Minor League Ball's Mock Draft

[danman31]

John Sickels' Minor League Ball blog (Link) had a mock draft today. People participated representing each team. mrkupe took the Sox and drafted the following:

29) White Sox: Adrian Cardenas, INF, Florida HS

73) White Sox: Cory Rasmus, RHP, Alabama HS

105) White Sox: William Benson, C, Illinois HS

135) White Sox: Charles Brewer, RHP, Arizona HS

165) White Sox: Ryan Jackson, SS, Florida HS

 

I was the Pirates and made a lot of picks I'm not even sure on heh. It's tough when someone takes somebody you are going for and don't know enough of the high school guys to take one of them with good confidence. I really doubt the Sox go all HS but after the World Series win it's possible.

 

On a sidenote, I'll have a look at the top college pitchers in the draft up on FutureSox tonight. Hopefully Monday I can do a piece on the top college hitters. I'd cover high school, but I wouldn't really don't know anything. With the way the Sox draft college players anyway, that's not the worst I guess.

[mrkupe]

John Sickels' Minor League Ball blog (Link) had a mock draft today. People participated representing each team. mrkupe took the Sox and drafted the following:

29) White Sox: Adrian Cardenas, INF, Florida HS

73) White Sox: Cory Rasmus, RHP, Alabama HS

105) White Sox: William Benson, C, Illinois HS

135) White Sox: Charles Brewer, RHP, Arizona HS

165) White Sox: Ryan Jackson, SS, Florida HS

 

I was the Pirates and made a lot of picks I'm not even sure on heh. It's tough when someone takes somebody you are going for and don't know enough of the high school guys to take one of them with good confidence. I really doubt the Sox go all HS but after the World Series win it's possible.

 

On a sidenote, I'll have a look at the top college pitchers in the draft up on FutureSox tonight. Hopefully Monday I can do a piece on the top college hitters. I'd cover high school, but I wouldn't really don't know anything. With the way the Sox draft college players anyway, that's not the worst I guess.

 

I am the aforementioned mrkupe. I believe you jumped into the mock draft a little late, as I'm pretty certain you didn't make that Reynolds pick. I'm curious, who would you have taken if you had been around at #4? My own inclination, trying to take it from the perspective of what would help the Pirates the most, would have been to take Drabek or maybe Linecum.

 

I have to be honest, whether a player is out of HS or college doesn't make much of a difference to me as long as he's the guy that you feel is the best fit for the organization in terms of talent, position, and intangibles. My general intent was not necessarily to duplicate what the White Sox would do so much as it was to draft in a manner that would be beneficial to the team.

 

The upper levels of our minor league system are pretty much stocked, IMO. The major league team is virtually totally locked up in contracts for the foreseeable future, and we have a bunch of guys in the pipeline who are going to be deserving of chances to contribute in the near future. In my eyes, that gives the White Sox the luxury of looking at players who can develop in the lower minors and strengthen the overall pipeline of talent.

 

In the first round, I was considering 4 players: Chris Tillman, Tyler Colvin, Jordan Walden, and Adrian Cardenas (who I had been hiding my interest in). I was somewhat surprised to see neither of Tillman and Walden available at my pick, which left Colvin and Cardenas. I should note, I LOVE Colvin and would be glad to see the real Sox grab this guy. He's a great blend of tools, performance, power, speed, makeup, pretty much everything you could want in a prospect. If I had been doing this from a "total realism" perspective, I likely would've made Colvin the pick. However, I decided to gamble with Cardenas, an impressive middle infielder who has a very promising bat. He might be considered a slight reach by some, but in this draft there are very few guarantees and he provides the potential of plus offensive ability at premium positions. The addition of Cardenas along with Ryan Jackson, a guy who offers premium defense at shortstop along with underrated offensive ability, turns an organizational weakness into a strength that could produce at least one solid major league middle infielder.

 

Benson's a raw player but has impressive tools, and as a local player I think he's somebody the White Sox might want to take a look at. He'll need some development time but that's not a problem for us.

