Sox-Related 2008 MLB Draft Options

[Hairps]

The MLB Draft is June 5-6, and Baseball America just posted its first mock draft, so figured this is as good a time as any.

Put pre-draft Sox-related thoughts, player scouting reports, statistical fun facts, gossip, and other crap here.

5/16 BA Mock Draft:

30. RED SOX. Boston would be in play on any big-ticket talent who slipped because of signability, though the Red Sox' style has been to bust slots in later rounds. If Havens would have signed for slot money out of high school, they would have taken him over Jacoby Ellsbury in 2005. Three years later, Boston will finally get its man.

Projected Pick: REESE HAVENS.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/draft...008/266117.html

EDIT: FYI, Havens plays shortstop at University of South Carolina.

This post has been edited by Hairps: May 27 2008, 10:33 AM

[hawaiirsn]

http://www.saberscouting.com/2008/03/28/ba...n-reese-havens/

Found this breakdown of Haven's swing here, pretty interesting read.

Havens’ stroke is built to spray line drives to the gaps and to all parts of the field.

Mechanical Comparison:J.D. Drew

[RoDaddy]

This is getting well ahead of the pick, but if it does happen, here's what he looks like:

http://www.saberscouting.com/2008/03/28/ba...n-reese-havens/

I'm also impressed by the J.D. Drew comparison.

[templeUsox]

Some scouting news:

- Theo has been seen scouting at both Arizona State (presumable for 1B/3B Brett Wallace) and Somerville, NJ (for power-hitting outfielder Matt Marquis). The Globe also reported this several weeks ago:

Two power hitters the Red Sox are scouting heavily for this year's draft: Matt Marquis, a center fielder from Immaculata High School in Somerville, N.J., who has a scholarship to Vanderbilt, and third baseman Ricky Oropesa from Etiwanda High in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Oropesa, 6 feet 2 inches, 215 pounds, has good lefthanded power (and is also a righthanded power pitcher) while Marquis, close to the same size, has power from the right side. Oropesa hit .547 with 10 homers and 46 RBIs as a junior.

Link

- Additionally:

DeSclafani, whose fastball allegedly blazes across the plate at 93 mph, may hear his name called in the Major League Amateur Draft in June. He was among a group of 50 high school players who attended an orientation at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies, aimed at familiarizing the prospects with the organization and the draft process.

"We get phone calls all of the time from scouts," Yorke said. "When they know he is pitching, there are 6-10 scouts with speed guns and stopwatches behind the backstop. The Rockies, Red Sox, Pirates, Mets and Phillies have all communicated with us."

Link

- W/r/t Havens, the Sox obviously loved him, but that love did not end when he spurned their offer of slot money. They brought him into Fenway for a private workout each of the last two summers while he was playing on the Cape.

This post has been edited by templeUsox: May 16 2008, 03:49 PM

[Hairps]

MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo:

Q: who are the the best catching prospects in the draft? that is where i would like to see the redsox pick. varitek can't catch forever.

j_mayo: There is some catching available, but there's a dropoff after the first few. Buster Posey is atop the list, followed by HSer Kyle Skipworth. Then there's Stanford catcher Jason Castro, Canadian HSer Brett Lawrie (more and more see him as a legit catcher), ASU's Petey Paramore, Florida HSer Adrian Nieto and I'll throw in UC Davis' Jake Jefferies for good measure.

j_mayo: I had heard the Sox could be interested in Nieto in the second round or so if things work out that way.

http://www.forums.mlb.com/ml-mlbevent/chat?redirCnt=1


PGCrosschecker's Patrick Ebert on Nieto:

Adrian Nieto

I’m not sure I’m sold on Nieto’s bat, but given the way he plays defense he should have a place to play at some level for a long, long time. He is a very active and dynamic backstop that is always doing something from behind the plate, with snap throws to first and third, a couple of rockets to second base and cat-like quickness. He is the type of player that takes a tremendous amount of pride in his craft as it showed more so than any other player on the field. Nieto is a switch-hitter, which adds to his value, and there is some pop in his swing. He may profile similar to Yasmani Grandal, an Aflac All-American a year ago.

