Derek “Bubba” Starling Scouting Report

[Jordan Tuwiner]

http://orioles-nation.com/2011/06/05/de ... ng-report/

By: Don Olsen

Any team drafting Bubba Starling will have to show extreme patience, and it will take a lot of work and effort to turn his tremendous tool set into skills that could make him a feared hitter in the majors.

[Don]

I just want to reiterate that I am not against selecting Starling at all. It is simply a great deal of money for a guy that is almost 100% tools and very little baseball skills. Those guys tend to be second round picks, see Xavier Avery in the Orioles system.

He can be an all-star type player or he could end up another in the long line of Cruz Jr., Davis, Jamie Jones, or other guys with great projection and never really panned out the way you expect.

In this draft you can find a guy slightly cheaper and maybe just as potentially toolsy. See Shon Carson as an example much later in the draft.

[Don]

One of the things I cannot get out of my head is that I fear Bubba can be more along the lines of Chris Lubanski and less Josh Hamilton.

I might be 100% wrong, but it is well enough for me to be bullish on him inside the top 5, much less the top 10.