Jay (Twins).
  • Law’s final mock draft begins the same way — Swanson to the D-Backs, Bregman to the Astros and Rodgers to the Rox. However, he has the Rangers selecting prep outfielder and local product Trenton Clark before the Astros grab Benintendi, with Tate slipping to the Twins at No. 6.
  • The top three picks in McDaniel’s final mock draft are the same as in the other three — Swanson, Bregman and Rodgers. Like Law, he has the Rangers nabbing Clark, but McDaniel is the only of the group to have the Astros selecting prep outfielder Kyle Tucker — the brother of current Astros outfielder Preston Tucker.

Draft Notes: Stephenson, D’Backs, Twins, Rays

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The Diamondbacks announced that starting with this week’s draft, they will name their annual 34th round selection the “Cory Hahn 34th pick,” Jake Rill of MLB.com writes.  Hahn, who works in Arizona’s scouting department, suffered a fractured vertebrae after playing just three games as a freshman with Arizona State.  Before hiring him, the D’Backs selected Hahn with their 34th round pick (for his No. 34 jersey) in 2013.  “This is an extremely humbling gesture and an honor for not only myself, but my family as well,” Hahn said in a press release. “I’m beyond grateful to be a part of the D-backs family.”

Here’s a look at the latest draft news as we get set for Monday night…

  • High school catcher Tyler Stephenson has made a swift rise up many draft boards, including some speculation that the Diamondbacks may take him with the first overall pick.  Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic profiles Stephenson, who said that he has attended pre-draft workouts for the D’Backs, Braves and Phillies.
  • The revised slotting system instituted in 2012 has added another layer of difficulty for drafted high schoolers trying to decide if they’ll start their pro careers or play college ball, Bill West of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes.  Pirates starters Gerrit Cole and Vance Worley chose to attend college, while Max Moroff, a 16th-round pick in 2012, decided to go pro early and accepted a $300K bonus from the Bucs.
  • In a retrospective piece, ESPN.com’s Christina Kahrl chooses the top player chosen in each of the 50 previous amateur drafts.  While most of Kahrl’s choices came from the first couple of rounds, you can never tell where the next superstar might come from in any given draft, as evidenced by late choices like Albert Pujols, Ian Kinsler, Mark Buehrle or (most famously) Mike Piazza.

Earlier Updates

  • Scouting director Deric Ladnier says the Diamondbacks have settled on who they’ll take No. 1 overall tomorrow, but he’s not tipping his hand as to who it’ll be, Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic tweets.  Ladnier says the club has reached out to five players to let them know they’re in consideration,  but none of them have been notified as to whether they’ll be the pick (link).  That group almost certainly includes the likes of Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson and Florida high school shortstop Brendan Rodgers.
  • Twins GM Terry Ryan told reporters, including Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press (on Twitter) that he doesn’t know who the team will take with the No. 6 overall pick yet. “Not yet. Somebody is going to fall,” Ryan said.
  • The Rays know that they have to draft better this year than they have in recent years, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes.  Tampa Bay owns the No. 13 pick in tomorrow night’s first round of the draft, their highest pick since taking Tim Beckham No. 1 overall in 2008.   Within the article, Topkin looks back at the Rays’ 2011 class, which was supposed to shape the future of the franchise.  To date, that hasn’t been the case.
  • The Mariners don’t have a first round pick, but they expect plenty of talent to be there at No. 60, as Greg Johns of MLB.com writes.

Cubs Notes: Motte, Baez, Schwarber, Aiken

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Jason Motte recorded a league-best 42 saves as the Cardinals’ closer in 2012, but thanks to Tommy John surgery and other injuries, he hadn’t saved a game since.  That changed today, when Motte handled the ninth inning in the Cubs’ 6-3 win over the Nationals.  Hector Rondon had already been brought in to pitch the eighth inning (and a tougher part of Washington’s lineup) and Pedro Strop was unavailable, leaving Motte to finish things off.  Motte entered Sunday with a 3.98 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 1.63 K/BB rate over 20 1/3 relief innings this season.  Here’s some more from Wrigleyville…