http://www.pgcrosschecker.com/crackthebat/...ac_impressions/


Nieto's Aflac All-American page:

SCOUTING REPORT: Switch-hitting catchers are always a commodity, and that's one of many reasons Nieto was named to the Aflac Classic. He has a powerful swing with the ability to drive the ball to both alleys, and is adept at receiving and handling the defensive aspects of the position.

http://www.aflacallamerican.com/2007/Roster/index.cfm?id=180

This post has been edited by Hairps: May 21 2008, 12:28 PM

[Razor Shines]

The Fox Sports MLB Mock Draft Blog has the Sox taking a high school pitcher.

Link

30. Boston Red Sox - Trey Haley, RHP Central Heights HS

Haley has shown a very repeatably smooth delivery with a mid 90's fastball and late breaking hammer curveball. He is tall and has the typical pitchers body. Haley has really come on as of late and has moved from a third round pick to possible late first, or sandwich picks. He has drawn comparisons to Clay Buchholz in stature and raw stuff.

Is there a Rick Porcello type in this years draft? Someone with top-10 talent who might fall to the end of the first round due to financial demands?

[templeUsox]

The Fox Sports MLB Mock Draft Blog has the Sox taking a high school pitcher.

Link
Is there a Rick Porcello type in this years draft? Someone with top-10 talent who might fall to the end of the first round due to financial demands?

Probably not. Gerrit Cole has been falling down draft boards for several reasons, bonus demands being one of the major ones. He is nowhere near the generational talent which Porcello was predicted to be last year, however. So short answer: no. People think Eric Hosmer, a high school 1B, might slip down because of ~7 million dollar bonus demands (Boras advisee). He's still predicted to be a top 10 pick, and even if he does fall down, he's still a high school 1B.

Edit: Also, don't forget that the Yankees pick ahead of us, which should temper any excitement of grabbing a falling star.

Cole is one of the enigmas of the 2008 draft. He answered some questions very well this spring, throwing 61 innings while going 7-1, 0.57 with 98 K’s and only 16 walks, and pitching deep into pitch counts. His fastball was dominant, touching 97 mph at times with very good life. Questions arose about his curveball consistency, his exaggerated long and extended arm action and his approach to the game. Throw in a Scott Boras-signability scenario and it’s very difficult to tell how June 5 will play out for Cole.

Link

This post has been edited by templeUsox: May 21 2008, 02:23 PM

[cannonball 1729]

Edit: Also, don't forget that the Yankees pick ahead of us, which should temper any excitement of grabbing a falling star.

So does Detroit.

This post has been edited by cannonball 1729: May 21 2008, 05:42 PM

[mabrowndog]

MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo:
http://www.forums.mlb.com/ml-mlbevent/chat?redirCnt=1

Q: who are the the best catching prospects in the draft? that is where i would like to see the redsox pick. varitek can't catch forever.

j_mayo: There is some catching available, but there's a dropoff after the first few. Buster Posey is atop the list, followed by HSer Kyle Skipworth. Then there's Stanford catcher Jason Castro, Canadian HSer Brett Lawrie (more and more see him as a legit catcher), ASU's Petey Paramore, Florida HSer Adrian Nieto and I'll throw in UC Davis' Jake Jefferies for good measure.

I saw quite a bit of Buster and Castro in the Cape League last summer. as they both played for league champs Yarmouth-Dennis. Posey's got more of the prototypical catcher's build, but didn't really break out with the wood bats (.281/.361/.375 in 35 games last year). I wrote an article on Castro, a former Sox draft pick (43rd round, 2005), for the 8/3/07 issue of Summer Stars (spoilered below to save space). He's an absolute stud at the plate (.341/.434/.488) and very patient, but despite being a great defender he really projects more as an OF/1B long term because of his size, according to a lot of the scouts I talked with. He started at catcher ahead of Posey until straining his throwing elbow. The only CCBL players who put on better shows than Castro in batting practice were Louisville's Chris Dominguez (who got eaten alive when facing breaking stuff during games) and Miami's Yonder Alonso.

