Me and Azru will be dropping by with comments on who the Cardinals select (or perhaps fail to select) today when we are able. We both have obligations but will try and sneak off when possible. About yesterday: Yes, it was college heavy. Yes, it smacked of “safe pick-ism.” Yes, there were certainly some big head scratchers. Let’s try to remember these picks are based on suggestions made by highly trained scouts, men who make their living evaluating talent with their own eyes. And there are stat gurus like Sig Mejdal who have input as well. I have to believe they have more insight then fans with subscriptions to PG Crosschecker and Baseball America. If you want to know the reasoning behind the some of the madness, Derrick Goold has a Q and A with Jeff Luhnow. It’s worth the read, with some interesting info on Mortenson. Another matter is the worry that Texas sophomore Kyle Russell won’t be signable. I’m not too worried about that at this point. The Cardinals passed on all the expensive early picks. Guys like Mortenson, Todd, Kopp should not be expensive signs. Even Kozma won’t cause the Cards to break the bank. DeWitt and Jocketty were both aware of Russell’s stock when they selected him, I fully expect them to pony up. It would be a crime if they didn’t.
Stay tuned, the draft starts up again at 10:30am. Still some interesting names on the board and the Cardinals have done well with later round picks…
[AZ 10:46] Cardinals pick #202 - SS Oliver Marmol - RH - 5′10″ - DOB: 1986-07-02. There’s not a lot of information on players chosen in the later rounds so I won’t speculate much but I’m surprised we’re picking another vertically challenged shortstop.
[erik 10:59] Marmol hit .345/.458/.550 last season. He also swiped 28 bases in 34 attempts. His OBP is inflated by 22 hit by pitches. Ouchie.
[AZ 10:57] Cardinals pick #232 - RHP James Hooker - 6′4″ - 185 - DOB: 1989-06-21. At least he’s young.
[AZ 11:12] Cardinals pick #262 - CF Paul Henley - 5′10″ - 200lbs. - DOB: 1985-06-10. Great at getting on base.
[erik 11:47] well, a lot has happened. with the next picks they’ve chosen Michael Stoles out of Oregon State, Beau Riportella out of who knows where. He’s a mighty mite CF, for some reason Luhnow likes those. He’s only 19 and he hit .360/.443/.471 with 31 stolen bases in 32 attempts. Adam “don’t bogart” the Riefer from UC Riverside went next, and now they take high school arm Brett Zawacki in the 12th round. Don’t know much about these guys yet, but I’ll keep you posted. If any one has a scouting report or some tidbit of info re: these guys, post in below in the comments.
[AZ 12:06] Sorry, work got to me for a bit. 1B Steven Hill drafted #412. He’s a 5′11″ 1B out of Austin State University. 22 years old. [erik] Hill slugged .819 this year, that’s monstrous.
[AZ 12:08] #442 Josh Dew. RHP out of Troy University. 6′4″ 205lbs. 22 years old.
[AZ 12:22] #472 Charles Fick RHP. He’s the same damn thing as all the other college pitchers the Cardinals have taken this draft.
[erik 12:24] any relation to Charlie Fick, a scout of the Cards?
[AZ 12:40] Antonio DeJesus with pick #502. 5′11″ CF from college.
[erik 1:32] playing catch up here, stupid real job. Cardinals still passing on some consensus top talents for college guys, many from schools you and I never heard of. Matt Arburr is on of those. Where is Pace U? Wherever it it, he hit .315/.427/.589 there with 12 homers and 16 stolen bases in 19 attempts. Andrew Brown was next, RF from Nebraska, he led the Huskers in HR’s with 10. He hit .329/.429/.577 in 213 at bats. No scouting info at this time. They then picked 5′9, 180 soaking wet 2B Nick Peoples from Texas. There he hit .329/.421/.488 with 18 steals in 23 attempts.
[erik 1:40] Brian Cartie, 3b, McNeese, hit .354/.456/.503. These picks are a lot of OBP guys with limited power. Weird. They then picked another McNeese player, Charles Kingery, who won the triple crown in his conference. His line there was .360/.435/.672 with 15 HR.
[erik 1:46] Joseph Hage went in the 21st, hope they can sign him. He was ranked pretty high in the Perfect Game showcase, #9 overall. Here’s a blurb-. “Joseph Hage (2007, OF, Coral Springs, FL): Gamer with very good present strength, body life. Quick strong hands, drives the ball hard, can run and throw in the outfield, a very aggressive player with tools. “
[erik 2:06] really hating the Fick Pick now. Looked at his numbers, he posted a 7.11 ERA. He walked 34 batters, allowed 40 runs and struck out 26 in 50 innings. Must’ve been a son of someone, a friend of the family. J.D. Stambaugh, the lefty from BYU is mildly interesting. He struck out 25% of the batters he faced as the Cougar’s closer. I assume he’s Mormon, does he have to leave for a mission or can he play now? Josh Dew has some interesting #’s at least, he struck out 97 to 27 walks while allowing 8 HR in 65 innings in a tough park.
