2017 MLB Draft

I like Ramos, but was more hoping for them to try to work it so he would drop to their 2nd pick and they could overslot him. Not sure I like him at 15 unless he's willing to sign way under slot and it allows them to get another 1st round talent with one of their later picks.

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/spo...ros-in-for-busy-first-day-of-MLB-11211129.php

Spoiler

Seven weeks ahead of a pivotal July 31 trade deadline, the best team in baseball has a unique opportunity to beef up an already strong farm system.

The Astros own five of the top 91 picks of this week's MLB draft, which means that much more inventory in the prospect well. They have four selections in Monday's first and second rounds: their first at No. 15, their second at No. 53 and the Nos. 56 and 75 picks they received from the St. Louis Cardinals as restitution for the hacking scandal.


This year's draft class has generally not been viewed as particularly strong, though it certainly is unique in that it features several two-way players at the top. Vanderbilt righthander Kyle Wright, two-way Southern California high schooler Hunter Greene, and Louisville first baseman/lefthander Brendan McKay headline the class.

The draft, held at MLB Network's studios in Secaucus, N.J., begins Monday at 6 p.m. It continues with the third through 10th rounds Tuesday starting at noon.

"I think you always hear mixed things about the strength of a draft class, and at the time it never feels sensational," said Astros assistant general manager Mike Elias, who run the team's draft. "But then you look back in a few years and there was always some pretty good players somewhere in the draft. We've just got to find them.

"I actually think this is a pretty good class. I'm glad we have the picks. There's a lot of players we like with those picks, and we're going to get to grab five of them in the first 100."

Elias, in his sixth draft with the Astros, said as of Friday the team had a list of more than 20 players it was considering for its first selection at No. 15. All of the Astros' amateur scouts arrived in Houston on Friday, and their amateur scouting department was set to meet through the weekend to build the team's draft board.

Healthy bonus pool

In Elias' opinion, this year's class is "pretty evenly spread" among the player demographics and player types. The Astros won't go in with a particular positional emphasis.

"I hope that we're able to grab some pitchers just because every year you need to restock," he said. "But we'll take five position players if that's who we feel like are the best players."

The Astros, who also have the 91st overall pick in Tuesday's third round, have the 11th-largest bonus pool ($9,039,600) because of the money attached to the two picks they added from St. Louis. The extra pool money affords them the ability to be creative if they feel they can derive more value.

"We're not going to force it if we don't feel like it's going to do anything for us," Elias said. "But if we get in a situation where we feel the better option on our board is a player who happens to be significantly more signable and maybe a less expensive sign than another guy, then we will view that as a bonus, and then we'll try to redeploy any extra funds that we save elsewhere in the draft.

"Or the reverse might happen where there's an expensive talent remaining on the board and you take him and then you've got to make up some ground later by picking some seniors. So we'll just see what is available and work around it."

The 56th overall pick the Astros received from the Cardinals didn't create much extra work for their scouting staff because they will consider the same group of players they look at for the 53rd selection.

The 75th pick is the one that ensured another pocket of prospects to scout more heavily.

Lining up their options

The Astros recently held regional workouts for draft prospects in Atlanta, Los Angeles, at their new spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. and at Minute Maid Park.

Elias will run the war room at the team's Union Station offices. It's expected the Astros will make their first selection Monday at approximately 7:25 p.m.

"We expect to line up a list of players that will take us all the way through the picks of the first evening, and then we'll see what's left on the board andreorganize for day two," Elias said.

 

http://nypost.com/2017/06/11/perks-and-downside-of-being-a-rods-nephew-whose-day-is-here/

Spoiler

Joe Dunand Jr. never wondered about his future. He never had to weigh different career paths.

For as long as he can remember, it was always baseball. After all, he wanted to emulate his uncle. Of course, this wasn’t just any ordinary uncle who had a few shining moments on the diamond.

It was Alex Rodriguez.

“It’s been a dream of mine since I was a baby [to play professional baseball],” the 21-year-old N.C. State infielder said in a phone interview prior to this week’s MLB Draft, which begins Monday night. “Growing up in the clubhouses, hanging around my uncle, being around [major league players], seeing what those guys did for a living, there’s nothing better than playing baseball.