  • The Cubs announced that prospect Javier Baez suffered a non-displaced fracture in his ring finger and will miss 4-8 weeks of action.  Baez was injured while attempting a steal during Triple-A Iowa’s game today.  The one-time elite prospect was enjoying a very nice year in the minors (eight homers and a .314/.387/.540 slash line in 155 PA), though this injury, combined with defensive and strikeout concerns, will certainly hamper his chances of a return to the majors.
  • The Cubs will require a designated hitter as they have seven games in AL ballparks over the next two weeks, and CSN Chicago’s Patrick Mooney suggests that calling up top prospect Kyle Schwarber would be a creative way to address this need.  Schwarber is having a big year at Double-A, and promoting now would give him a taste of the majors without causing any real service time concerns (as presumably Schwarber would be sent back down once the Cubs are through their road interleague schedule).  ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers doubts Schwarber will be called up since the team already has Chris Denorfia on hand, Schwarber has yet to face even Triple-A pitching and there’s obviously no guarantee that the rookie will be able to provide immediate help.  “Are the Cubs willing to use 10 days for curiosity or the best chance to win?” Rogers rhetorically asks.
  • Some clubs have ruled Brady Aiken out of their draft plans given the prospect’s recent Tommy John surgery, but Cubs amateur scouting director Matt Dorey tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times that “it would be really irresponsible not to look at” Aiken’s latest medicals.  If Aiken is healthy, the Cubs would potentially land a first-overall caliber talent with the #9 overall pick.  On the flip side, Wittenmyer observes that Theo Epstein has drafted position players with his top pick in 10 of the 12 years he has spent running front offices.

Q&A With MLB Draft Prospect Scott Kingery

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The 2015 MLB Draft begins on Monday, June 8th and runs until Wednesday, June 10th.  In anticipation of the draft, MLBTR caught up with University of Arizona second baseman Scott Kingery, one of the most highly regarded players in this year’s class.

Tomorrow night, Arizona second baseman Scott Kingery will be waiting to hear his name called from Secaucus, New Jersey.  Just three years ago, few could have imagined that Kingery would be in line to be a Day 1 draft pick or to even get drafted at all.  Kingery was a very solid player coming out of Phoenix, Arizona’s Mountain Pointe High School, but he was overlooked by schools largely because he was only 5’7″ tall.

Kingery arrived at the University of Arizona as a walk-on, made the team, and started really making a name for himself in his sophomore year.  An awful lot has changed over the last three years – not just Kingery’s stature.  Today, he is rated as the No. 25 draft prospect in the country by ESPN.com’s Keith Law, No. 40 by Baseball America, and No. 42 by Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.  Kingery took some time out of his busy schedule late last week to chat with MLB Trade Rumors about his career at Arizona, his draft stock, and his MLB future.

Zach Links: It’s pretty rare to see a college walk-on go on to become a top draft prospect. In 2012, did you think you’d be in this position today?

Scott Kingery: Definitely not. That’s not something that I had in mind going into my freshman year, especially as a walk-on player. I didn’t have a spot on the roster yet for sure, so at that point, I was just trying to find a spot on the team.

It was pretty late in the summer when an assistant coach came down to watch me play in a tournament. They offered me a recruited walk-on spot, which means that you have a place on the fall roster but nothing is guaranteed for the spring roster. So, I wasn’t thinking about the majors at all at that point.

ZL: Did you consider taking scholarship offers from other schools, whether it was D-I or D-II?

SK: I was committed to going to a junior college in Arizona, but other than that, I didn’t have any D-I, D-II, or D-III offers for baseball.  So, it was pretty much go to junior college or just take my chances at Arizona.

ZL: You turned the corner in a big way from your freshman year to your sophomore year. What changed for you?

SK: I think each year you play in the Pac-12 you just get a little bit more confident.  I gained experience and I learned a lot.  I think in your first year as a freshman you come in and don’t know what to expect.  The level of play from high school to college increases so much. But, I learned more and more each year and built off of that.

ZL: Your double play partner, Kevin Newman, is considered to be one of the very best draft prospects in this year’s class. Did you feel like you’ve pushed each other over the years to excel?

SK: Yeah, when I was in the outfield the first few years I didn’t spent that much time with him.  Now I’m at second base and we push each other and that helps us play better.  This year he become one of my roommates and that’s when I realized how truly competitive we are with each other.  Literally everything is a competition between us.

ZL: How does that competitive spirit between the two of you manifest itself off the field?

SK: If it’s video games, we’re competing.  One night we were mini golfing and it got intense.  We started even having competitions in the weight room and seeing who could get to school the fastest.