[AZ 2:35] Arnoldi Cruz 3B taken with the #802 pick. Only 20 years old so at least he’s not using a walker yet (unlike some of these college pitchers).
[AZ 2:50] RF Brian Buck and 2B Ross Oeder. Anybody else get the feeling they are really trying to address the middle infield?
[AZ 3:06] 1B Charlie Pelt and C Nick Derba. We’ve had catchers giving up SBs left and right in the low minors so hopefully Derba has a good arm.
[AZ 4:00] Check the draft tracker for the latest. One last note: the Cardinals did pick anoher HS arm at the end: Michael Blazek. First of all, cool last name. Second of all, I’m excited by any HS pitcher at this point. Thanks for spending Day 2 of the MLB 2007 Rule 4 Amateur Draft with us. Hope you enjoyed it.
Filed under: 2007 Draft
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
I agree. The Cardinals’ scouting dept. is much more familiar with these players than we are. Let’s be rational, how many guys with tremendous upside actually make it? Remember Todd Van Poppel? Lets’ see how today pans out and then give these guys a couple of years to pass judgement. Lunhow’s first draft (04) was a flop, but the last 2 have been quite impressive so far.
http://whiteyball.wordpress.com
One thing is for sure from reading Luhnow’s interviews, he’s not lacking in self-confidence. The way he’s talking up some of these picks he’s going to end up looking like either a genius or an idiot, I guess we’ll know which in 2-3 years.
well said mike j. we’ll have to let time tell. the jury is still out, that’s for sure.
The first pick for the Cards of the day is Oliver Marmol. A SS which we love and of course straight out of college.
Are we interpreting this draft as a bid of no confidence in Greene?
Andrew - Not really because Greene a no-confidence vote as much as hedging bets. Greene still has better tools than Kozma imo but he just hasn’t shown signs of putting them together. If Greene ever finds a way to make contact he’s got a great ceiling.
MikeJ - I’m got a post for this afternoon about that Luhnow interview. It was interesting to say the least.
I don’t think anyone could feel to good about the Cardinals middle infield prospects before yesterday.
BTW, McGeary went to the Nationals at 190.
Nice, we drafted a Hooker. Well at least he’s a HS pitcher, don’t know much about him though.
Suprised that we would pick him over Tepesch.
Henley actually has a scouting report, nice.
But man I was really interested in the 2 pitchers who went right after us (Mills and Chapman).
The Henley pick sounds like a good one. A need position, high on the defensive spectrum, and an OBP guy who apparently could also develop power and hits from the left side. Sounds like a Mark Kotsay type scouting report, pretty much, with the potential for more power. I like it.
good to see local boy evan frey get picked by Az. guess he’ll be reunited w/max scherzer
Beau Riportella. A CF, says he went to college of the Sequoias but wasn’t born until 8/20/88.
Interesting pattern emerging for the hitting portion of Cards draft….of the 6 taken thus far, 2 SS and 2 CFs, and all taken because they appear to have somewhat polished hitting skills. Perhaps the Cards are thinking of taking the lowest-risk bats from among the best athletes and hoping that they can shift them to positions of greater need if their bats do indeed turn out to be MLB caliber? And a 5th guy who Luhnow cites for his bat, and his ability to shift defensively to 2B.
In which case, I wouldn’t read to much into being overstocked at SS with Ryan, Greene, and Pham, but having no 2B.
..and two more college RHPs.
Well Stu Pomeranz’s brother, Thomas, just went to the Rangers.
And we get Brett Zawacki, a young righty from Illinios.
Johnson City won’t lack for arms, that’s for sure… Zawacki looks pretty good. I wonder how heavily he’s being recruited.
I am collecting press clippings, etc. on these draft picks over at my site. So far underwheliming but Zawacki sounds interesting.
http://whiteyball.wordpress.com
Are the Cards afraid of left-handed pitchers?
http://whiteyball.wordpress.com
“Brett Zawacki is a 2007 RHP/OF with a 6′1”, 180 lb. frame from Peru IL, who attends LaSalle-Peru Township HS. Strong, athletic build. Good athlete, Power arm action, sound mechanics, full turn delivery, very good extension out front. Fastball to 93 mph, steady over 90. Some run/sink. Late, sharp break on 76 CB, good change. Can hit, too. National level prospect, power arm. Committed to Illinois State”
10-0, 0.52 ERA, 101 strikeouts, 16 walks
And man, Kentrail Davis just went to the Rockies, really would have liked to give him a shot.