“Those moments influenced my dreams.”

He’s closing in on one of those dreams: Getting drafted. After a stellar high school career at Gulliver Prep in Miami — which included setting a national high school record of hitting eight home runs in eight straight at-bats — Dunand landed a scholarship at N.C. State. He had a strong career there, blasting 18 home runs this year and helping the Wolfpack reach the NCAA Tournament.

But the 6-foot-2, 205-pound prospect insists he wouldn’t be where he is without his famous uncle. He often spent time with A-Rod during the summer, going on road trips, and also visited spring training. He took batting practice and fielded ground balls with his uncle and other Yankees.

He always has been able to get advice from Rodriguez, whom he affectionately called “Tio Alex,” — Uncle Alex in Spanish — growing up. The best wisdom A-Rod has given him is emphasizing the importance of eating healthy and maintaining his focus and routine in difficult times.

“Alex has been a guiding light for Joe,” said his father, Joe Dunand Sr., who is A-Rod’s half-brother. “Alex has been very frank. When he hasn’t looked good, he tells him, ‘You have to work on this.’ Or when he has looked good, he tells him [what he’s doing well].

“He really sees the talent [in Joe]. He tells him all the time, ‘Joe, you can play this game 12-15 years.’”

Scouts see his promise. He is ranked No. 130 by Baseball America, and one American League crosschecker who is familiar with him said he believes he can go as high as the third round. Dunand’s 18 homers this year were tied for 20th-most in the nation, and the scout raved about the potential in his bat.

“He has a chance to have plus power,” the scout said. “Fifteen-to-20-home-run type [of guy]. He has plenty of raw power.”

Being Rodriguez’s nephew did have a downside. There have been unfair comparisons to one of the sport’s all-time greats. Dunand would get heckled because of his lightning rod of an uncle’s past transgressions with performance-enhancing drugs. It taught him at a young age how to deal with criticism.

“That helped me deal with adversity,” he said. “Anywhere I go, I feel I’m going to hear stuff about my uncle, about my family. I don’t pay attention to things people say. I know what my family is about. I know what my uncle is about. I know what I’m about.”

When Dunand watched Rodriguez in his days in the big leagues, he always envisioned himself in the same position one day. That remains the goal, not merely to get drafted and reach the majors, but carve out a career for himself. It’s more realistic now, and it could all start with hearing his name called this week.

“We take those steps to get to this step,” Dunand said. “It starts all over when you get drafted.”

Then, another dream begins.

 

Been doing this since 2013 on a Blue Jays forum (I feel old lol)! I remember being high on A.J Puk out of high school back in 2013 having him in my "Wouldn't Mind" category which means not my first choice but a solid pick which I can't trash . An oversight on my part as I should've put him in the 1st category. It's funny looking back on this and seeing guys I hit on and guys I completely missed on. I wish I had put in order guys I liked ranging from best to worse. Finally did that this year so for guys potentially in our range but I haven't numbered them to make it similar looking to lists of year's past. Austin Beck for the guys potentially in our range is # 1 on my board and Steve Jennings would be #15. I remember having Aaron Judge # 2 on my individual board only to Trey Ball (ouch) in 2013. These are my lists since 2013.

2013

Want: Ball, Frazier, Meadows, Shipley, Judge, Bickford, Harvey
Wouldn't Mind: Renfoe, Tim Anderson, Boldt, Balog, Kaminsky, Salazar, AJ Puk, Stephen Gonzalves
Worried About/Hesitant About Us Picking: Ryne Stanek, Jonathan Crawford, Ryan Eades, Trevor Williams
Deck McGuire Clones/Stay Away From: Marco Gonzales, Ziomek, Mitchell, Crowe



2014

Want: Holmes, Gettys, Gillaspie, Monte Harrison, Hoffman
Wouldn't Mind; Chavis, Beede, Freeland, Davidson, Weaver
Worried About/Hesitant About Us Picking: Finnegan, Fedde, Howard, Wilson, Forrest Wall
Deck McGuire Clones/Stay Away From: Reid-Foley, Dillion Peters, Daniel Gossett, Jace Fry, Skoglund