ZL: You played second base while at Arizona but there has been talk of your skills translating to shortstop.  Could you see yourself playing shortstop at the big league level? How comfortable are you at shortstop?

SK: Since I haven’t been there in a few years, I think it would take some getting used to again. But that was my home all through high school.  College is the only time I haven’t played there really…I think I could definitely play shortstop.  I think a lot of teams want to see me try that out, too.  If it doesn’t work, they can always throw me back to second base.

ZL: Do you have a preference between playing shortstop or second base?

SK: I’ve always loved playing shortstop more but playing second base isn’t too bad either.

ZL: Why do you like playing shortstop more?

SK: I don’t know why, but that’s just always been where I’ve been the most comfortable.  I grew up playing that position and I just want to get back over there.  When you’re at shortstop you feel like you’re kind of in the head role, kind of captain on the field.  I’d like to get back to that.

ZL: There always seems to be skepticism surrounding shorter players, even when they’ve proven their ability time and time again like you have. Do you feel like any concern about you being under 6-feet tall is overblown?

SK: At this point, I don’t think that’s gonna come into play, but that was definitely one of the big reasons why I didn’t get a scholarship offer out of high school.  I was 5’7″, 150 pounds heading into college so I think everyone saw that small stature and they didn’t want to take a chance.  Now, I think I’ve proven myself over multiple years so I don’t think that my small stature matters much.  Also, I’m 5’10.5″ now and I’ve put on 25 or 30 pounds, so it’s a different story.

ZL: What are you hearing about where you might get drafted?

SK: It’s kind of all over the place, but I’ve been hearing and reading that it could be somewhere in the No. 20-50 range.  Hopefully I’ll get drafted towards the top of that, but, we’ll see.  Anything can happen.

ZL: What do you think sets you apart from other middle infielders in this class?

SK: I’ve proven that I can hit at multiple levels.  I did it in college and I did it in the Cape Cod league.  That, along with my speed, sets me apart.  I’ve shown that I can create havoc on the basepaths with my speed and my bat really just improved each year at Arizona.  I also got even more comfortable with my range this year and I made things happen on defense as well.

ZL: What’s the main thing you want to work on?

SK: I want to work on my footwork at second base because that can always get better.  I also want to make sure that I stay aggressive at second base.  It’s a short throw so sometimes you can find yourself getting complacent and sitting back on a ball rather than getting the right hop.  I like to be aggressive and get right to the ball.

ZL: Last summer in the Cape Cod League, you showed that you can still rake with a wooden bat. Do you sense that has helped your draft stock somewhat?

SK: Definitely. The top players in college are in the Cape Cod league so going there, facing that pitching, and putting up some good numbers really shows the scouts that I have a good swing and that it doesn’t matter if I’m swinging wood or metal.

ZL: Everyone loves to compare draft prospects to current players.  What major league player would you say that your skill set is similar to?

SK:  I’d say I’m something like Ian Kinsler, with a little bit more speed.

ZL: What are your plans for draft night?

SK: I’m just going to have some friends and family over.  We’ll be watching on TV with everyone else, waiting to see what happens.

Draft Notes: Rankings, Aiken

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With less than a week to go before this year’s draft, amateur prospect evaluation is cresting. For those interested in really understanding the broad scope of players available this year, there are a few great resources to check out. And there is an update on a draft candidate who will be more closely-watched than any other this summer.

Let’s have a look in at the latest:

  • Baseball America has released its top-500 ranking, which includes just about every player of real relevance at this stage (though no doubt we’ll look back in 10 years and wonder how someone eluded mention). You’ll find links there to scouting reports and video.
  • ESPN.com’s Keith Law (Insider link) remains bullish on University of Arizona shortstop Kevin Newman, who gets the second spot on his list. Indeed, each of the top four players available, in Law’s view, are shortstops, with high schooler Brendan Rogers at the top and Dansby Swanson (Vanderbilt) and Alex Bregman (LSU) following behind Newman.
  • Kiley McDaniel and Fangraphs have introduced a “sortable draft board” that allows you to take in the various forms of assessment (e.g., present & future value, ranking, mock draft prediction, likely pick range). Check it out and work the columns to get a better sense of what’s out there. As with the BA list, you can access more detailed reports and video of many players.
  • Brady Aiken and his medical status still remains something of an enigma, McDaniel writes. The unsigned first-overall pick of a year ago is coming off of Tommy John surgery. Bob Nightengale of USA Today suggested yesterday that the Astros had actually found a small tear in Aiken’s elbow, while earlier reports indicated that he had an unusually narrow UCL. As McDaniel notes, others believe that Houston was scared off by structural issues in the elbow. His current draft status will depend in part on just what issues are there, as well as his progress in the UCL replacement. McDaniel says that Aiken’s camp has released medical information, but done so in an unusually constricted way. All said, it’s impossible to get a read on where he’ll land, though his talent is great enough that he’s expected to land a seven-figure bonus regardless.

