Draft Pick Update
Based on performance alone, you have to add a new name. Probably not one that will float all the way to #2, but check out what he's done so far:
Danny Hultzen, LHP, Virginia: 5 GS, 4-0, 1.05 ERA, 34.1 IP, 19 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 62 K
No typo: 4 walks, 62(!) strikeouts. Hultzen is a lefty of roughly the Bedard template: low-90s and breaking stuff, but quite a bit bigger at 6-3, 200. Also an all-around athlete who plays 1b with a .316/.414/.421 batting line when not pitching. Scouts are not impressed enough with the breaking pitches for him to go #2, but he's getting himself noticed.
Lines like Hultzen's do make one wonder if all the pitchters will be wildly overrated due to the new, less-springy college bats.
This week's update:
1. Anthony Rendon, RH Rice 3b: The more Rendon doesn't play 3b (ankle and shoulder issues), the less gold-plated he looks. Bat is still solid, with a .338/.500/.563 line, 24 BB vs. 12 K. Some are moving to a "1/1A" scenario with Rendon and Cole a tossup. I still like Rendon better
2. Gerrit Cole, RH UCLA starter: Rained out over the weekend, so Cole is pitching this afternoon. I'll try to come back and update.
3. Matt Purke, LH TCU starter: Showed the dominance that moved him into everyone's top 5 -- but not logging very many innings due to various dings and circumstances:
vs. UNLV -- 5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K
I love Purke, but he seems like the biggest risk of the top 3, and also roughly comparable to Paxton, who is already signed on the dotted line.
4. Sonny Gray, RH Vanderbilt starter: Started the year a notch below Cole and Purke, and hasn't done anything to deserve demotion.
vs. Miss State -- 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 10 K
5. Bubba Starling, RH Kansas HS CF: Still 0-for-0 (season starts Mar. 28). Could still make himself impossible to pass up, and probably the only one who could dislodge Rendon or Cole. But you'd have to be reeeeeeally sure he's worth the risk, and I'm a skeptic.
On the bubble: Hultzen, George Springer (RH UConn OF), Francisco Lindor (SH Florida HS SS), Matt Barnes (RH UConn starter)