The MLB Draft started yesterday, as you know, with the first two rounds and will continue today with rounds three through 10. Rounds 11-40 are completed on Wednesday. Each player has until July 17 to sign, so that’s the date to watch for those with college eligibility remaining.
There was no reason for me to delve into Ole Miss’ situation, as no one was being picked yesterday, and it’s possible no Ole Miss players or signees are picked today. It’s expected to be a lighter year for the Rebels and the Draft. For the current team, that explains some of the issues with the mediocre season. Baseball America doesn’t have any Ole Miss players or signees in its top 500 draft-eligible list.
The class that would be draft eligible juniors was gutted back in 2012 with three first round picks, Zach Irwin being academically ineligible and the Chase Nyman thing. Even so, here’s a look at what you should watch for the next two days. On Wednesday, there could be some surprises as teams just start picking players and seeing what happens.
On the current team, I talked about Christian Trent and Jacob Waguespack being the ones to follow a month ago, and that remains the case today. Trent, a 29th round selection a year ago, has graduated and loses all leverage if he returns in 2016. I expect him to be taken in the middle of Wednesday’s action, and my guess is he decides to go.
Waguespack is the wild card because he’s 6-foot-6, throws in the 90s and doesn’t have a history of arm trouble — other than some bone chips earlier in his career. The delivery is easy enough, and scouts believe he can get more extension on his release point and become more effective. He was pretty solid for Ole Miss in the second half of the season, and I have a hunch he might be off the board before Trent. My guess is he will sign if a deal is appropriate, though I have zero sources around that. It’s just a guess.
No other current players stick out as risks. I think Brady Bramlett comes back even if drafted.
With the signees, Nick Fortes is the top guy who can sign if he wants to, but he’s consistently presented a big number to the scouts, and he’s the candidate to be like Bobby Wahl or JB Woodman — falling deep in the draft because teams don’t think they can sign him. So the longer it goes the better for Ole Miss.
I’ve consistently heard Wallace State JUCO pitcher Chad Smith is a draft risk. He has been up in the high 90s with his velocity, and junior college kids are typically less reliable to predict when it comes to the draft. However, last week some of the talk of him leaving had died down. Either way, watch for his name, as I will stick by my opinion JUCO players are the quickest to sign if there’s not a lengthy relationship with the college.
Hinds pitcher Austin Sanders could sign if he wanted to, but he’s set on Ole Miss, I’ve been told throughout the process. Same with Memphis RHP Connor Green. Scouts foamed at the mouth over him during the postseason. He keeps his velocity up deep into pitch counts.
Other than Fortes, the high school prospect I’m interested in seeing with the draft is Desoto Central RHP Dallas Woolfolk. He’s been up to 94 MPH, but it projects as a reliever. The mechanics are high effort and short-armed. Teams don’t typically pay for relievers, so a huge offer isn’t expected. But the tools are there for Ole Miss to be a bit nervous the next two days.
Andy Pagnozzi isn’t expected to be a pro guy out of high school.
Other players may get drafted these two days, but those are the ones I think you should at least somewhat worry about if you hear there names. And it’s not in a vacuum. Other things on teams’ boards go screwy, and the situation and dollar figures potentially change for some of these prospects.
And, remember, it just takes one to blow it up. The Phillies took Jake Overbey in the 10th round. No other club had him projected higher than 30.
I got six of the eight teams right in Omaha from when Jeffrey and I picked the super regionals winners on the podcast. I missed Fullerton beating Louisville and Virginia beating Maryland. There was a lot of good baseball over the weekend.
Two years ago LSU and Vanderbilt had gaudy records entering the College World Series but bowed out quickly. A lot of that had to do with their styles in that park, and Vanderbilt could again be hampered by the drawn-in outfields and gross winds.
The Dores are the most talented team in the country, but they strike out a lot, and their offense isn’t built for TD Ameritrade. Also, their pitching staff gets behind in a ton of counts and will issue some free bases. I’m certainly not counting them out, but I think they are the team affected the most by playing there this week.