Twins Notes: Hunter, Garcia, Radcliff

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Few expected the Twins to be in contention this season, yet after today’s 6-5 win over the Blue Jays, Minnesota (30-19) now owns the best record in the American League.  The Twins have been boosted by a 20-7 record in May, the first time the club has won 20 games in a single month since June 1991.  Here’s some more from the Gopher State, courtesy of 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson (all Twitter links)…

  • There has been “no movement” between Torii Hunter and the Twins on a contract extension, though Wolfson guesses a deal will come at some point during the season.  Hunter signed a one-year, $10.5MM deal with Minnesota last winter and has openly discussed both how he wants to eventually work in the Twins’ front office and how he’s undecided about playing in 2016.  If performance is a factor, Hunter has been playing well, hitting .280/.332/.458 through his first 184 plate appearances.  I would wonder if an extension would even be necessary this early, since as Wolfson notes, it’s “not like he’s going anywhere.”
  • The Twins were one of the 20 teams who attended Cuban infielder/outfielder Yosvani Garcia’s showcase earlier this week.
  • Garcia isn’t subject to the international bonus pools, yet the Twins also have great interest in the 2015-16 international free agent market, as team VP of player personnel Mike Radcliff tells Wolfson that the new class of July 2 international players is “one of the best we’ve ever seen.”  The Twins are prepared to spend up to $4MM on a single player, and Wolfson notes in a follow-up tweet that the player in question is Dominican shortstop Wander Javier.  Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel reported in March that the Twins and Javier are “widely believed” to already have an agreement in place once the signing period opens on July 2.  The Twins’ international bonus pool is just over $3.948MM, so if they wanted multiple players, they would have to trade for some extra space (unless they were willing to overspend in this int’l class and be limited to $300K signings in the next two classes).
  • Radcliff also said that Minnesota may sign fewer amateur draft picks than usual, as their “system is pretty full” of players already.  As Wolfson notes, most teams generally sign around 25 of their 40 picks; for comparison’s sake, the Twins signed 30 of their 40 picks in the 2014 amateur draft.

Draft Notes: Seniors, Royals, Red Sox, Trout

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As we approach the draft, one group of players to watch is college seniors, who have very little leverage to negotiate bonuses, as Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper writes. Seniors selected in the fourth round typically get only $50K-$100K, while seniors picked in the tenth round get as little as $1K. Selections of seniors in the first ten rounds, which are now governed by rules regarding draft spending allotments, can be used to free up money for hard-to-sign players in other rounds.

That only works if those seniors sign, of course — if a team drafts a senior in the first ten rounds and he doesn’t sign, they lose the ability to spend the entire amount associated with his draft position. So, as Cooper notes, a senior’s willingness to sign is even more crucial than his actual talent. “I need to be able to tell the scouting director, ’I don’t have this guy as a top-10 round talent, but if we need a budget saver, I promise you I will sign him and he will not screw us over,'” as one scout explains. As Cooper notes, the system could give a senior a fair amount of power, in that a senior who expressed willingness to sign cheaply before the draft but changed his mind after being drafted could torpedo a team’s ability to sign other players. But a team could then ruin the player’s career by refusing to let him play in the minors. Here’s more on the draft.

