Official Day 1 Draft Thread

[RockRaines]

Good, because we all know their big league squad has plenty of talent.

Thats one of the reasons the the cubs blow. What a horrible idea, especially for aguy who has a better future in football.

[Gene Honda Civic]

I don't think Tyler Reeves is bad. Give me a guy who could hit .300 with 13 hr's anyday. He sounds like an AJ Pierzynski clone. Anyone know how good of a game he calls?

Guys who "hit .300" in college are a dime a dozen.

 

His nearly 2:1 K/BB ratio in college speaks volumes about hitting ability. For comparison's sake, Josh Fields, in the same conference, was about 1:1

[Chisoxfn]

Cubs take Smardtza

[fathom]

Reeves is our Rich Brooks pick of 2006

[nitetrain8601]

Reading between the lines, it sounds to me like they are saying they need to rebuild his motion or he is an injury risk. Meh.

 

I know what it's saying, and I stated my stance on him.

 

He wasn't one of the top 100 prospects in Texas, and that's not because he was an unknown. I also just learned that the Cubs are expected to try and make Jeff S. choose between baseball and football with a monster signing bonus.

 

He also didn't play D-1 Baseball for more than a year. Plus he has a great arm. At the very least, he becomes another Olivo who we trade for another Freddy Garcia.

[maggsmaggs]

I know what it's saying, and I stated my stance on him.

He also didn't play D-1 Baseball for more than a year. Plus he has a great arm. At the very least, he becomes another Olivo who we trade for another Freddy Garcia.

Miguel Olivo's arm rated on par with Pudge's. He also had amazing speed for a catcher and some good power. In terms of potential at the time, Olivo was a top ten catching prospect in the minors. Reeves and Olivo are not comparable.

[nitetrain8601]

Miguel Olivo's arm rated on par with Pudge's. He also had amazing speed for a catcher and some good power. In terms of potential at the time, Olivo was a top ten catching prospect in the minors. Reeves and Olivo are not comparable.

 

1)Arm was overrated. He called a ton of pitchouts to get the basestealer out.

 

2)I haven't heard much about Reeves' speed, is he slow?

 

3)13 HR's is good for a catcher. How many catchers currently hit 20HR's in the league? I will venture to say it's less than half.

 

4)Top ten catching prospect, meh it's debatable.

[Chisoxfn]

1)Arm was overrated. He called a ton of pitchouts to get the basestealer out.

 

2)I haven't heard much about Reeves' speed, is he slow?

 

3)13 HR's is good for a catcher. How many catchers currently hit 20HR's in the league? I will venture to say it's less than half.

 

4)Top ten catching prospect, meh it's debatable.

Just cause he hit 13 Hr's doesn't mean he'll hit 20 in the majors. Olivo had an absolute cannon (nothing was over-rated about his arm).

[nitetrain8601]

Just cause he hit 13 Hr's doesn't mean he'll hit 20 in the majors. Olivo had an absolute cannon (nothing was over-rated about his arm).

 

I'll agree to disagree.

[maggsmaggs]

1)Arm was overrated. He called a ton of pitchouts to get the basestealer out.

 

2)I haven't heard much about Reeves' speed, is he slow?

 

3)13 HR's is good for a catcher. How many catchers currently hit 20HR's in the league? I will venture to say it's less than half.

 

4)Top ten catching prospect, meh it's debatable.

Olivo's arm was terrific, probably an 80 on the scouting scale, but he did not call a good game and work well with pitchers. 13 homers in college is good, but he doesn't possess 20+ power b/c if he did, he would have been ranked in the top 100 prospects of Texas.

 

Sox coming up again, please Dellin Betances.

 

John Shelby, 2b from Kentucky.

[Chisoxfn]

A 2nd baseman out of Kentucky with some speed and pop.

[maggsmaggs]

2. John Shelby, 2b(National rank: 158)

School: Kentucky. Class: So.

Hometown: Lexington, Ky.

B-T: R-R. Ht.: 5-11. Wt.: 185. Birthdate: 8/6/85.

Scouting Report: The top prospect in the Bluegrass state is the son of former major leaguer and current Pirates coach John Shelby and has been a key contributor to the Wildcats' first regional berth since 1993. Shelby went undrafted out of high school but hit .344-10-52 as a sophomore to put his name on the prospect radar. He played his best late in the year, and had hit nine of his 13 home runs in Southeastern Conference play. Shelby has good bat speed and an aggressive approach. He has an uppercut in his swing, which lends slightly above-average power. He needs to improve his strike-zone discipline. He spent most of his freshman year playing outfield, and played shortstop and second base as well. Consensus suggests second base is his future position, and he showed better hands and improved his body control on throws from all angles at second this spring. His instincts figure to help him become an average defender. He's a slightly above-average runner.

[daa84]

Saw shelby play...love this pick...hes got power and speed...much more tools than getz had last year

[maggsmaggs]

Saw shelby play...love this pick...hes got power and speed...much more tools than getz had last year

He sounds like a future starter while Getz is viewed most likely as a utility player.

[knightni]

Is that John Shelby Jr.?

[maggsmaggs]

Is that John Shelby Jr.?

Pirates bench coach's son, you gotta it.

[fathom]

Is that John Shelby Jr.?

 

Yep

[knightni]

Ex-Oriole.

[Heads22]

actually john shelby III

[danman31]

Looks like Shelby decided to hit for more power this year. Last year .344 with 10 HR, this year .291 with 18 HR and 18 doubles. That's very good power, but .291 isn't that great. Still a pretty good value pick if the Sox think they can develop him.

 

On a sidenote the Cardinals took OF Shane Robinson from Florida St. to close out round 5. Robinson hit .427 as a sophomore, but only hit .361 this year. Between him and Degerman I love the Cardinals draft so far.

Edited June 6, 2006 by danman31

[Gene Honda Civic]

He sounds like a future starter while Getz is viewed most likely as a utility player.

Getz is the "safer" pick in that he's a plus defender at second, with the possibilty to fill in at short, and has extremely good strike zone control.

 

Shelby has a higher upside with his power and speed, but has obvious holes in his swing which could prevent him from ever reaching the bigs.

[Chisoxfn]

I really really like this pick.

 

FutureSox

• John Shelby, 2B - Son of former big leaguer John Shelby, Shelby was drafted in the 4th round out of the University of Kentucky. After a sluggish start (was hitting just .239 entering play on April 21st), Shelby finished the year hitting .291 with 18 HR, 18 2B, 56 RBI, and 12 stolen bases. Shelby needs to improve his strike zone discipline, but despite that he did draw 32 walks, but his upper cut swing lead to 51 strikeouts. In 05, he hit .344 with 10 HR's and was ranked as the 158th best draft eligible prospect by BA and was the 2nd best prospect out of the state of Kentucky. Shelby was drafted for his bat and he figures to stick at 2nd, but he also played OF and SS with the Wildcats.

 

Getz is the "safer" pick in that he's a plus defender at second, with the possibilty to fill in at short, and has extremely good strike zone control.

 

Shelby has a higher upside with his power and speed, but has obvious holes in his swing which could prevent him from ever reaching the bigs.

He reminds me a lot of Todd Walker or Adam Kennedy.

[CWSGuy406]

I know what it's saying, and I stated my stance on him.

He also didn't play D-1 Baseball for more than a year. Plus he has a great arm. At the very least, he becomes another Olivo who we trade for another Freddy Garcia.

 

Hehe -- it's funny you actually think that him hitting .300 will transfer directly to the majors.

 

If you hit .300 in college, it's nothing special.

 

But go ahead, keep criticizing the Sox for not drafting hard-throwers, I almost forgot that you're one of the top scouts in the country.

[Heads22]

Reif's blog

 

Draft Day

 

First-Year Player Draft

Today is one of MLBAM's biggest days of on-line activity ... draft day.

I cannot come close to the amount of coverage and insight BAM provides on the amateur draft. If you want that, check out mlb.com or whitesox.com.

What I can give you is a look into the draft room during the first round ...

First, the facts from our press release:

The Chicago White Sox selected right-handed pitcher Kyle McCulloch of the University of Texas with their first-round pick (29th overall) in today’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

McCulloch, 21, was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year after going 8-5 with a 3.61 ERA (44 ER/109.2 IP) and one save in 19 games (18 starts) during his junior season with the Longhorns in 2006. The right-hander led Texas to a 41-21 record and a berth in the NCAA Regionals.

“Kyle is someone we have followed now for a number of years,” said Duane Shaffer, White Sox Senior Director of Player Personnel. “He’s enjoyed success at every level, he’s consistently exceeded the competition in every league and at every level, and we are very confident in his ability to help in the big leagues in the near future.”

The Houston native led the Longhorns in wins, IP, starts and strikeouts (82) in 2006. The 6-foot-3, 185-pounder also earned his second straight First-Team All-Big 12 selection and was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Second-Team. McCulloch was the winning pitcher in the 2005 College World Series national championship game vs. the University of Florida, striking out eight over 6.2 IP.

“I am very excited to have been selected by the World Champion Chicago White Sox,” said McCulloch, who pitched on the USA Baseball National Team last summer. “I cannot wait to start my professional career with such a great organization.”

McCulloch joins right-handed pitcher Lance Broadway (2005, 15th overall), infielder Josh Fields (2004, 18th), outfielder Brian Anderson (2003, 15th), left-handed pitcher Royce Ring (2002, 18th) and right-handed pitcher Kris Honel (2001, 16th) as the last six first-round picks. McCulloch was recommended by White Sox scout Keith Staab.

Now the behind-the-scenes stuff ...

McCulloch was our player all along. Our scouting staff was hoping he would still be available and on the board when we picked, late in the first round, at 29.

Everyone in the conference room, about 20 people in all, including Ken Williams, Rick Hahn and Duane Shaffer, held their breath late in the first round, especially when the Red Sox had back-to-back picks at 27 and 28.

"Congratulations," Williams said to Shaffer once it was clear we got our guy.

Twice during the 30 minute wait, Williams called Shaffer and assistant general manager Rick Hahn into private conferences to discuss the team's options.

When Scott Merkin, a reporter for whitesox.com entered the conference room, which has its walls covered with MLB rosters, evaluations and our entire draft board, Williams joked (or half joked): "You are not allowed to look at that wall, only this one. We have video cameras and snipers trained on you."

As others in our division selected their picks, Williams commented, "this division isn't getting any easier."

Our draft board is set up with hundereds of magnets, each representing a player. First round picks are lined up on the left, followed by second and third. Mid round players are grouped in the middle of the board by position, and the right side of the board has a number of draft and follows or players we would like to sign if they are not drafted.

As names are called off on the MLB conference call, Andrew Pinter and scout Nathan Durst remove the magnet from one board and place him on a second board that shows the day's results.

Quickly -- at least in the first few rounds -- and then more slowly later, the one board empties while the other fills up.

All of these rankings are based on our scouts' evaluations of players they have been following for years.

I am always surprised when teams select a player, some pretty high, that do not appear anywhere on our board because out scouts have watched him play and not turned him in as a prospect. This is probably true, though, of every single team in baseball. It is pretty rare that a player is taken who no one on our scouting staff has seen. The coverage of this country is amazing. If you are a high school, junior college or college player with skills, chances are someone saw you and evaluated you at some point.

Anyway, the funniest thing today was that it turns out Mr. McCulloch is (was) an Astros fan.

"Tell him to hang with it ..." someone laughed.

Honors

Just before the draft began, Jerry Reinsdorf popped into the room and presented Shaffer with a Gold pass for Long & Meritorious Service. The passes are presented to anyone who has worked in the game for 25 years.

"After 25 years at most businesses, they give you a gold watch or a trip," Reinsdorf said. "Only in baseball do we reward a scout for 25 years in the game with a lifetime pass to watch more baseball."

[maggsmaggs]

good stuff from Reifert, well they got their guy so if he bombs they got no one to blame.