 

I don't see a need to add MORE college pitching to this organization at the moment, especially with the major league rotation solidified for the foreseeable future. I decided to take a look at a couple of nice arms that can spend a couple of years maturing in the lower levels of the minors. Rasmus has two plus pitches and I think he could be a major steal - I do know that there were numerous teams in the mock draft who passed on him in round 2 thinking that he could be had in round 3. I've really liked what I've read of Brewer as well, a guy who offers a nice combination of projection and polish, and he's a guy who should be signed away from college at all costs IMO. In a couple of years we could be looking at a guy who has three plus pitches to go with top-shelf velocity.

 

I'll be keeping an eye on things to respond to inquiries if anybody is so inclined. I have at least fairly well developed thoughts on a lot of prospects, especially those projected as round 1-2 picks.

[BHAMBARONS]

John Sickels' Minor League Ball blog (Link) had a mock draft today. People participated representing each team. mrkupe took the Sox and drafted the following:

29) White Sox: Adrian Cardenas, INF, Florida HS

73) White Sox: Cory Rasmus, RHP, Alabama HS

105) White Sox: William Benson, C, Illinois HS

135) White Sox: Charles Brewer, RHP, Arizona HS

165) White Sox: Ryan Jackson, SS, Florida HS

 

I was the Pirates and made a lot of picks I'm not even sure on heh. It's tough when someone takes somebody you are going for and don't know enough of the high school guys to take one of them with good confidence. I really doubt the Sox go all HS but after the World Series win it's possible.

 

On a sidenote, I'll have a look at the top college pitchers in the draft up on FutureSox tonight. Hopefully Monday I can do a piece on the top college hitters. I'd cover high school, but I wouldn't really don't know anything. With the way the Sox draft college players anyway, that's not the worst I guess.

 

Cory Rasmus is a good one if he slips that far the Sox's need to scoop him up, I watched him and his brother last year play in the Alabama State tournment. Really like Rasmus

[Rex Hudler]

Cory Rasmus is a good one if he slips that far the Sox's need to scoop him up, I watched him and his brother last year play in the Alabama State tournment. Really like Rasmus

 

He and his brother were the stars of the Phenix City, AL team that played in the Little League World Series.

[BHAMBARONS]

He and his brother were the stars of the Phenix City, AL team that played in the Little League World Series.

 

 

Yeah I could not remeber where they were from but did know they were a part of the little league champs.

 

His brother went to the Cards last year first rounder

[danman31]

I am the aforementioned mrkupe. I believe you jumped into the mock draft a little late, as I'm pretty certain you didn't make that Reynolds pick. I'm curious, who would you have taken if you had been around at #4? My own inclination, trying to take it from the perspective of what would help the Pirates the most, would have been to take Drabek or maybe Linecum.

Yeah, I missed out on the 1st round. If I was drafting I probably would have gone with Brandow Morrow at 4, but would have been disappointed Lincoln wasn't available. I definitely wasn't expecting Lincoln to fall, but I also wasn't expecting Longoria to not go by then. I would have taken Lincoln if he was available, then Lincecum, then Morrow. Pretty big drop off after Lincecum IMO.

 

I really like Colvin too so picked him up in the 2nd round. 3rd round I went with Carpenter because I felt he was a good value pick at that spot. 4th round I was going to go with Shawn Tolleson and was pretty set on him, but he was taken only 2 picks before me. I wanted both Nathan Culp, LHP of Missouri, and Shane Robinson, but I figured Culp would be more likely to slip. Of course Culp went late 4th round to my dismay. I really like Culp, it's a homer pick considering I go to Mizzou, but he is a lefty with great control. I think take him away from metal bats and get him a better defense (Mizzou's is pretty poor) and his performances should sore in the pros.

 

He and his brother were the stars of the Phenix City, AL team that played in the Little League World Series.

Wow, that's weird. I knew I had heard that name before, but didn't know from where. I guess I remembered him from the LLWS. Sometimes you surprise yourself with what you remember heh.