colbyjack

Keep in mind, this list looks rather outdated. Not that the rankings would change too much, but you can tell with this comment alone: Harvey will miss most of '03 season after injuring knee in fall. I have added MLB's 2003 draft coverage to the links on the main draft page here. They've been doing a good job adding some interesting new stories every day if you haven't noticed already. Here's the link to make it easy per usual: mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ml.../index.jsp

Too bad that question didn't get answered MB, that's a good one. I too like the idea of trading picks, but as you noted it really would have to be regulated somehow since some teams would likely move out of a slot for next to nothing if it meant they could pay a player for less money. At some point the structure of the draft is going to have to be addressed. First issue in my mind is getting the first round or three on TV. If the WNBA has their draft on ESPN, why doesn't MLB?

I'm pretty sure Edwin Walker was at the Brewers' pre-draft workout. At the time, I thought he was James Loney, who ended up being the Dodgers first-round pick last year as a 1B, but also doubled as a LHP at Elkins HS. I thought it was Loney because this LHP showed a very loose delivery courtesy of an strong, athletic frame. He was throwing a good fastball, one of the best of all of the players that participated, and also flashed a decent breaking ball from where I was sitting. I'll have to see a pic of Walker, or better yet see him pitch, before I'm able to confirm whether that was indeed him, but from the reports I think it's the same person. And if so, I can see why they gave him that money. He obviously needs more time at the rookie level, but I could see him turning a lot of heads by the end of this summer or next once he gets more regular work.

Thought I'd share this from a poster over at T1: I know GM Doug Melvin because his son plays on my high school team and I have talked to Mr. Melvin a couple of times since they moved here in December. He went down to Southern U. to see Weeks play and he really likes him. Of course, he is projected to go to the D-Rays so Young or Loewen will probably be the pick. When I hear more info I will report. Of course, if Mr. Melvin happens to read this board, he may be sure to keep his mouth shut around his both his son & his son's teammates http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . For doc...the Braves selected 2 of their bigger prospects with the supplemental first round pick & our 2nd round pick: Kelly Johnson & Kenny (Bubba) Nelson. Here are some of the better known prospects that went in between what was supposed to be our 2nd round pick & our 3rd rounder (Dane Artman): 2B Tim Hummel, LHP Chris Narveson, LHP Brian Tallet, RHP Joel Hanrahan, 2B Dominic Rich, 3B Lance Niekro, LHP Ryan Snare, LHP Danny Borrell, LHP Rob Henkel, OF Grady Sizemore & OF Nic Jackson. There aren't too many names within that list that are all that promising, but just the chance of finding a gem given where this club stands in my mind makes the Jose Hernandez signing a bad one. Of course, Dean Taylor never made the mistake of signing a FA that had been offered arby again.

