Mound Talk

As always, if you haven’t read the Mound Talk Full Mock Draft, it is highly recommended.  Feel free to post your feedback or email me @ koby.schellenger@moundtalk.com.
#7: Cincinnati Reds

With Walt Jocketty now taking over for the Reds as General Manager, the Reds will have a new philosophy in 2008. Jocketty comes from St. Louis where he is used to having extra draft picks & drafting college players. Over his last four drafts he has selected 69 times in the first fifteen rounds. Over those 69 selections, Jocketty only took eight high school players & drafted 37 pitchers. While fairly balanced between pitchers & position players, Jocketty clearly steers clear of high school players with the exception of elite players. The high schoolers taken were Colby Rasmus, Bryan Anderson, Tyler Herron, Josh Wilson, Matt North, Travis Mitchell, Peter Kozma & Deryk Hooker. Two of the high schoolers were first round picks and four of the twelve picks in the first two rounds have been high schoolers. So when Jocketty is selecting in the first two rounds he’s more likely to take a high scool player.

The Reds have plenty of options and money shouldn’t be a factor for them. If they want to go with offense, they have plenty of options. Eric Hosmer is still available at first base and catchers Buster Posey & Kyle Skipworth are still available. Pitchers Aaron Crow & Shooter Hunt are two of the best college pitchers & Tanner Scheppers is right there with them. High school pitcher Tim Melville is floating around & the Reds love their high school players.

Tanner Scheppers has been one of the most impressing college pitchers this year for Fresno State. He’s a tall & athletic righty. His fastball is 92-94 and moves very well. He has a very good, hard slider. That is basically the extent of his current arsenal. He needs to work on his mechanics a little to develop a repeatable motion. He could add velocity to his fastball with better mechanics. His slider lacks command but that is, again, related to not having a repeated motion. He is very much a high upside selection.

Tim Melville is a high school righty out of Missouri. He hasn’t shown much this year, but that is fairly typical of Midwest pitchers because of the weather. His fastball is in the low-90s but he should be able to pump that up to 94-95 as he fills out & develops his arm motion a little more. He has a nice knuckle-curve that shows good movement & deceptive delivery. His change is poor with little control. Melville is on par with most high school arms in that he is all about projection. The floor for Melville is real low but the ceiling is very high. With great arm strength & the possibility of adding more velocity, Melville is a very attractive choice.
Cincinnati Reds
Likely Selections: Aaron Crow, RHP, College. Tim Melville, RHP, HS. Buster Posey, C, College. Kyle Skipworth, C, HS
Mound Talk Selection: Aaron Crow, RHP, Missouri

It’s been a long day for Crow as he watched six other players come off the board before someone finally took him. The Reds will have to pony up for him but they were able to get a top five talent at number seven in the draft. With his mid-90s fastball & power slider, the Reds have a pitcher with good stuff. His command is pretty good though he’ll need to work on his slider and changeup. Crow has a problem in his delivery where he’ll open his right wrist and let it fall back. This extra motion is unneccesary & something that will need to be corrected. When he does that, he’ll have better command and consistency.

#8: Chicago White Sox

General Manager Kenny Williams has been at the helm for Chicago since 2000. Doug Laumann was his Scouting Director from 2001-2003 & is back at that position now. Since he was last Scouting Director, he’s been working with the organization as a pro scout. During the 2001-2003 drafts, Laumann brought Brian Anderson, Ryan Sweeney, Jeremy Reed, Chris Young (the outfielder), Royce Ring, Brandon McCarthy, Boone Logan & Jay Marshall into the system, among others.

Kenny Williams last four drafts have been eerily similar. He has made 63 selections in the first fifteen rounds & with those picks has selected 13 high school players, almost exclusively after the fifth round. Of the 63 selections, 37 have been pitchers & more interesting, Williams has heavily favored pitchers early. I am expecting this trend to continue.

The White Sox have one of the worst farm systems in baseball. The lone bright spot is first round pick from last season, Aaron Poreda. Eric Hosmer is the best player available, but, as always, the price tag is the issue. The White Sox may bite on Hosmer but will also give heavy consideration to the college pitchers available like Tanner Scheppers & Shooter Hunt. The Southsiders may bite on an electric arm like Gerit Cole who carries more risk & upside than Scheppers or Hunt but I’m fairly confident they’re going to be looking at a faster moving player.

Gerrit Cole would be an intriguing pick for many teams. He has a power arm out of Lutheran High School in California. However, he has shown poor command & mechanics. He’s hit the upper-90s with his fastball and shown good movement. However, his slider is inconsistent & he needs plenty of development. He would be a reach at number eight but I don’t think it would be too much of a stretch to see the White Sox take him.

Another option for the White Sox is to take one of the two catchers, Posey & Skipworth, with this selection. These two catchers carry a higher bust rate than Scheppers & Hunt in my estimation. While Skipworth has superstar potential, he may have to move positions. While Posey is pretty likely to stay at catcher, he is not very likely to be a superstar but I am pretty confident he’ll be an above-average player. The decision to draft guys like these two is a tough one for GMs & SDs to make. My feeling on the White Sox is that they are going to be Chicago White Sox
Likely Selections: Eric Hosmer, 1B, HS. Tanner Scheppers, RHP, College. Shooter Hunt, RHP, College. Gerrit Cole, RHP, HS.
Mound Talk Selection: Tanner Scheppers, RHP, Fresno State

I like this selection for the White Sox from a risk perspective. They are an older team with next to nothing in their system. He’s got good velocity working in the mid-90s with solid movement. His slider has good potential. If the White Sox are to rebuild their system, they will need to do it by securing guys with low bust rates. I like Scheppers to be a slower moving, yet solid pitching prospect. Scheppers would immediately join Aaron Poreda as the top two prospects in the system & give the White Sox a good reason for hope.