The MLB Draft is less than 2 months away and you’ll be seeing tons of draft related content in the next few months. This is Part 1 in my series previewing the MLB Draft. The full series:
1. Series Introduction
2. Bryce Harper, C, CC of Southern Nevada
3. Jameson Taillon, RHP, The Woodlands HS (TX)
4. Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Ole Miss
5. Deck McGuire, RHP, Georgia Tech
6. Chris Sale, LHP, Florida Gulf Coast
7. Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, LSU
8. Q & A with Andy Seiler of MLB Bonus Baby
9. Examining the Orioles’ Options by Pat Hickey
10. Karsten Whitson, RHP, Chipley HS (FL)
11. Manny Machado, SS, Brito Private HS (FL)
Here’s a short preview of the biggest stories and resources related to the draft.
Draft Resources:
- Baseball Beginnings
- Jonathan Mayo’s Blog
- MLB.com Draft Central
- MLB Bonus Baby
- PnR Scouting
- Project Prospect
- Prospect Junkies
Past Draft Articles by OP:
Andy Seiler over at MLBBonusBaby.com has his updated top 100 draft prospects up. These are the guys that the O’s should be targeting:
1. Bryce Harper, C, CC of Southern Nevada
2. Jameson Taillon, RHP, The Woodlands HS (TX)
3. Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Ole Miss
4. Deck McGuire, RHP, Georgia Tech
5. Chris Sale, LHP, Florida Gulf Coast
6. Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, LSU
Unless the Orioles surprise people like last season, the Orioles will likely select one of the six players listed above.
In the upcoming days I’ll look at scouting reports for the 6 players listed above. This should help you get familiar with the names that will be paired with the Orioles come June.
It’s still early, but assuming Harper goes #1, who do you think the Pirates will take and who would you like to see the Orioles select?
I think the Pirates will probably take McGuire. They tend to go with safer picks, and they really need a starter who could contribute quickly. I think we should probably take Pomeranz or, if the Pirates don’t take McGuire, McGuire.
Yeah, I’d like to see them take McGuire or Pomeranz, that gives us a choice of Taillon or Mcguire/Pomeranz. I’d be happy most happy with Pomeranz.
don’t forget manny machado. k. law has him listed as the #2 talent in this year’s draft.
http://twitter.com/oriole_tweets
Definitely, he’s a special talent. I just want to keep the list short and I was going off Seiler’s rankings. Law is the one guy who is really excited about Machado, most aren’t that high on him.
I personally like taillon because he is a power arm that could really help. Maybe a verlander type? I don’t know much about mcguire or pomeranz. What’s the word on them?
I’m a big Taillon fan, love his fastball and two plus breaking pitches. I’ll have more on those two pitchers in the series that starts tomorrow, with Bryce Harper. I haven’t looked in depth at Pomeranz yet, but I know a lot about McGuire. His fastball sits in the low 90′s and his slider is a plus breaking pitch. His changeup is about average, sometimes above-average. He has solid command/control and he’s one of the safer pitchers of this draft class.
Most of my draft/college/highschool baseball knowledge is from reading mlbbonusbaby.com. Some of the best scouting and draft content out there.
Some MLB comparisons
Taillon=Beckett (it’s a Texas thing))
Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Ole Miss=Matszu/Hammels
Deck McGuire, RHP, Georgia Tech=Lackey (maybe?)
Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, LSU Chris Young (maybe?)
All seem like good comps, I don’t think McGuire will be quite as good as Lackey. I like the Matusz Hammels comp, Matusz definitely reminds me of Hammels.
The ? were an expression of doubt, I don’t see the ceiling that high on McGuire or Ranaudo.
Oh, sorry I misunderstood. From what I’ve been reading, Ranaudo does have legitimate ace potential. He was a candidate for the #1 pick before he went down with an injury.