MLB Draft
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MLB.com had him going top ten:
7. Atlanta Braves: Alex White, RHP, University of North Carolina
The Braves are more than likely to go with the "best arm available." They'd love it if hometown hero Wheeler or California standout Matzek were around, but in this scenario both are off the board. It looks like Shelby Miller is off the list now and the Braves may go the college route. White has been pitching with a bit of a hamstring issue and assuming the Braves are assured he's fine otherwise, he could be their guy.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...rtnerId=rss_mlb
Beanpot
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from Law
Summary: White, one of the younger college pitchers in this class, sat 88-92 mph in a mid-May look against Boston College, although he more typically sits 91-93 and will run it up to 95, with good tailing life on the pitch. The biggest knock on White is that he throws a ton of off-speed pitches instead of pitching off his fastball, and that's going to be the first adjustment a player development department asks him to make. His slider can be plus at times; it's long and sharp and usually ends up out of the strike zone, so college hitters will chase it but pro hitters might not -- a problem that Andrew Miller, another UNC product, found when he got into pro ball. White also shows a splitter or split-change that has a chance to be plus. His delivery is funky and unclean, with a high elbow in back, a long path for his arm and more drift than drive toward the plate. He's an intelligent kid with some feel for pitching, and probably has a better-than-average chance to improve with instruction. He does have an outstanding track record, including a heroic showing in Omaha in 2008, but I see him as more of a mid-first-round talent than a top-of-draft guy.
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From Lederer:
Alex White, RHP, University of North Carolina
Height/Weight: 6-3, 200 | DOB: 8/29/1988
2009 Stats: 8-4 W-L | 4.13 ERA | 98.0 IP | 86 H | 109-41 K/BB
White's (relatively) pedestrian numbers in 2009 have him falling down some draft boards but with an excellent pitcher's frame, solid mechanics and a low-90s fastball with excellent sink, scouts still think this kid is a future front-of-the-rotation contributor. White touches 95. Fans will get a chance to see White compete in his third consecutive College World Series in the coming weeks. He's a junior, so that's three in three years for White. Not bad. (Posted by Patrick Sullivan)
Rich: Call me skeptical. A very good college pitcher. But I'm not sold on taking a pitcher who relies so heavily on a splitter for his success at this point in the draft. A high risk, high reward starter or perhaps a reliever if things don't quite work out as planned.
http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2009/...logging_t_4.php
Beanpot
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OF Jason Kipnis
http://www.indiansprospectinsider.comUPDATE (10:02 PM EST): Jeff Ellis
For those who didn’t watch the draft, in the second round each pick was made by a dignitary from each team. The Indians dignitary was the great Jason Bere, I kid you you not. For this pick the Indians selected Jason Kipnis, who had been rumored as a possible first round pick for the tribe. Last year as a draft eligible sophomore he was a 4th rounder of the Padres, and made the wise decision to go back to school and go higher. He is a 6’0” OF, who rumor says the Indians might be moving to second base. He was ranked 60th by Keith Law and 61st by Baseball America, so was a solid value with pick number 63. Kipnis has good bat speed and generates some power. He led a very good ASU team in average, OBP, SLG, and stolen bases. He’s a patient hitter who has a bit of a line drive swing. He projects to be an average MLB player in every category except plate discipline and defense. His plate discipline is his only plus skill. The issue with his defense is he doesn’t have the range for centerfield, and might not hit enough for a corner OF. This has lead to the talk that he might end up at 2B where his bat would profile a lot better with the position. He played second base in high school, which is why teams think he could move back. One red flag is he was kicked off Kentucky after his freshman year, so there have been make up concerns. Reading reports of him reminded me a lot of the reports I read on Federoff this time last year.
