bsb8532

I'm an Aggie and found the Duran pick interesting. His bat has been much more solid than I would have predicted and A&M's stadium is nuetral. However, his defense has a long way to go. I wouldn't say he doesn't have any of the necessary tools, he's just highly inconsistent. He had a similar path as Brandon Hicks, who was drafted by the Braves last year in the 3rd and has flown through the organization. He was a JUCO guy that had a questionable bat that proved it at a major D1 program. However, I'd say he didn't go as high as Hicks has a little more size, speed, and was a more consistent defender.

Maybe my Astros should have proposed one of these plans before screwing the metaphorical pooch this past offseason. I still can't figure out why we didn't offer Pettitte or Clemens arbitration. However, it seems arbitrary to me that we essentially gain Carlos Lee and Woody Williams and lose Pettitte and Clemens and the net result is we don't get a draft pick until the 100's. I'd much rather have Pettitte and Clemens even without the draft picks, moretheless with them. But I also have to blaim our management for poorly handling the situation. We wanted to get Pettitte a one year deal anyways and his arbitration would not likely have been much more than we offered ($13 million). As far as Clemens, we would have given him $35 million if he would have come back.

I'm a displaced Astro fan (don't hold it against me) and have found this is the best free draft resource on the net! Anyways, my question is whether anyone has heard anything on Brandon Hicks from Texas A&M. I'm an Aggie and have watched him play several times and would say this guy is a Michael Young clone. He plays SS now, but is probably better suited for 2B. He has a solid eye, but very good power for a middle infielder and a very quiet, solid approach to the plate. I'm hoping that either he winds up slipping to the Astros pick in the 3rd. Here are his stats thus far: 179 AB .358 Avg 13 2B 8 HR 25:33 K:BB 24 stolen bases in 27 attempts

I'm just wondering what anyone's opinion is on him? I'm an Ag so I've seen him play several times. Defensively he has good range for a SS and a cannon (he pitches in the 90's), but is prone to errors. He's a switch hitter that hits for a pretty high average and has a good eye (33 BB to 18 K's last year). He has pretty good speed on the base paths as well. He's also a great leader and shows up for big games, though sabermetrics folks could care less about that. The only knock is he hasn't shown much power thus far, but definitely has all the tools to be an impact player at the pro level (especially if he continues to improve defensively and thus can stay at SS). I'm hoping the Astros are taking a look at him at the end of the first or with a compensation pick.