DraftWatch 03/23/09
- San Diego State RHSP Stephen Strasburg struck out 15 against BYU in a no decision. He allowed no runs on two hits and two walks over seven innings.
- USC SS Grant Green was 4/8 with a triple, three runs, and two RBI in the Trojans first two games against UCLA. SEASON: 323/413/462 1HR 7RBI
- North Carolina RHSP Alex White allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks over seven innings with five strikeouts to pick up the win against Duke. SEASON: 4-0 4.45ERA 1.42WHIP 30.1IP 36K 11BB
- North Carolina 1B/OF Dustin Ackley was 8/15 with a triple, three runs and three RBI against the Blue Devils. SEASON: 434/530/711 5HR 16RBI
- Missouri RHSP Kyle Gibson struck out sixteen in a win over Texas A&M. Gibson allowed two runs on five hits and one walk in the complete game victory. SEASON: 4-1 1.15ERA 0.87WHIP 39IP 54K 9BB
- Baylor RHSP Kendal Volz gave up four runs (two earned) on ten hits and three walks over 5.2IP in a win over Texas Tech. Volz struck out six (Teammate and unsigned 2006 Nats draft pick Dustin Dickerson was 4/13 with two solo home runs over the weekend). SEASON: 2-1 2.81ERA 1.19WHIP 32IP 28K 15BB
- Oklahoma St LHSP Andrew Oliver was knocked around against Nebraska, taking the loss allowing seven runs on nine hits and three walks over 3.2IP with just three strikeouts. SEASON: 3-2 6.67ERA 1.55WHIP 29.2IP 36K 12BB
- Vanderbilt LHSP Mike Minor allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts in a loss to Kentucky (Wildcats LHSP James Paxton picked up the win allowing a run on two hits and three walks over 6.2IP with 10K). SEASON: 1-2 3.41ERA 1.33WHIP 31.2IP 23K 10BB
- Tennessee OF Kentrail Davis was 1/13 in his weekend series against Florida (unsigned 2008 Nats draft pick Avery Barnes was 3/10 with a triple, HR and five RBI for the Gators). SEASON: 267/433/480 3HR 9RBI
- Notre Dame CF A.J. Pollock was 7/12 with a double, HR, five runs, and three RBI against Seton Hall this weekend (unsigned 2006 Nats draft pick Sean Black took the loss for the Pirates on friday, allowing nine runs [eight earned] on twelve hits and two walks over 6IP). SEASON: 377/427/558 2HR 20RBI
- Miami SS Ryan Jackson was 2/10 with four RBI against Virginia this weekend. SEASON 284/354/457 3HR 19RBI
- California OF Brett Jackson was 2/9 wuth two runs and one RBI in the first two games against Stanford this weekend. SEASON: 383/463/654 4HR 14RBI
- Louisiana State SS D.J. LeMahieu was 3/14 with two runs and one RBI against South Carolina this weekend (unsigned 2006 Nats draft pick Sam Dyson picked up the win for the Gamecocks on Friday, allowing one run on two hits and six walks over 7IP with five strikeouts; unsigned 2008 Nats draft pick Louis Coleman picked up the win for the Tigers on Saturday, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks over 7IP with 8K). SEASON: 384/489/575 2HR 13RBI
- Arizona RHRP Jason Stoffel made two appearances for the Wildcats this weekend, allowing two runs on two hits and one walk over two innings of work. SEASON: 0-0 5SV 4.07ERA 1.15WHIP 24.1IP 33K 8BB
This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009, 7:27 AM and is filed under Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
#1 by cjrugger - March 23rd, 2009 at 07:40
Looks like White and Minor are pitching their way down to us
#2 by Sue Dinem - March 23rd, 2009 at 08:50
Folks, passing along a good link to an interview w/ Jim Duquette about scouting pitching:
http://fullcountpitch.com/2009/03/23/the-gms-office-with-jim-duquette-an-introduction-to-scouting-pitchers/
#3 by Andrew Z. Stebbins - March 23rd, 2009 at 10:19
cj, I don’t think White makes it to 10.
#4 by Ronny - March 23rd, 2009 at 10:24
Brian, who’s this Ronnie Mitchell kid I’ve been hearing about? He’s a OF’er and some people have him ranked as the second best prospect in this upcoming draft. Do you know anything about him?
#5 by Brian Oliver - March 23rd, 2009 at 10:31
Ronny - That RBI site was really the first time I heard his name mentioned as a potential first rounder.
He appears to be more of a project. I’m not sure whether he is a top 10 guy at this point.
#6 by Ronny - March 23rd, 2009 at 10:36
Okay thanks.
#7 by Dick - March 23rd, 2009 at 11:29
Gibson looks like he may pitch himself into the first pick discussion. You’ve got to think his performance this weekend was against superior opposition (BBA #3 ranked Texas A&M) than Strasburg had in BYU. Green’s bat appears to be waking up.
Jason Kipnis of ASU went 3-7 with 1K and 5 BBs this weekend. He was 2-3 on Sunday with 3 BBs and a Grand Slam. Through Saturday (so these numbers will go up) he was 426/534/779 with 5 HR (will be 6) and 24 RBI (will be 30).
Mike Leake of ASU pitched a complete game 5 hitter on Friday against Arizona, giving up 1 run (earned) while striking out 15 Wildcats. His pitching line is now 5-1 1.35 40 IP 21 H 7 BB 48 K and 0.70 WHIP.