[spoiler2]
Y-D slugger in the heat of the batting race

By MARK A. BROWN





Just how good has Jason Castro been for Yarmouth-Dennis this summer? Good enough to have his hometown named after him.

Of course, it’s just a coincidence that the Red Sox slugger shares his surname with Castro Valley, California, where he grew up. But with Jason putting up numbers that have him in a neck-and-neck battle for the Cape League batting crown heading into the season’s home stretch, his neighbors back West might do well to erect a statue and hold a parade.

In a Y-D lineup that has dominated the CCBL this summer, Castro has been a key cog. Selected as the starting catcher for the West Division in last weekend’s All-Star Game, he headed into the break hitting a team-best .368, trailing league leader Conor Gillaspie of Falmouth by just four points. He also led the league in runs scored with 28.

The batting chase, he said, is not something he dwells on. “It would be an awesome accomplishment considering the competition in this league, but I just try to stay within myself and not think about it too much.”

Castro has flown under the radar for most of the season despite his outstanding production. Over his first 10 games, he hit .400 (12-for-30). Jason cooled off over his next eight games, hitting just .185 (5-for-27), but after that his bat has simply exploded. In the 15 games leading up to the All-Star break, he hit .449 (22-for-49) with 13 runs scored and 12 driven in. He also tallied 11 walks, giving him a .550 on-base percentage over that stretch.

By the break, Castro had reached base with a hit or walk in 29 of his 33 games, and had at least one run or RBI in 28 of those games.
With surprising speed, a strong arm, and quick reflexes, the versatile Castro has excelled defensively at catcher, first base, and in the outfield this season. As a catcher, it takes him less than two seconds to receive a pitch, spring from the crouch, and get the ball to second base, according to one pro scout.

Since straining his right elbow in early July, Jason has been slotted at first base and designated hitter to prevent further injury to his throwing arm while he wears a flexible brace on the joint.

Given a choice, Jason said he prefers playing catcher because it requires mental sharpness. . “You’re constantly involved, and you keep yourself in the game,” he said. “But I’ll play whatever position gives our team the best chance to win.”

Castro’s approach at the plate is to look for fastballs early in the count, he said, though this summer he has proven a threat to just about anything thrown over the plate. “I just try to see the ball as early as I can and pick up any movement,” he said.

With a build and balanced stance reminiscent of another standout left-handed Cape League hitter, former major leaguer and ex-Falmouth Commodore Tino Martinez, Jason’s level stroke generates solid line drive power to the gaps. Despite his height and long arms, he has shortened his swing and gets the bat through the zone quickly, making him effective at taking outside pitches to the opposite field.

An excellent eye and an ability to protect the plate by fouling off pitches has helped Jason draw 18 walks while striking out just 19 times, the best such ratio on his team and sixth-best in the league at the break.

Despite growing up just a few miles from San Francisco Bay, Castro’s favorite pro team is on the opposite coast. As it turned out, that team, the Boston Red Sox, made Jason their 43rd round pick in the 2005 amateur draft.

“My Godfather is Alan Regier, who was one of their scouts,” Castro said. “It was awesome watching them win the World Series,” he said, naming outfielder Manny Ramirez and catcher Jason Varitek as his two favorite Sox players.

Castro decided not to sign with Boston, opting instead to attend college and play for another of his favorite teams, the Cardinal of Stanford University. “I lived about a half-hour away, so I grew up watching them,” said Jason, who will begin his junior year in Palo Alto in September. “They’ve got one of the best, if not the best, mixes of academics and athletics in the country.

Last summer Jason played for the Anchorage Bucs in the wood bat Alaska Baseball League. He was named to the All-Alaska team after hitting .286 with 11 RBI and a pair of homers.