Here is BA's draft preview for the Brewers: Brewers Draft Preview By Allan Simpson May 12, 2003 Scouting Director: Jack Zduriencik (first draft: 2000). 2000 Draft (First three rounds, picking 11th) 1. David Krynzel, of, Green Valley HS, Henderson, Nev. 2. (Choice to Braves as compensation for free agent Jose Hernandez) 3. Dane Artman, lhp, Westminster Academy, Fort Lauderdale 4. Eric Henderson, lhp, North Carolina 5. Jason Belcher, c, Walnut Ridge (Ark.) HS 2001 Draft (First three rounds, picking 12th) 1. Mike Jones, rhp, Thunderbird HS, Phoenix 2. J.J. Hardy, ss, Sabino HS, Tucson 3. Jon Steitz, rhp, Yale 4. Brad Nelson, 1b, Bishop Garrigan HS, Algona, Iowa 5. Judd Richardson, rhp, Miami (Ohio) 2002 Draft (First five rounds, picking seventh) 1. Prince Fielder, 1b, Eau Gallie HS, Melbourne, Fla. 2. Josh Murray, ss, Jesuit HS, Tampa 3. Eric Thomas, rhp, South Alabama 4. Nic Carter, of, Campbell 5. *Jarrad Page, ss, San Leandro (Calif.) HS (*Did not sign) 2003 Draft Brewers pick second in rotation Overview Dean Taylor didn't survive as general manager of the Brewers, but Jack Zduriencik, whom Taylor brought in with him after the 1999 season to head up the scouting department, did. Taylor was fired as the Brewers suffered through their 10th straight losing season in 2002, sinking to a club-record 106 losses, while Zduriencik oversaw his third straight successful draft and was asked to stay on. His efforts are a primary reason the organization's minor league talent has made a quantum leap forward in his tenure. Ranked last by Baseball America entering the 2001 season, the Brewers talent ranked 16th just two years later. Milwaukee's top eight prospects were all drafted out of high school--seven by Zduriencik. All three of his first-round picks--outfielder David Krynzel in 2000, righthander Mikes Jones in 2001 and first baseman Prince Fielder in 2002--have enjoyed minor league success and project to be at least solid big leaguers. That's a far cry from the previous decade, when a series of suspect picks sent the Brewers' fortunes spiraling. Kenny Henderson, Tyrone Hill, Kenny Felder, Antone Williamson, Chad Green and Kyle Peterson are just a sampling of first-round picks that fell far short of expectations for the Brewers in the '90s. With the second overall pick this year, the Brewers have a great chance to build on their recent success. It's their earliest pick since 1985, when catcher B.J. Surhoff was the No. 1 overall selection. There's no consensus on the top picks in this year's draft, making it unclear where Zduriencik will lean. The Brewers have considered both a college pitcher (Wake Forest righthander Kyle Sleeth) and position player (Southern second baseman Rickie Weeks), as well as a high school pitcher (Florida lefthander Andrew Miller) and position player (California outfielder Delmon Young). A wild card is Chipola (Fla.) Junior College lefthander Adam Loewen, the fourth overall pick in last year's draft by Baltimore, the team that drafted him last year and controls his rights. If he goes back into this year's draft pool, he could be a target for the Brewers or any of the teams at the top of the draft.

Sleeth, Stauffer & Sullivan continue to be less than impressive as we approach the draft. Sleeth: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 K, 2 BB-no word as to why his outing was so short. It's not like he was hit THAT hard. Stauffer: 6 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 4 BB, 7 K-vs. North Carolina, probably his toughest opponent all season. Not a good outing when you need to prove your worth vs. your best competition. Sullivan: 7.1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 12 K, 4 BB-Sullivan sets Houston's all-time K mark, but gives up too many runs even while limiting the baserunners against. Given Cornell's rise & fall, none of the true college starters seem worthy of a top 2-5 pick. We might see more high school players taken early than originally thought.

Good points David. We've heard stories on how scouts stopped attending Stephen Drew's games during his senior year in high school because he wasn't performing very well. It turns out he was sick, and wasn't at 100%. You would think that scouts would look into this & come back when he was playing better, but I guess that isn't always the case. Poor performances can leave a lasting impression that's hard to shake.

Unlike past years, there are also a bunch of bargain picks here...could it be that the unexpected development of Manny Parra and his resulting large bonus affected the Brewers' overall approach to this draft? Frost's $5,000 was a big surprise. In my mind, without a doubt Manny Parra affected who they were able to pay what, and might have also had a big affect on whom they selected where. That $1.55 million is a huge chunk of change. Plus, it took a couple of hundred thousand more to sign Fielder than we originally thought. That's about $1.75 million we would have had to sign other people, which probably could have wrapped up Page, Hernandez and Kahn, if not White & a few other of our current DFEs like Eveland & Barnes. It would be interesting to find out what it took to sign Moss. Wilhelmsen's $250,000 is actually less than what I would have thought it would be. I was expecting something twice that amount, but that is a good chunk of change for round 7. And I agree that Murray was a big reach. While I don't argue as much with that selection anymore, for a relative no-namer he should have signed for a lot less money. If nothing else, the Brewers should have played a little more strict game of hardball with him to make him sweat it out. They must have really wanted him to start playing ASAP.