Vandy opens with Fullerton, and that’s also the best pitching matchup of the College World Series with Carson Fulmer against Thomas Eshelman. Both were drafted last night, and Fullerton’s game may translate well in that park. Fulmer needs to keep his pitch count in check against a team that tries to drive it up.
While on the subject, Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook pitched Eshelman in the final inning of last night’s win over Louisville. The Titan ace had thrown 110 pitches on Saturday. We were so close to getting through regionals and super regionals without any crazy pitcher abuse and then that happened. Eshelman was picked in the draft minutes after finishing the 11th inning.
I’ve seen some people say it’s just three outs, and he wanted the ball, but you just can’t go back to him right there. And I’m not one to always beat up the coaches, as I believe each pitcher is different in how he recovers and what is safe. But there’s no way that was good for Eshelman, who also threw 143 pitches in the regional. His one negative moving forward is workload. He threw more than 360 innings during his collegiate career. By comparison, Lance Lynn only threw 297 innings.
Also last night, Texas A&M sophomore Ryan Hendrix threw 99 pitches a day after throwing 34 pitches over 2.1 innings. Great effort by him, but it makes me grimace a bit.
For the love of variety, start seeding teams 1-16 instead of just 1-8 and quit pairing everything up geographically.
Had Louisville won, the Cardinals would have played Vanderbilt first in Omaha for the second year in a row and in the postseason for the fourth time and five or six years. Also, Florida was matched up with FSU in the super regional and now plays Miami first in Omaha. Split it up some. We have airplanes. Even if the committee is dead set on keeping things local for the first two rounds, there's a way to manipulate the bracket to avoid rematches in Omaha.
Also, I've never been higher on the idea of switching the postseason to a 3-3-3 format with three 2 of 3 series to get to Omaha instead of the current setup. Now, in saying that, Fullerton showed you can still abuse a pitcher in a three-game set. But change it up. Have the No. 1 seeds host the No. 4 seeds for a weekend and the No. 2 seeds host the No. 3 seeds. Winners play, and then you still have the super regional round.
There was no reason for me to delve into Ole Miss’ situation, as no one was being picked yesterday, and it’s possible no Ole Miss players or signees are picked today. It’s expected to be a lighter year for the Rebels and the Draft. For the current team, that explains some of the issues with the mediocre season. Baseball America doesn’t have any Ole Miss players or signees in its top 500 draft-eligible list.
The class that would be draft eligible juniors was gutted back in 2012 with three first round picks, Zach Irwin being academically ineligible and the Chase Nyman thing. Even so, here’s a look at what you should watch for the next two days. On Wednesday, there could be some surprises as teams just start picking players and seeing what happens.
On the current team, I talked about Christian Trent and Jacob Waguespack being the ones to follow a month ago, and that remains the case today. Trent, a 29th round selection a year ago, has graduated and loses all leverage if he returns in 2016. I expect him to be taken in the middle of Wednesday’s action, and my guess is he decides to go.
Waguespack is the wild card because he’s 6-foot-6, throws in the 90s and doesn’t have a history of arm trouble — other than some bone chips earlier in his career. The delivery is easy enough, and scouts believe he can get more extension on his release point and become more effective. He was pretty solid for Ole Miss in the second half of the season, and I have a hunch he might be off the board before Trent. My guess is he will sign if a deal is appropriate, though I have zero sources around that. It’s just a guess.
No other current players stick out as risks. I think Brady Bramlett comes back even if drafted.
With the signees, Nick Fortes is the top guy who can sign if he wants to, but he’s consistently presented a big number to the scouts, and he’s the candidate to be like Bobby Wahl or JB Woodman — falling deep in the draft because teams don’t think they can sign him. So the longer it goes the better for Ole Miss.