That experience has paid dividends this year, he said. “This was such a challenge, and I’m really proud of the way I’ve played so far,” Castro said. “I’ve shown I can hold my own against the best competition in the nation.”[/spoiler2]

He wound up finishing second in the batting race.

This post has been edited by mabrowndog: May 22 2008, 07:25 PM

[AZBlue]

Wallace has a lot of power, but he is 25 pounds overweight and does not look good in the field. He has DH written all over him. Perhaps that will change if he gets into shape. I have seen him play several times, including last weekend when ASU swept the University of Washington.

[Hairps]

Q: Ian from Concord, NH asks: Who do you think would make sense for the Red Sox? Is there anyone connected to them yet?

A: Matt Blood: In BA's most recent mock draft, Jim Callis projected the Red Sox to take Reese Havens, ss, from South Carolina. However, the Sox are known for grabbing players that slip through the first round due to high bonus demands. A long shot would be Eric Hosmer due to being a client of the Boras Corp., and on the other end, the Red Sox have been rumored to like North Carolina catcher Tim Federowicz, but that would be too much of a reach for me at number 30.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/chat.php?id=2008052201

[templeUsox]

More Nieto buzz:

Adrian Nieto isn't playing his way into the first round. But he's showing that the First-Year Player Draft season is unlike most other aspects of life. In his case, the last impression could be the most important.

Scouts will admit, sometimes regrettably, that they are guilty of adding too much weight to the last time they saw a potential draftee, letting that sway a decision more than an overall body of work at times. If that's the case, then Nieto is peaking at just the right time.

Coming into the spring, he was considered one of the top high school backstops in the country. Playing for powerhouse American Heritage High School in Florida, along side top prospect Eric Hosmer, among others, ensured he'd get plenty of looks. For most of the year, though, he was just kind of average. But earlier this week, in American Heritage's state title-winning game, Nieto homered twice.

Now that would be all well and good, had it not been in front of important people. Not only were there plenty of scouts there, but Red Sox GM Theo Epstein reportedly was in attendance.

It's hard to say what one performance will do, but it's not out of the question to think that Nieto's late surge moved him from the second round up into the sandwich round (the Red Sox pick at No. 45, the next-to-last selection of the supplemental first round). And Nieto has the chance to build off the championship game: he'll be in Sebring (see below) at Florida's high school All-Star Game this weekend.

Link

[templeUsox]

Allan Simpson gives an updated scouting report of Reese Havens (the player the Sox should be focused in on at #30):

Havens incorporated everything he learned last summer on the Cape, both at the plate and in the field, into his game this spring and he became a much superior talent than what he was in his first two college seasons. The mechanical adjustments he made in his swing enabled him to square up tough pitches more easily and consistently, and the transformation resulted in a .360 average and 16 home runs (entering the SEC tournament). His whole approach to hitting improved as he led the Gamecocks with 53 walks. Havens’ range at shortstop was noticeably better, too, leading doubting scouts to believe he can remain at shortstop in the long term. In 56 games, he committed just 11 errors. Havens plays the game with a lot of energy, another endearing quality. Some of the scouts who thought he might be no better than a third-round pick entering the 2008 season now believe he is a solid sandwich pick, at worst.

Link (members only)

(On a side note, PG Crosschecker is the best site online for this detailed draft information)

[templeUsox]

From BA:

Last summer, Westmoreland was intriguing as a thin, rangy, fast-twitch athlete who moonlighted as an all-state soccer player and standout basketball player. He added 15 pounds of muscle over the winter and increased his strength at the plate, his foot speed and even his velocity off the mound, where he used an 86-90 mph fastball and decent curveball to strike out 19 of the 21 batters he faced in a seven-inning perfect game this spring. That arm strength translates well to center field, where his well-above-average speed allows him to cover a lot of ground. As an athletic high school outfielder from Rhode Island, Westmoreland draws inevitable comparisons to fellow Ocean Stater Rocco Baldelli, and he has that kind of upside. He has quick hands and good hand-eye coordination, allowing him to put the barrel on the ball consistently, but he's still learning to incorporate his lower half into his swing and hit the ball with more authority. The scuttlebutt in the Northeast was that it would take at least a seven-figure signing bonus to buy him out of a commitment to Vanderbilt, but the Red Sox have expressed interest in the local boy, sending several prominent front-office executives in to see him.