This one's for MassBrew: Q: nick from florida asks: Who do you think will be the top high school pitcher selected? A: Allan Simpson: I'd put my money on Jeff Allison at this point. He's been dynamite so far this season; he's eaten alive the competition in Massachusetts--no matter that they're using wood bats there this spring. I can see him going as high as No. 5 to the Royals. Andrew Miller was the No. 1 arm coming in. He hasn't been consistent game-in and game-out, but should still go in the first 8-12 picks. John Danks is the other high school pitcher given the best chance of going in the top half of the first round. Allison has stayed at the top for a couple of years now. RHP Jared Hughes & LHP Andrew Miller have wowed more scouts over the last year, but Allison has proven his worth through consistency time & time again. Man, I think it would be great if Tampa drafted Young. Personally, I think the Brewers should get Rickie Weeks, he is a more developed player who plays infield and hits for power....sounds like what the Brewers need. But If Loewen doesn't get signed, there's a good chance we will get him, I don't know if Tampa would draft him. Some scouts might argue that Delmon Young's bat is extremely advanced for a prep player, and could be just as advanced as Weeks'. Plus, he has more power potential. And if you're looking for the Brewers biggest positions of need, RF is right up there with C, 3B & pitching. Delmon Young fills an organizational need more than Weeks does given their "true" positions. If you're going to make a case for Weeks over Young you could make it if you feel he is quite simply the better player available, which he very well may be.

Daryl Maday is probably the biggest & brightest WI high school prospect out of Westosha HS in Bristol. Nice sized RHP with a good low-90s heater. Committed to Arkansas. Dan Luzcak (son of radio personality Dave Luzcak of WKLH) was supposed to be one of the bigger & better WI HS prospects, but an arm injury shut him down & he will almost for certain head to South Carolina next year. Other HS prospects include RHP Ryan Zink (LaFollette), power hitting 3B Robert Brockel (Marquette HS), IF/OF/UT Nick Wichser (Waukesha West) and C Tony Harper (Oak Creek). Notable college players with ties to WI include Arkansas RHP Scott Roehl, who actually was taken by the Brewers in the 16th round of the 2000 draft, and Brady Endl, a bigger LHP/1B prospect currently with UW-Whitewater. One of the bigger names from WI next year is Jason Jaramillo, a C currently with Oklahoma State. Jason could very well be a first rounder, and is currently thought to be one of the top 10 college prospects available for the '04 draft. Unfortunately, WI typically doesn't develop too many baseball prospects. Don't look for too many WI natives to have their name called on draft day.

Coincidentally enough, Brandon Wood was my scheduled prospect for today's player profile. That said, he has been a known commodity for several years now, and we all know how much focus the Brewers place on players in AZ. Be sure to follow the profiled link within this link for more info: www.brewerfan.net/ViewFea...Profile.do This information provided by the BA chat on Friday will make the pick easier for the Brewers' 2nd round pick in the mock draft over at T1 http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . And guess who knocked off Loewen in the Florida JC playoffs? Justin Barnes' Manatee team. A lot of scouts walked away with a sour taste in their mouths. Loewen reportedly was pitching in the 91-93 area with his 4-seamer, in the 88-89 area with his 2-seamer with nice life, and also displayed a good curveball & slider. According to the report, he left a lot of his stuff up high in the zone, and lost his velocity after the first couple of innings. Some of this info comes from Anup Sinha's report on T1, where he also said one scout said that Manny Parra was a lot better of a prospect last year, and was surprised that Loewen was asking for $4 million. Like I said, a lot of people walked away unimpressed, but it seems as though this was far from one of his better performances. The stuff was there, but it would seem that his command/control was not. Jackson's arm injury could cause him to fall far, depending on how serious it is. To me, his value really is at 3B, and it's already in question whether or not he'll be able to stay there long term. His bat is pretty good, and he displays a keen eye at the plate, but to me it doesn't sound as though he'll hit enough to play 1B.

