Blogger Mock Draft

Saturday, May 31 2008 @ 01:00 PM EDT

Contributed by: Pistol

Our friends at Future Redbirds organized a team blog mock draft. So writers of blogs of (most) teams made picks based on who they thought the team they cover would take.

Here's how things shook out and what I think the Jays would do given what happened in the top 16 picks.

The Jays focused on college players in the early drafting tenure of JP Ricciardi. With mixed results, at best, the Jays have more recently gone into the high school ranks, selecting high school players with their first pick the last two seasons (Travis Snider and Kevin Ahrens). However, they've yet to take a high school pitcher high in the draft (and barely low in the draft for that matter) and there's no indication that this will change this year.

Last year's draft, with several extra compensatory picks, featured a nice mix of HS players (3B, Ahrens - round 1; SS, Justin Jackson - round 1s; 2B, John Tolisano - round 2; and OF, Eric Eiland - round 2) and college players (C, JP Arencibia - 1, P; Brett Cecil - 1s; Trystan Magnuson, P - 1s). Given that, a HS hitter or college player is likely this year.

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The top 11 went pretty much as I expected, including Brett Wallace who has been projected to the Jays in a few mock drafts.

The A's made the first minor surprise at 12 taking HS P/3B Ethan Martin. The Cards then took LHP pitcher Christian Friedrich. Jemile Weeks was the biggest surprise, going 14th to the Twins. The Dodgers followed with HS RHP Tim Melville and the Brewers took Canadian HSer Brett Lawrie at 16.

Going into the mock draft I was anticipating Brett Wallace or Brett Lawrie being available, but that didn't work out.

So under this scenario there were a few options to consider at #17:

* College pitchers - Shooter Hunt is the best starter available and many relievers are available, but I don't think are in consideration
* College hitters - the elite hitters are gone and the best hitters I think the Jays would be considering are more mid-20s players: 3B Conor Gillaspie and 1B David Cooper
* HS Hitters - Aaron Hicks is probably the most highly rated, and also potentially a pitcher, but I think would be too toolsy for the Jays (Ahrens and Snider were considered polished hitters by the Jays). Zach Collier is also in the mix. Casey Kelly is another consideration but might be a signability concern.
* HS Pitchers - The Jays haven't shown they're willing to take them in the past and I haven't seen anything to think otherwise. At this point Garret Cole would be the only one to consider and he could be a signability player as well.

Of the group of available players Shooter Hunt seems to be the one who best fits the profile of who the Jays would select.

Here's how the entire first round went, with the pickers in parentheses:
  1. Tampa Bay Rays- Buster Posey, C, Florida State (Keith Law)
  2. Pittsburgh Pirates- Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Vanderbilt (Bucco Blog)
  3. Kansas City Royals- Tim Beckham, SS, Griffin GA HS (Royals Authority)
  4. Baltimore Orioles-Brian Matusz, LHP, San Diego (group decision)
  5. San Francisco Giants - Justin Smoak, 1B, South Carolina (El Lefty Malo)
  6. Florida Marlins-Kyle Skipworth, C, Patriot HS, Calif. (Future Fish)
  7. Cincinnati Reds- Gordon Beckham, SS, Georgia (Reds Minor Leagues)
  8. Chicago White Sox- Brett Wallace, 3B/1B, ASU (Zoner Sports)
  9. Washington Nationals - Yonder Alonso, 1B, Miami (Nationals Farm Authority)
  10. Houston Astros - Aaron Crow, RHP, Missouri (Saber-Scouting)
  11. Texas Rangers - Eric Hosmer, 1b, American Heritage HS, Fla. (Rangers Farm Authority)
  12. Oakland Athletics - Ethan Martin, 3B/RHP, Stephens County HS, Ga. (Athletics Nation)
  13. St. Louis Cardinals - Christian Friedrich, LHP, Eastern Kentucky (Future Redbirds)
  14. Minnesota Twins - Jemile Weeks, 2B, Miami (SethSpeaks)
  15. Los Angeles Dodgers - Tim Melville, RHP, Holt HS, Wentzville, MO (group decision)
  16. Milwaukee Brewers - Brett Lawrie, 3B/C, Brookwood SS, Langley, B.C. (Brewerfan.net)
  17. Toronto Blue Jays - Shooter Hunt, P, Tulane
  18. New York Mets - Jason Castro, CA, Stanford (Hot Foot)
  19. Chicago Cubs - Casey Kelly, SS, Sarsota Florida (HS) (View from the Bleachers)
  20. Seattle Mariners - Aaron Hicks, RHP/OF, Wilson HS, Long Beach, CA (USS Mariner)
  21. Detroit Tigers–Joshua Fields, RHP, Georgia (Future Redbirds)
  22. New York Mets- Ike Davis, 1B/OF, Arizona State (Hot Foot)
  23. San Diego Padres- Andrew Cashner, RHP, TCU (Ducksnorts)
  24. Philadelphia Phillies- Tanner Scheppers, RHP, Fresno St. (Phuture Phillies)
  25. Colorado Rockies- Zach Collier, OF, Chino Hills HS, Chino Hills, Calif. (Up in the Rockies)
  26. Arizona Diamondbacks-Allan Dykstra, 1B, Wake Forest (Beyond the Boxscore)
  27. Minnesota Twins-Conor Gillaspie, 3B, Wichita St. (SethSpeaks)
  28. New York Yankees-Gerrit Cole, RHP, Lutheran HS, Calif. (River Ave. Blues)
  29. Cleveland Indians-Tyson Ross, RHP, California (Bryan Smith)
  30. Boston Red Sox-Reese Havens, SS, South Carolina (The College Baseball Blog)

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