RHP Joe Gardner
UPDATE (10:51 PM EST): Jeff Ellis
Joe Gardner is a big pitcher from UC Santa Barbara. He is 6’5”, and extremely raw. Last year as a draft eligible player coming out of Ohlone junior college, he went completely undrafted. He was rated 84th by Keith Law and 161st by BA so the opinions on him vary on if he was worth the 94 pick. His delivery is ¾ quarters delivery. Some scouts think he could be a middle of the rotation starter others think he’s a pen guy. He has a fastball, change, and slider. His fastball is typically 91-93, but has a nasty heavy sink to it. It projects as a plus pitch. His change up is in the 78-82, with a decent fade but projects out to be average. His slider I have seen reported as below average and also a plus pitch. I also got conflicting reports on the speed of his pitch. Gardner is not the most athletic and is very raw compared to the typical college pitcher. There is the hope he could add some MPH to his pitching once his mechanics get fixed. His main issue is that he some times slips from the ¾ slot into more of a sidearm this causes the ball to raise in the zone and get hit. When he stays in the ¾ he has the ability to really throw strikes. We all know how much the Indians love pitchers who induce ground balls and this guy seems to have the ability to do that. I for one like the pick and with good coaching this pick should help improve pitching depth.
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Let me get this straight, the Indians dignitary was Jason Bere??????
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Let me get this straight, the Indians dignitary was Jason Bere??????
Let me get this straight, the Indians dignitary was Jason Bere??????
Yea Shipario still has him under contact, lol.
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Just catching up on who else we drafted. MLB.com has a pretty cool draft tracker with videos and scouting reports of a lot of these guys - including this video of Preston Guilmet who was our 9th pick of this draft. Way funky delivery!
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?topic_i...tent_id=4674607
Here's a link to all of our picks so far:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2009/...t=TM&fv=cle
Beanpot
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Looks like the first 21 of 22? players taken were all college players. Didn't take a HS player until pick 725
And 28 of 30 were college players
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I haven't really followed the draft over the years but is it odd to draft a guy in the first round with the thought of making him a bullpen guy?
Wouldn't you rather draft a everyday player or starting pitching. Im guessing part of the decision was not knowing if Adam Miller will be able to come back from surgery or not. But why not start with a starter and if it doesn't work out move him to the bullpen.
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I haven't really followed the draft over the years but is it odd to draft a guy in the first round with the thought of making him a bullpen guy?
Wouldn't you rather draft a everyday player or starting pitching. Im guessing part of the decision was not knowing if Adam Miller will be able to come back from surgery or not. But why not start with a starter and if it doesn't work out move him to the bullpen.
nmills said:
I haven't really followed the draft over the years but is it odd to draft a guy in the first round with the thought of making him a bullpen guy?Wouldn't you rather draft a everyday player or starting pitching. Im guessing part of the decision was not knowing if Adam Miller will be able to come back from surgery or not. But why not start with a starter and if it doesn't work out move him to the bullpen.
Really good questions. When it comes to White, I'm guessing the Indians are looking to get him to the majors ASAP. He apparently has two plus pitches (split fastball and slider) and the organization would rather have him use those in the late innings than spend developmental time on the curve/change/sinker which are desirable for a starter. Have no idea if that's the case or not, just going by scouting reports.
As for drafting guys early with the thought of them pitching out of the pen, it's something that has happened fairly often over the past few years. Huston Street, Chad Cordero, David Aardsma, Chris Perez and Joey Devine are a few examples of relievers drafted in the 1st round in the last six years. Most (all?) of those guys were relievers throughout their college careers, so they're not perfect foils for White, but it at least shows a trend.
BTW, I think you're dead-on when you say part of their decision involves the questions surrounding Miller.
Beanpot
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Considering all the pitchers we've been through already, and how little we have in terms of dominant players in the pen, and that White was considered a top 5-10 talent in the draft, I'm fine with the pick. I would've liked a starter too, but I'm pretty excited about having some impact starters (Rondon, De La Cruz), hitters (LaPorta, Weglarz), fielders (Brantley, Valbuena), and hopefully White gives us that as a closer, in the system and pretty close to the majors. I rambled on about timing in some post somewhere, but it looks like Shapiro is finally building a complete team that should actually be able to grow together.
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The Indians 1st and 2nd round picks are playing right now on ESPN in the college world series
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The Indians 1st and 2nd round picks are playing right now on ESPN in the college world series
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I haven't really followed the draft over the years but is it odd to draft a guy in the first round with the thought of making him a bullpen guy?
Wouldn't you rather draft a everyday player or starting pitching. Im guessing part of the decision was not knowing if Adam Miller will be able to come back from surgery or not. But why not start with a starter and if it doesn't work out move him to the bullpen.
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nmills said:
is it odd to draft a guy in the first round with the thought of making him a bullpen guy?Kerry Wood is doing his best to answer that question for you.
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