Weeks keeps on hitting, and Southern has been named SWAC champs. Here's his updated line: .500/.619/.987, 158 ABs, 13 2B, 8 3B, 16 HR, 17 K & 46 BB, 27 for 27 in stolen base attempts, he also was hit by pitch 15 times The walk numbers really shot up over the last 4-6 weeks as teams obviously started working around him. He seemed to add a few stolen bases during that time, making teams pay for putting him on. Pretty incredible numbers, regardless of the level of competition.

I think Wake Forest was rained out over the weekend, unless they just haven't updated their site for the past couple of days. Sleeth sits with a 2.71 ERA. Sullivan went another 8 IP with 12K, 4 BB, 9 H & 2 ER throwing 125 pitches. His pitch counts have been pretty high all year long, and may be best holding out the first half if not the entire summer just to give his arm some much needed rest. Tim Stauffer has his ERA at 1.63. His 113 K & only 7 BB in 83 IP is one of the most impressive splits in all of college baseball. Hopefully Southern's site will have updated stats by tomorrow. Chipola's regular season has been over for a week now, and the playoffs don't start until either this weekend or next.

Marc Cornell faced only one batter last evening & was removed from the game. No word as to the problem, but that is not a good sign, even if it is precautionary. Last week he was removed after 2 innings due to some discomfort in his arm, even though that wasn't believed to be serious. As fast as Cornell shot up the charts, he may be on his way back down. I'm sure a healthy contigent of scouts, scouting directors & general managers left with a sour taste in their mouth.

One name: Ted Simmons. And while the track record for HS catchers is pretty poor, HS OFs taken in the first round since 1965 actually have the worst track record in making it to & succeeding at the MLB level. Worse than HS RHPs & catchers.

Catchers with Saltalamacchia's skills don't fall out of the 1st round. I'm not sure how he goes from a legitimate 1st rounder to a 2nd or 3rd rounder given his performances so far this year. I've also been told that he has been making opposing pitchers pay by working around him so much by stealing bases & showing some impressive speed. He's a switch-hitting catcher with pop from both sides of the plate, tremendous athleticism & great potential both offensively & defensively. If he somehow falls to our 2nd round pick, I can say quite confidently that Saltalamacchia will be the Brewers' pick pick without blinking. I will be very surprised & extremely pleased to see that happen. 2 more things, I think Bakker could very well fall to the 4th or 5th rounds, and you don't have to worry about spelling Saltalamacchia's name all of the time, as most affectionately refer to him at "Salty."

Was there a game in Milwaukee tonight!?!? Yup, and I was there. Hot date with my wife... On the way home (we ducked out a 1/2 inning early) Bob & Jim were talking about Mike Jones, spurred off his amazing performance this evening. Obviously they had nothing better to talk about, and it was nice listening to them talk about a young man that both me & my wife had the distinct pleasure to meet in Beloit last summer. As Toby has expressed with similar feelings on Hardy & even Parra, it's hard not to be impressed with Jones as he has such a good head on his shoulders that beams with confidence, & it's hard to imagine him not succeeding at the highest level. I was most impressed to see his ERA before this evening's game at 3.86, after following a few rough starts as reported in the link reports here. While I doubted his seemingly rash promotion, without seeing him pitch in person of course, he has been handling himself extraordinarily well. As SoCal noted, this is all we have right now. The minor leaguers, the draft, a few DFEs & the rare wins at the MLB level. Given the losing streak going into tonight's game, I sure as heck thought I was due for a good performance by default.

Sorry MB, I must have missed that. The little baseball dealy didn't show up on the left & I thought I had read the entire report. However, I'd argue that Kotchman was a fetish, Moore was simply a strong, stubborn preference http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

Nice to see Steve Moss made it back into a game, and nice to hear he had a game-saving catch. Since he was hampered by a leg injury, it would seem as though he has healed quite nicely with some rest to be able to make such a play. Our '03 draft with Fielder, Moss & Wilhelmsen could be special similar to the '01 tandem of Jones, Hardy & Nelson with Parra falling in the middle of the 2. And did anyone else notice the "S. Moore" in the boxscore for West Michigan http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ?