2015
Want: Mitch Hansen, Chandler Day, Justin Hooper, Jackson Kowar, Demi Orimoyole, Chris Shaw,
Wouldn’t Mind:, Bryan Hoeing, Triston McKenzie, Alonzo Jones, Bryan Hudson, Mike Soroka
Worried About/Hesitant About Us Picking: Michael Mantuella, Kevin Newman, Alex Young, Blake Trahan, Drew Finney
Deck McGuire Clones/Stay Away From: Cody Ponce, James Kaprielian, Nathan Kirby, Kyle Molnar, David Hill



2016


Want: Forrest Whitley, Cal Quantrill, Braxton Garrett, Joey Wentz, Ian Anderson, Alex Kirilloff, Kevin Gowdy
Wouldn’t Mind: Cole Ragans, Drew Mendoza, William Benson, Anfernee Grier, Zach Burdi, AlecHansen
Worried About/Hesitant About Us Picking: Matt Manning, Dakota Hudson, Jordan Sheffield, Bryan Reynolds, Robet Tyler, T.J. Zeuch,
Deck McGuire Clones/Stay Away From: Connor Jones, Corbin Burnes, Kyle Funkhouser, Griffin Jax

And Now This Year:

Want: Austin Beck, Jo Adell, Drew Waters, Mark Vientos, Trevor Rogers, Hugh Fisher, Tommy Mace, Evan Steele
Wouldn't Mind: Michael Mercado, Terry Fuller, Brendan Little, Shane Baz, Blayne Enlow, Sam Carlson, Steven Jennings
Worried About/Hesitant About Us Picking: J.B. Buskauskas, Corbin Martin, Tanner Houck, Alex Lange, Seth Romero, Matt Sauer
Jio Mier Clones//Stay Away From: Blake Hunt, Matt Whatley, Seth Corry, Riley Otteson, Michael Baumann, Adam Oviedo

Note that the previous lists of draft prospects were for where the Blue Jays were picking in every draft since 2013. for this year I expanded the range for my picks as anyone not named Hunter Greene, MacKenzie Gore, Brendan McKay, Kyle Wright and maybe Royce Lewis could conceivably drop.

f I come home from the gym in time today, I'll see if i can post a personal top 200 board; either the whole thing on this site which may be long and take up space or a link from a site where that list will be posted

 

Am I one of the few that actually gets stoked by the MLB draft?

Thanks to all for the links and updates.

 

I just wanted to say thanks for all that you do.

I have become interested in the draft because of the info you put out there and in the minor leagues because of the great info you and others put out there.

It's been very educational and informative.

Thanks

 

Quoted for truth. If there was just @tellitlikeitis minor league stuff on this forum, it be a daily stop for me. THANKS!

 

I do NOT want Houston to pick Burger. Looks like no way Beck will drop to 15, so Kendall and Baz are the two guys I hope drop to them. Looks like Bukauskas might have a shot at slipping and he seems like a very Astros type prospect (big time velocity fastball combined with elite slider).

Would be ok with White, Huira, or Peterson but not thrilled. The other guy I've seen linked is Ramos and I just don't see him as a mid-1st round talent, so I'd only be happy if he was a big time underslot guy.

 

Huira/Baz/Rodgers are my favs.

I dont know nears as much about these prospects as alot of you do. But these pitchers have Whitley type upside from the vids I've seen and you cant go wrong taking Huira who supposedly is the best bat in the draft.

 

Just curious, what don't you like about Burger? Lack of athleticism?

 

Yes, I think he'll have to move to 1B which would put a lot of pressure on the bat. I consider him a value similar to JD Davis.

 

Hiura, Kendall, Baz are my three favorites. Hiura especially, think he could be an All-Star level bat.

 

Longenhagen has Baz in his final mock. That'd be awesome.

 

Moneyball, oh Moneyball, the most misunderstood business teaching tool that has ever existed:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19571006/did-moneyball-teach-us-mlb-selling-jeans

(may have been posted, didn't see it)

 

We need a running back!

A part of me enjoys having all this info., but another part of me thinks it's ruining the game.