Both Leake and Kipnis look like they are trying to play their way into the 10th pick discussion. Maybe Paxton is, too.
Brian, do you know how to get NCAA stats? It doesn’t look like they have started publishing 2009 stats yet.
#8 by cjrugger - March 23rd, 2009 at 11:30
Andrew- No I dont think he will either, but that is not the way to start out your season
#9 by Brian Oliver - March 23rd, 2009 at 11:33
Dick - For some unknown reason, the NCAA doesn’t start updating their stats until April. Until then I just use each team’s own site.
#10 by Pilchard - March 23rd, 2009 at 12:48
Ronnie Mitchell sounds a lot like Michael Burgess.
#11 by cjrugger - March 23rd, 2009 at 12:48
I think Ronnie MItchell himself runs that site
You can debate how good BA is, but he doesnt even make their top 100 HS guys
#12 by Wally - March 23rd, 2009 at 13:28
Ackley looks like he is just crushing the ball. If I remember correctly, power was the one worry for him (meaning, if he is stuck at 1B, how does his power project?). Are the early returns encouraging that way, or in line with expectations? Also, does anyone know if he is playing CF yet?
#13 by Brian Oliver - March 23rd, 2009 at 13:31
Wally - He primarily playing 1B. I wonder if the elbow is still holding him out of CF
#14 by Dick - March 23rd, 2009 at 15:21
Brian, NCAA site says stats will be posted tomorrow, the 24th for the first time.
#15 by AlexVA - March 23rd, 2009 at 15:31
Tom Boswell weighs in on Strasburg. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032301414.html
#16 by BinM - March 23rd, 2009 at 17:46
So far this season, Strasburg is a man playing against boys. If he keeps this up & stays healthy, the discussion will come down to who looks best at #10, another college arm or a college hitter?
#17 by Gusto - March 23rd, 2009 at 19:27
What do people think of the column Boz just wrote on Strasburg? He does put numbers up to argue against breaking the bank for him….
#18 by Ted Leavengood - March 24th, 2009 at 07:42
In response to Boswell you could argue that Kyle Gibson is beginning to look as good as Strasburg and not represented by Boras. So does that make Boswell’s argument less valid about Gibson? Does it mean that Gibson will want less money, and be easier to sign? If Gibson puts up those kind of numbers then his agents will be asking for big money as well and the risks Boz is articulating do not go away regardless who you take. Anyway you cut it, I respectfully disagree with Boz. The Nationals have to go for the best talent. If you want to win it all, then you cannot shy away from the risks that will get you there. Take a hitter with number 10 and call that your Strasburg insurance.
#19 by Brian Oliver - March 24th, 2009 at 07:54
Boz’ article has value in the sense that it highlights the risk inherent in drafting pitchers. With that, I wholeheartedly agree with him. Drafting arms early in the draft is a huge gamble.
That being said, I am not in agreement with Boz about passing on Strasburg because of that risk. The Nationals should take the best player available with the #1 pick and that happens to be a pitcher … by a substantial margin. If there was a Joe Mauer-type available then I could understand the discussion but from everything we know, there is no 1A to Strasburg’s 1.
#20 by Marc - March 24th, 2009 at 08:08
I think Boz, like lots of other people, are overreacting to the Gammons rumor about 6/$50. Nobody will pay close to that for an unproven college arm. Say what you want about Matsuzaka, but the comparison just doesn’t hold water. Matsuzaka was a 26-y.o. with an eight-year history of striking out better than 1 Japanese hitter/9 IP. As gaudy as Strasburg’s numbers are, Gibson’s are not so far behind as to be incomparable. Similarly, Price’s college numbers aren’t quite as good as Strasburg’s, but still within the ballpark, and with a higher K/9 than Strasburg.
All of that to say I think Strasburg deserves to be #1, I think the Nats should take him, and I think they should make him the highest-paid #1 pick ever, but let’s not get crazy - If trading the pick were allowed, I’d rather have Lincecum, or Lester, or Hamels, or Felix all of whom have proven that they’ve got the ability to do it at the MLB level. Maybe Strasburg adds himself to that list and bucks the long-standing trend, and I think you have to take him, but I’m certainly not down with paying him like he already has.
#21 by SlowPitch63 - March 24th, 2009 at 09:26
The MLB draft is extremely risky, with many more failures than successes, but it is still the most inexpensive means of acquiring players. We don’t necessarily take the best player available but the player with the best chance of becoming the best player of all those available. This is where all the risk reward evaluation comes in - college vs high school (probability of success vs potential amount of success), pitchers vs hitters (chance of success vs importance of success with potential longevity thrown in to complicate matters). Strasburg appears to be the best pitcher by quite a margin and the pitcher with the best chance of success at the higher level as well as anyone can project. Since he is a college jr he doesn’t have as much room for improvement as a high schooler but his down side, barring injury, is also limited. There appear to be no comparable hitters that are head and shoulders above their competition. 19.5 K and 1.84 BB per nine innings…wow! It’s OK to be successful. We shouldn’t be afraid of making a good decision just because it is not guaranteed. Draft him Sign him Coach him Play him
Let’s play two!
#22 by joNAThan - March 24th, 2009 at 09:56
Brian,
Who in the name of Jim Bowden is Ronnie Mitchell?