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After all the talk about Jack as GM in the shouts, and since it's May Eve, I figured it's about time to start some draft conversations, even though the Ms are still clinging to some sort of respectability after a month of baseball.  They're throwing off my timing with their performances this last week.

 

Back to the Draft.  First off, there's no slam-dunk #1 guy.  If I was drafting #1, that might annoy me.  Since we're drafting 6th the good news is that there is really good talent scattered throughout the top-10, but most of it is pitching talent.

 

 

 

Maybe... but probably not in the college ranks. 

 

 

Michael Gettys, RH HS OF - he can play center, run like the wind, throw a baseball through a brick wall from 50 feet away... what can't he do?  Earlier in the year he wasn't squaring up too many pitches, but it looked to me like timing and not a swing problem - and he's been crushing bombs the last couple weeks so he may have even straightened that out.  He has quick wrists, a good short path to the ball, and PLENTY of batspeed. All the clay seems there to mold a special hitter out of. Get him in an org that can fix his double-hammer timing issues and he should be good to go. Is that us? I dunno - we did fix Brad Miller's swing, and Nick Franklin's done all right.  But I do know I don't want to see him fall to another org in the division... He's the 5-tool wunderkind if you can polish him up right. More Grady Sizemore than Mike Trout as far as potential impact, but in no universe is that a slight.

 

 

Alex Jackson, RH HS C / OF - He also played some 3B.  It's a crooked path through positions reminiscent of our own Tank O'Neill (SS/C/OF) and Jackson is a similarly yoked dude with a strong frame and short arms that help him get the bat to the ball with a simple, powerful swing. I like him quite a bit. He has some extra nonsense to clean up as all high-school hitters do, but he's probably the cleanest of the teen bats at the plate at this point even with the added degree of difficulty of the higher leg kick. Not unhappy at all to draft him, but with Gettys we would get a guy who can play CF, and Jackson is a corner player entirely if he doesn't stick behind the plate. That said, I’m not against making sure we have corner players locked down; it’s been a deficiency in the system for a while, and I do think Jackson is gonna hit. I don't think he's gonna catch, and I would expect whoever takes him to pull him outta that role. As an OF he's not as WAR-valuable - though of course Carlos Delgado and Paul Konerko (who both started as a C) would disagree about the worth of a thumper on a corner, and I would take RBIs over WAR any day at this point. IMO Jackson is one of the safer bets for a future hitting star from this draft.  And if he CAN catch? Hello, Brian McCann.

 

 

Braxton Davidson, LH HS OF - Braxton could likely wind up at 1st base, but he's got a really nice swing for a high schooler.  When you first load up his videos he looks like a college hitter.  Full frame, great easy swing, ball jumps off his bat with nice contact.  He's got a little bit of Smoak in him, actually - hopefully he can attain his LH power with more contact than Justin's been able to find, and without the long delays. Looks like a first-rounder to me, and IMO would be a solid pick and probably safer than some others. I guess I'm not feeling in the mood to be toooo safe this year, and I doubt anybody takes him top-10.  Somebody in the 15-20 range will probably be pretty happy he's there.

 

 

Nick Gordon, LH HS SS - Nope, but I'm probably alone in this too.  Decent defender, okay power, good arm, rangy swing... I'm just not feeling his huge upside the way others are. People are starting to scream about him like he's the next coming of A-Rod it feels like (they're not, just feels that way) and I dunno that he's the next Machado. Reminds me of some bits of Jiovanni Mier.  Maybe that's not fair - let's say BJ Upton then, where performance never quite catches the hype.  He's got a lot of JP Crawford in him too though, is VERY patient, has some ridiculous 18 BB / 3 K thing going on... but I'm always wary of guys who have a huge early advantage over their peers. Gordon has the benefit of bloodlines and the best prep available from his dad and older brother. I don't think that gives him as much upside and growth as others seem to.  His swing is decent, wristy, lots of motion before the swing with a pretty high leg kick to boot but he really strokes the ball with authority and the ease of a guy who believes in his own future greatness. He might stay at short, but I don't want to invest the 5 years to find out. If we were drafting 15th, I'd be interested.  But he's not my favorite hitter in this draft, right or wrong. 

 

 

Jacob Gatewood, RH HS SS / 3B - Has incredible power potential, but doesn't square up enough balls to make me entirely happy. His swing is longer and slower than either Jackson or Gettys, and he might wind up on the same corner OF spot as Jackson. I like some of his tools, but he feels further away than the other two and has some leaps to make. Maybe watching too many of our Latin free agents and guys like Halman with incredible physical gifts but the inability to make enough game-contact with the ball to excel has jaded me.

 

 

Michael Conforto, LH college OF - Not a defender, just a decent hitter on a corner position with few special tools. Lots of bat movement before the pitcher gets there but his motion through the zone is short and pretty clean with an uppercut that’s hunting for power all the time. I would have taken Peterson or Renfroe over him last year at #12, so I’m definitely not gearing up for him at #6. Not my kind of player for the slot. Let somebody else draft the lefty version of Romero in the top of the first.

 

 

Trea Turner, RH college SS - he's very fast.  He has very little power, and putting the ball weakly in play is only so useful.  I'm also not one of the people who thinks he's a plus defender at SS, so you're talking about a guy who is now competing with the Chris Taylors of the farm system, except Chris is a better defender IMO and also a plus baserunner to match up with Turner.  I wouldn't draft Chris Taylor with the #6 pick in the draft.  Not gonna take Turner there either, no way; I dislike him the way I disliked Grant Green in his draft (not that Grant had his speed). Someone will fall in love with his speed, especially after watching some Billy Hamilton highlight tapes, but I am not that someone.

 

 

Bradley Zimmer: I hate him with the apathy of a thousand emo kids.  No. Just... No.