Link (members only)

[Matty005]

My brother played High School Ball with Wallace (I played w/ his older brothers). The kid was born to hit. If he can get into shape, I would love to see the Sox take him with their first pick.

[templeUsox]

To recap:

Players the Sox have shown interest in:

College:
Reese Havens, SS, South Carolina
Petey Paramore?, C, Arizona State
Zach Putnam?, RHP, Michigan
Brett Wallace, 1B/3B, Arizona State

High School:
Anthony Desclafani, RHP, NJ (HS)
Pete Hissey, OF, PA(HS)
Matt Marquis, OF, NJ (HS)
Adrian Nieto, C, FL (HS)
Ricky Oropesa, 3B, CA (HS)
Ryan Westmoreland, OF, RI (OF)

[templeUsox]

Major League scouts and executives are flocking to Regions Park to watch the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament, which enters its third day of play Friday.

Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden and Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams have been among those in attendance.

Link

Greetings from Regions Park in Birmingham, Alabama, site of the SEC baseball tournament. I'm currently sitting and watching Vanderbilt beat South Carolina, though the Gamecocks have made it interesting with a four-run eighth inning.
...
The real star for South Carolina in the losing effort was Reese Havens (well, senior Phil Disher hit two homers, to be fair). He's not a top 10 guy, but he is sneaking into first-round conversations and this game certainly didn't hurt. Havens had three hits and made a couple of fine plays at short, supposedly a position he won't be able to stay at in the future. He's got the arm to stick, that's for sure -- maybe a team will let him play his way off the position rather than moving him right away.

Link

[YAZ]

Projo May 5th, 2008 Westmoreland article

He hasn’t been fazed by the fact that when he runs from home plate to first base the scouts are standing along the right-field line with stopwatches.

He didn’t even get nervous when Boston Red Sox vice president of player personnel Ben Cherington came up to him after one of his games and asked if he would take some postgame batting practice using a wooden bat.

But when he heard that Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein might come to one of his games this season, Portsmouth High’s Ryan Westmoreland admits he was a little excited.

“That’s interesting. It’s awesome,” Westmoreland said about his coach having been told by a Red Sox scout that Epstein hopes to see a Portsmouth game this spring.


HE’S THE All-American boy. The National Honor Society member who was last year’s Rhode Island High School Baseball Player of the Year; an All-State soccer player who last winter scored 18 points per game for the Portsmouth High boys basketball team.

But it isn’t just that Westmoreland does it all. It’s the way he does it, especially on the baseball field, that has professional scouts flocking to Rhode Island and virtually every major-league team asking Westmoreland to fill out six- and seven-page personality questionnaires.

He’s 6-foot-2, about 195 pounds, and can run from home plate to first base in four seconds flat.

He’s an outfielder/pitcher and last week he pitched a perfect game, striking out 19 of the 21 batters he faced in the seven-inning game. So far this season, he has recorded 79 strikeouts in only 34 innings.

As impressive as those pitching stats are, however, the pro scouts probably are more interested in his potential as an everyday player.

[Hairps]

Keith Law chimes in with more Westmoreland chatter, similar to the BA link temple previously provided:

One recruit the Commodores may not see on campus is Portsmouth (R.I.) center fielder Ryan Westmoreland, who has given clubs bonus demand figures of $1.6 million to just over $2 million. Word is the Red Sox are strongly interested in drafting Westmoreland, who boasts plus hit, run and throw tools, and giving him a seven-figure bonus.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index...ame%3dlaw_keith

[CaptainLaddie]

This kid sounds pretty remarkable. But I have my doubts he'd be around when the Sox pick if he's this good.