  • In 2003, the Royals took full advantage of senior picks’ lack of leverage, Cooper writes. Faced with an inadequate draft budget, the Royals took several seniors in the early rounds and paid them bonuses of just $1K. Several of them ultimately got to the big leagues, including Mike Aviles, Ryan Braun (the reliever, not the Brewers slugger) and Irving Falu. They also got lefty Dusty Hughes for $3.5K. “We called them all in advance. We told them, if you take this offer, we’ll draft you. They were all willing to do it. They wanted to play,” says then-scouting director Deric Ladnier.
  • More than 20 teams passed on Mike Trout in the 2009 MLB Draft before the Angels took him. The Red Sox weren’t one of those teams, but if he had still been on the board when they had picked at No. 28, they probably would still have selected Puerto Rican outfielder Reymond Fuentes, WEEI’s Rob Bradford explains in a piece that provides an unusually close look into a drafting team’s thought process. Trout had his partisans within the Red Sox organization, and Northeast region scout Ray Fagnant says he was one of them. Then-assistant GM Ben Cherington took Trout seriously, too. But the Red Sox already had a somewhat similar outfield prospect in Ryan Westmoreland who some in the organization liked better, and they saw the speedy Fuentes as a potentially disruptive player in the mold of Jacoby Ellsbury. Westmoreland hit brilliantly in the minors in 2009, but a cavernous malformation in his brain prematurely ended his career. The Red Sox sent Fuentes to the Padres in the first Adrian Gonzalez deal, and he’s played only briefly in the Majors.

Draft Notes: Jay, Kaprielian, Cubs, Bloodlines

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The lack of clear front-line talent at the top of this year’s draft means there’s plenty of uncertainty, as John Manuel’s latest mock draft for Baseball America demonstrates. Manuel has the Diamondbacks choosing a new name with the top overall pick: that of Illinois lefty Tyler Jay. That would be a surprising selection, given that Jay is relatively small and a reliever, but many scouts believe he’s capable of starting, and one scouting director tells Manuel that Jay has terrific stuff and an easier delivery than Vanderbilt’s Carson Fulmer, another potential No. 1 overall pick. Here are more quick notes on the draft.

  • Cubs president Theo Epstein watched UCLA righty James Kaprielian in Oregon last night, FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel tweets. The Cubs have the No. 9 overall pick. McDaniel notes that Kaprielian is attracting interest from other top-ten teams as well. MLB.com notes that Kaprielian throws a good changeup and likely projects as a mid-rotation type of pitcher.
  • This year’s potential draftees includes Mariano Rivera, Jr., son of the great Yankees closer, Paul Casella of MLB.com writes. The Yankees took the younger Rivera in the 29th round last season, but he headed back to Iona for another season and became the MAAC Pitcher of the Year. He should be drafted significantly earlier in 2015. Several other draft prospects also have pro baseball bloodlines, including outfielder Kyle Tucker (the brother of Preston Tucker of the Astros), outfielder Daz Cameron (Mike Cameron’s son) and infielder Ke’Bryan Hayes (the son of Charlie Hayes).

Draft Notes: Rodgers, Diamondbacks, Fernandez

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A look at recent draft history suggests the Diamondbacks should take shortstop Brendan Rodgers with the No. 1 pick, MLB.com’s Jim Callis writes. Rodgers headed into the season as the consensus top talent in the draft, and teams who have picked No. 1 overall in recent years have avoided consensus top talents at their peril — No. 1 picks like the Rays’ selection of Tim Beckham and the Royals’ selection of Luke Hochevar haven’t worked out as well as they would have if the Rays and Royals had simply picked more straightforwardly. Here’s more on the draft.

  • The Diamondbacks currently appear more likely to take Vanderbilt pitcher Carson Fulmer first overall, according to John Manuel of Baseball America’s latest mock draft. The Diamondbacks seem to want a college pitcher, and Fulmer seems to be gaining a slight edge over UC-Santa Barbara’s Dillon Tate. The Astros then take another Commodore, infielder Dansby Swanson, in Manuel’s mock before the Rockies take Rodgers at No. 3. Manuel suggests the collection of injured top pitchers (Brady Aiken, Michael Matuella and Kolby Allard) will fall to the end of the first round.
  • Cuban right-hander Yoandy Fernandez has been declared eligible for the draft, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports.  Fernandez has far more seasoning than your average draft candidate; he’s 27 and has six years of experience in Cuba’s Serie Nacional league, where he posted a 4.22 ERA, 72 strikeouts and 62 walks over 157 2/3 innings.  Almost all of Fernandez’s work came as a reliever, and Sanchez notes that teams are still figuring out if he projects as a starter or a reliever in MLB.  Perhaps more information will be determined later this month, as Fernandez has several tryouts scheduled for various teams.
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