lonestar

I hope you're right about the Twins drafting him. He's at the top of my board - that is, of players I think will be available at 14. [i can't get over how much my board has changed.] Would you try him at catcher or move him to another position? I would go straight to 3B - in part because of Joe Mauer (morphing into Jason Kendall). But in part because catching would slow his progress and limit his production (due to fatigue, wear & tear, nagging injuries). Do you know why BA describes his arm as only "at least average"?

Brad Radke pitched with a torn labrum for two years and retired because of it rather than face surgery and extensive rehab. He reported the stress fracture in August 2006, sat out 6+ weeks, and pitched reasonably well when he came back. I don't know if the torn labrum is related to the stress fracture. It appears that the torn labrum came first. As Will Carroll at BP said, we don't even know what bone in the shoulder suffered the stress fracture.

Brad Radke had a stress fracture in his shoulder in 2006.

I meant to ask you why you thought he had retained so much traction (ranking #20 on your list). My sense is he has lost traction because of the injury and will be available for one of the Brewers' supplemental picks. I don't think he has a history of blister problems. If he can show his arm problems are behind him, pop him with a supplemental pick. I'm more concerned about his max effort delivery than his lack of 3rd pitch. I take it you don't share those concerns. I personally like Hunter more than Shooter Hunt (who reminds me too much of Daniel Cabrerra or Derrick Turnbow). ______________________________________ I have similar questions about another idled pitcher who is #21 on your list -- Sonny Gray. Why has he retained so much traction? Does he have the makings of a 3rd pitch? Is he seen as a starter or reliever? If he is seen as a reliever, is it because of stature or the lack of a 3rd pitch?

What do you think of what Kevin Goldstein wrote at BP: Another up-the-middle college player making some noise this spring is Miami second baseman Jemile Weeks, the younger brother of Rickie. After hitting six and then five home runs in his first two seasons with the Hurricanes, Weeks already has six this year, which is part of an impressive .400/.459/.765 line in 23 games, giving him more home runs and RBI than teammate Yonder Alonso. While the relation to the budding Brewer star is a good one, the two are very different players. "If you think he's going to be Rickie, you're mistaken," said one scouting director. "It's a totally different body type. Jemile is more agile, Rickie more powerful," he added, and it should be noted that the elder Weeks is listed at 215 pounds, while Jemile is a more lithe 180. Another scouting director gave what basically amounted to a full scouting report. "He has a very erect set-up and his hands are very high and he doesn't really have any trigger for his swing. So he has this minimal stride and kind of dead hands--that makes me worried a bit about hitting with the heavier wood bats. Still, he might not be big, but he's strong." Like most sources spoken to, there are still major questions about Weeks defensively. "He needs a lot of work at second base," continued the scouting director. "He's such a good athlete that he plays the position and gets it down, but there's a lot to clean up there with his footwork, hands, instincts and mechanics." A plus-plus runner, teams who think Weeks can play second or maybe even give him a shot a center field could take him in the first round. Yet another scouting director summed up Weeks' upside succinctly: "If he hits, it's not going to matter where he plays."