And we pick Josh Dew, I like it, other than he is a reliever and a college senior, he struck out 13.69 per 9 last year with a WHIP of 1.17.
why no kentrail davis?
we’re on the same page, shhh
Stephen Hill put up a 1.305 OPS with 24 hr’s this year. Nice.
Tanner Robles to the Angels, man I hate the Angels first Harvey, now this.
Charles Fick, come on Cards pick some guys that might actually have a future in the game of baseball.
More Zawacki stuff from the Peoria paper
Zawacki tore his ACL during basketball season (day after Christmas, I believe) and didn’t pitch at all this spring. But Zawacki turned up at the Pitch and Hit Club of Chicago’s Showcase at Silver Cross Stadium in Joliet on Oct. 14 and showcased a fastball that topped out at 94 mph and was consistently 89-92 with some electric off-speed and breaking stuff. That performance has moved him to the top of Major League Baseball’s scouting bureau list as the top pitching prospect in the state. Brett originally committed to Illinois State, but he reconsidered earlier this month and instead accepted a scholarship offer from Arizona State.
yeah, the missed the boat probably on robles. take a risk, man!
azru, heads up.. i left a few comments, hope you see this if you’re still in the edit scrn
damn you wordpress — I’m out of the edit screen now. but I think wordpress gobbled them (bad concurrency programming). I’m actually gonna check out till about 2pm — work stuff to catch up with. So have at. I’ll check back in then.
Seriously someone tell me the Cards aren’t picking Matt Arburr over these guys:
Chris Carpenter
Yasmani Grandal
Greg Peavey
Nick Tepesch
Victor Sanchez
yeah, i had a gut feeling about grandal. and i could swear tepesch would be gone by now.
Well Carpenter just went to the Yanks. (Not that the Cards would draft anyone that would actually be worth it or anything, what a cheap shot.) Forgot to mention Kevin Patterson as another guy I like on that list. I really have no idea why were not drafting the hometown kid in Tepesch.
Nicholas Peoples>Nicholas Tepesch apparently.
head’s up az, posting again
they picked a HS at #712
woohoo — end the college player tyranny — last HS pick was #382
Hage’s MILB video was impressive. Nice level swing, quick through the strike zone, nothing loopy to it. He appeared to have a strong if not entirely accurate arm from CF. I like that pick.
There go K. Patterson and G. Peavey to the White Sox and Yanks respectively.
That leaves Yasmani Grandal, Nick Tepesch, and Victor Sanchez as guys I like left.
I’m think Tepesch is guaranteed to go to college, theres no way he should still be on the board.
5′10″ is “vertically challenged?” Is this the NBA?
Bill - touche. fair enough 5′10″ isn’t short (and SS isn’t a place with a lot of tall players). Still surprised we’re picking another SS here though.
Erik,
Charles Fick is the nephew of Washington Nationals first baseman Robert Fick and the son of Cardinals’ scout Chuck Fick.
And your right, he does suck, but I’m sure he was in the top 50 on the Cardinals big board.
So far the Cards have picked 4 players that were born in 1989 and 2 players that were born in 1988. (Through pick 1068)
Shhhh - The age thing really bothers me given how old they already are at QC and PB. If they are going to draft old they need to be more aggressive with these college products.
Eh, to me it really doesn’t seem like the Cards know what there doing anyways. (maybe I’m just overreacting because it’s draft day and I have been quite disappointed)
BTW the Cards have picked one more kid that was born in 1989 and one more that was born in 1988. So so far the tally looks like this through pick 1261.
1989 - 5
1988 - 3
Brett Zawacki: Huge pick up for the Cards. He was to go in the 2nd or 3rd round but fell in the draft for some reason. This kid had a major league breaking ball and hits 93 mps consistantly and has hit 96 mph with his fastball. He has great meachanics and with a little development could get his fast ball avg around 95. Will be in a rotation someday.
FYI: In reply to your post: [erik 11:47] … Beau Riportella out of who knows where. He’s a mighty mite CF, for some reason Luhnow likes those. He’s only 19 and he hit .360/.443/.471 with 31 stolen bases in 32 attempts.
Beau Riportella is from Tulare, CA. He is a kid with a lot of heart! After reporting to Jupiter Florida, he was sent to Johnson City, TN, where as of Sunday’s game he was playing Left Field & is batting 500. Not bad for an 18 year old kid from a little town in the middle of now-where. After Sunday’s game Riportella when he was 3 for 5 with a walk, 2 stolen bases, a run scored and an RBI, he was named the first Birdhouse Player of the Day!
Keep your eyes open for him! Along with his talent, he has a lot of support at home. He has time to grow & mature, and most of all develop for the cardinals organization! Go Beau #7!