OhioScout, or anyone else for that matter, have you heard anything about Dustin Mollekan? T1 is reporting that he is drawing a lot of scouts & may be considered with a high 1st-round selection. He's a 6'5" 205 RHP with a big-time fastball. Just curious if the buzz is legit.

Has Cornell pitched on television? No, at least not around here. I have video of about 10-15 prospects for this year's draft, and Cornell is one of them. Sullivan is another. Houston's offense isn't helping them too much this season, otherwise Sullivan might not be pushed as much. However, their pitching staff is rather strong with Wagner & Zell, so I guess I don't see the need to push Sullivan THAT much. BA has a really good story on pitch counts in their most recent issue. Not too long ago no one was talking about them & they weren't such a big deal. The story does a great job giving some historical perspective while offering views from both sides of the argument.

I don't mean to sound like a Cornell apologist, just giving you some thoughts! And they're good thoughts at that! After my comments about Cornell I decided to pop in the tape I have of him. The fastball is most certainly there, and it's the type of pitch that simply explodes out of his hand. You're dead on with his command/control. He doesn't seem to be able to spot his fastball as well as he could. That seems to be a huge reason so many balls are put into play. If he learns that aspect of the game alone, he could become one heck of a pitcher. He did snap off a couple of good breaking balls. Once again, if he gets more consistent with that pitch, the 1-2 power punch alone is going to be effective. And you're right, just because he wasn't a known commodity last year shouldn't hurt his value now. In turn, just because he's not dominating right now doesn't mean he won't in the future. But again, you would like to see his production match his projection, especially for a college guy. And you made another good point about his size compared to Sullivan & Stauffer. I'm surprised I haven't seen more publications bring up the concerns with both of these guys. And I wouldn't be surprised to see Sullivan take it easy after he signs a pro deal, if he even does in time to pitch this summer. As you said, he's gone incredibly deep in each & every game he's thrown. Did he throw this much last year before he went on to pitch for TeamUSA all summer? Thanks as always for your insight OhioScout.

I was thinking about adding Cornell, but I guess I just didn't think he would go that high. A poster from T1 that has been kind enough to share information with me made me aware of Cornell about a month ago now, and he's quickly turned into the talk of the scouting world. I'd love to get your opinion of him when & if you get the chance to see him. And everyone seems to say the same thing: He consistently throws in the 92-94 range seemingly without effort. There are reports of him sitting at 94-95 for an entire game, which is pretty amazing. I've heard that his breaking ball can be dominant when it's working, but he's not consistent with it nor his changeup. All 3 can be above average pitches when he's got everything working for him. However, his stats playing in the MAC aren't that impressive. Here's his line on the year: 3.86 ERA, 10 games, all starts, 3 CG, 56 IP, 48 H, 66 K, 22 BB, .234 BAA Good numbers, but not exactly dominant. He's not missing enough bats, and he's allowing quite a few baserunners for a pitcher in the MAC that now is being considered for a top pick. I just noticed yesterday that the D-Rays are following Cornell quite intently, so you know the Brewers are as well. Of course, there is always a story past the stats, but I would like to see a pretty good explanation as to why he's not posting better numbers. Plus, he does have past elbow problems, and his mechanics have been known to get our of whack. I'm sure he'll get attention from anyone as long as he's compared to Mark Prior, no matter how loosely, but has he really elevated himself above more proven commodities like Sleeth, Sullivan & Stauffer?

Sleeth Friday: 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 6 K, 4 BB Sullivan Saturday: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 12 K, 2 BB Stauffer Saturday: 7 IP (8th CG), 5 H, 1 R, lost in a 1-0 ballgame

2 days off in a row for Hardy? MB, make it better http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif !