Sox Sign 3

[dasox24]

I hadn't seen this yet, but it looks like Morales was signed early in May, so I may have missed it...

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines

 

Late signings

The Sox signed three players from the 2006 amateur draft—outfielder Sergio Morales of Broward (Fla.) Community College; left-handed pitcher Hector Santiago of Okaloosa-Walton (Fla.) Community College; and third baseman Jedon Matthews of San Diego City College.

 

Morales was a 12th-round pick in last year's draft, while Matthews was picked in the 28th round out of Horizon Christian High School in San Diego. Santiago, who played last year at Essex County Vocational Technical High School in Bloomfield, N.J., was a 30th-round selection.

 

I remember Morales being pretty good back in '06. I'll be looking to see how he did this past year (probably pretty well or else we wouldn't have signed him, lol). I just read on BA that a scout referred to him as a "tool shed", haha. Nice to hear. Anyway, he batted .422 with 4 HRs, 19 RBI, 4 triples, 10 doubles, 37 runs, and 30 SBs. Looks like a leadoff hitter.

 

Anyone know anything about the other two?

Edited May 30, 2007 by dasox24

[Flash Tizzle]

Speaking of draft and follows, I've eagerly awaiting the news of whether MY GUY11!!! Matt Latos will accept San Diego's offer.

 

Latos receives Padres' final offer

 

The cream of the draft-and-follow crop, right-hander Matt Latos, will not receive any more offers from the San Diego Padres.

 

On Tuesday, the Padres increased their offer for the third and apparent final time. Latos, 19, went 10-3 with a 2.03 ERA for Broward Community College. In 75.1 innings, he struck out 102 batters against 58 hits and only 17 walks, allowing 17 earned runs.

Holding his rights as a draft-and-follow after drafting him in the 11th-round in 2006, the Padres have until Wednesday night at 9:01 PM to sign him.

 

“We have made our final offer,” Grady Fuson, Padres’ vice president of scouting and player development, said. “I am not optimistic.”

 

Latos combines a fastball that sits in the mid-nineties and tops out at 99 MPH with a power slider and changeup. He is polished for his age, and some believe he could be quickly pushed through the minors.

 

“I think issuing only 17 walks in 75 innings was the most impressive, especially when you consider that this is a power pitcher who is bringing it to the plate in the mid-90's,” Broward coach Bob Deutschman said. “Usually at this age you see someone that is much more of a thrower and I think that is what separates Matt from the rest is his command to go along with his velocity.”

 

And his secondary pitches aren’t just show me pitches for the 6-foot-6 righty.

 

“The change has been my out pitch this year, so I feel pretty good throwing it,” said Latos. “My coaches took away my slider last summer to force me to throw the change as my other pitch, so that has really helped my development.”

 

The Padres will know by the end of the day on Wednesday whether they can call Latos a Padres’ prospect. If not, he will be headed back into the 2007 MLB Draft and is predicted to go somewhere in the bottom half of round one

 

I, for one, hope the White Sox have tampered with Latos. It'd be tremendous for our system if he rejected the Padres deal and was available at #25.

 

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=260&p=2&c=647504

[DBAHO]

Some more info on Morales;

 

Sergio Morales is a 2005 OF with a 6'1'', 190 lb. frame from Hollywood FL, who attends Broward CC. very solid athlete with serious tools and great body, high level prospect.

 

Sounds like the prototype minor league outfielder the Sox have tried to bring into the system over the past couple of years.

[Gene Honda Civic]

Sorry Flash

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=56

[Flash Tizzle]

Sorry Flash

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=56

Of course.

 

Now my attention turns to Nevin Griffith.

 

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/ev...jsp?mc=griffith (video included)

 

Nevin Griffith is a 2007 RHP with a 6'2'', 185 lb. frame from Brandon FL, who attends Middleton HS. He has an excellent young pitcher's body, with long arms and legs and loose actions. Griffith was one of the big surprises of the event and put himself high on the prospect lists as a result. He's made some adjustments to his mechanics since last summer that have really benefited his stuff. Griffith has a long and flowing arm action and does a good job staying back in his delivery and letting his arm get organized. His arm comes through quickly and the result was a 92 mph fastball that topped out at 94 mph and it looks like there's a lot more there. Griffith has the looseness and arm speed to envision as a mid-90's guy with no problem. Griffith's long arm action possess a problem for breaking ball; he threw both 72 mph curveball and 81 mph slider, with the slider showing the most potential. That will be the next step in his development is refining a breaking pitch. He's a high ceiling young pitcher who is coming on quickly. Griffith has signed with Florida International.

 

http://www.perfectgame.org/stories/07_03_1..._from_national/

 

5/10/07 - 0.69ERA, 51IP, 22H, 14BB, 77K

4/04/07 - He was 94-96 mph with a 84mph slider in the last inning. He actually broke Burgess' metal bat!

 

http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/2007/whoshot...shot_31607.aspx

[danman31]

Scherzer signed too ($4.3 million)

 

Good for Max. I saw him pitch at Mizzou a couple times, but injuries kept me from seeing him more. I've never seen a guy dominate hitters like he did, but that doesn't really say much heh. His fastball is unreal, supposedly his secondary stuff is coming around. Hitters would sit on it knowing if he could locate the fastball they were basically screwed (we've seen how Jenks is without control of his secondary stuff). I hope he does well, he put up good numbers for Fort Worth, but the scouting reports weren't as good. Who knows.

[DBAHO]

Scherzer signed too ($4.3 million)

 

Good for Max. I saw him pitch at Mizzou a couple times, but injuries kept me from seeing him more. I've never seen a guy dominate hitters like he did, but that doesn't really say much heh. His fastball is unreal, supposedly his secondary stuff is coming around. Hitters would sit on it knowing if he could locate the fastball they were basically screwed (we've seen how Jenks is without control of his secondary stuff). I hope he does well, he put up good numbers for Fort Worth, but the scouting reports weren't as good. Who knows.

Wow, the D-Backs system is just INSANE right now, to go along with their young core.