I’ve consistently heard Wallace State JUCO pitcher Chad Smith is a draft risk. He has been up in the high 90s with his velocity, and junior college kids are typically less reliable to predict when it comes to the draft. However, last week some of the talk of him leaving had died down. Either way, watch for his name, as I will stick by my opinion JUCO players are the quickest to sign if there’s not a lengthy relationship with the college.
Hinds pitcher Austin Sanders could sign if he wanted to, but he’s set on Ole Miss, I’ve been told throughout the process. Same with Memphis RHP Connor Green. Scouts foamed at the mouth over him during the postseason. He keeps his velocity up deep into pitch counts.
Other than Fortes, the high school prospect I’m interested in seeing with the draft is Desoto Central RHP Dallas Woolfolk. He’s been up to 94 MPH, but it projects as a reliever. The mechanics are high effort and short-armed. Teams don’t typically pay for relievers, so a huge offer isn’t expected. But the tools are there for Ole Miss to be a bit nervous the next two days.
Andy Pagnozzi isn’t expected to be a pro guy out of high school.
Other players may get drafted these two days, but those are the ones I think you should at least somewhat worry about if you hear there names. And it’s not in a vacuum. Other things on teams’ boards go screwy, and the situation and dollar figures potentially change for some of these prospects.
And, remember, it just takes one to blow it up. The Phillies took Jake Overbey in the 10th round. No other club had him projected higher than 30.
I got six of the eight teams right in Omaha from when Jeffrey and I picked the super regionals winners on the podcast. I missed Fullerton beating Louisville and Virginia beating Maryland. There was a lot of good baseball over the weekend.
Two years ago LSU and Vanderbilt had gaudy records entering the College World Series but bowed out quickly. A lot of that had to do with their styles in that park, and Vanderbilt could again be hampered by the drawn-in outfields and gross winds.
The Dores are the most talented team in the country, but they strike out a lot, and their offense isn’t built for TD Ameritrade. Also, their pitching staff gets behind in a ton of counts and will issue some free bases. I’m certainly not counting them out, but I think they are the team affected the most by playing there this week.
Vandy opens with Fullerton, and that’s also the best pitching matchup of the College World Series with Carson Fulmer against Thomas Eshelman. Both were drafted last night, and Fullerton’s game may translate well in that park. Fulmer needs to keep his pitch count in check against a team that tries to drive it up.
While on the subject, Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook pitched Eshelman in the final inning of last night’s win over Louisville. The Titan ace had thrown 110 pitches on Saturday. We were so close to getting through regionals and super regionals without any crazy pitcher abuse and then that happened. Eshelman was picked in the draft minutes after finishing the 11th inning.
I’ve seen some people say it’s just three outs, and he wanted the ball, but you just can’t go back to him right there. And I’m not one to always beat up the coaches, as I believe each pitcher is different in how he recovers and what is safe. But there’s no way that was good for Eshelman, who also threw 143 pitches in the regional. His one negative moving forward is workload. He threw more than 360 innings during his collegiate career. By comparison, Lance Lynn only threw 297 innings.
Also last night, Texas A&M sophomore Ryan Hendrix threw 99 pitches a day after throwing 34 pitches over 2.1 innings. Great effort by him, but it makes me grimace a bit.
For the love of variety, start seeding teams 1-16 instead of just 1-8 and quit pairing everything up geographically.
Had Louisville won, the Cardinals would have played Vanderbilt first in Omaha for the second year in a row and in the postseason for the fourth time and five or six years. Also, Florida was matched up with FSU in the super regional and now plays Miami first in Omaha. Split it up some. We have airplanes. Even if the committee is dead set on keeping things local for the first two rounds, there's a way to manipulate the bracket to avoid rematches in Omaha.
Also, I've never been higher on the idea of switching the postseason to a 3-3-3 format with three 2 of 3 series to get to Omaha instead of the current setup. Now, in saying that, Fullerton showed you can still abuse a pitcher in a three-game set. But change it up. Have the No. 1 seeds host the No. 4 seeds for a weekend and the No. 2 seeds host the No. 3 seeds. Winners play, and then you still have the super regional round.
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