The Official 2008 Draft Thread

[GS Warriors 1]

Next Friday at 11am PT/2pm ET on ESPN2.

Here's a profile of projected top 5 pick Pedro Alvarez from milb.com, I think they have about 100 of these:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/events/draft_report/y2008/index.jsp?mc=alvarez

Discuss.

[trwi7]

It's been reported by Keith Law that the Brewers are scouting prep SS Anthony Hewitt.

I have to say I'm a little surprised by that. They usually go for the advanced college bats and the prep pitchers in the early round (Braun and LaPorta and Rogers and Jeffress.)

[NH_soxfan14]

The Red Sox are scouting Reese Havens (SS), Brett Wallace (1B/3B), and Ryan Westmoreland (OF). I just am looking for them to pick up a star that free falls because of financial demands. Like Lars Anderson who we picked up in the 18th round.

[Bleeding Green]

Sounds like Westmoreland. Dude is apparently demanding 2 mil as a third-round talent. Plus he's a Red Sox fan. Brett Wallace in the first would be excellent, but why would he fall that far? Reese Havens would instantly be the best 3B prospect the system has had since Youkilis. I'd definitely be down for either Wallace or Havens. Or obviously if someone falls like Cole or Hosmer or Smoak.

[NH_soxfan14]

I really want Wallace. Not so much Havens. The sox can pick up westmoreland in the 10th-20th round when he drops like a rock for demands.

[Schad]

Yeah, there's no way that Wallace drops to the bottom of the round. Jays fans are hoping desperately that he falls to us at 17...slim hope that it happens, and there's no chance that the Jays pass him over (they took him as a high school player three years ago).

Seems like a pretty thin draft overall, but with some good power potential in the first round.

[A.J.]

I can't wait baby.

Shooter Hunt to Houston please.

[Bleeding Green]

Well, nobody is safe from falling. I believe Craig Hansen was a lock to go top-5 with talks about him going first overall in 2005. And the Red Sox got him at 26. Is Wallace tied to Boras?

[A.J.]

Well, nobody is safe from falling. I believe Craig Hansen was a lock to go top-5 with talks about him going first overall in 2005. And the Red Sox got him at 26. Is Wallace tied to Boras?

Thats is what I called a steal.

[Chach]

I don't expect guys to drop as much as in the past with teams paying less attention to slotting and the new compensation system for not signing picks. Guys will definitely drop that have strong college commitments but I don't think we are going to see as many Lars Anderson free-falls because teams are willing to spend and they have more incentives to draft the best talent, rather than the most affordable. mahalo
~Chach~

[GS Warriors 1]

Correction: Draft starts on Thursday. Same time and channel as posted.

Wallace isn't going to fall down to Boston, looks like he'll go 10-15 range. Havens is a name that has been heavily connected to Boston, so he could be the pick.

[NH_soxfan14]

Havens has had a couple of private workouts at fenways the past few years when he played in the Cape Cod league.

[GS Warriors 1]

Havens supposedly has been rising up the boards enough to where the Sox won't be able to take him.

[bigboy1234]

Man RealGM is such a crappy site. They just came out with their draft big board.
Some highlights:

11. Tanner Scheppers RHP 6-foot-4, 200 Fresno State

Scheppers is one of the fast risers in the draft due to his potential frame and his present day stuff. He is a power fastball-slider guy who had 109 strikeouts in 70.2 innings.

Fast riser, eh? I guess they didn't hear about his shoulder injury a couple weeks ago.

10. Brett Hunter RHP 6-foot-, 215 Pepperdine

Hunter came out on first for the early part of this year and displayed a fastball which would near 100 MPH. However, injuries curtailed his season and put a question mark on his draft status.

10th? Someone is addicted to velocity, which would explain Cole being 5th overall.

3. Gordon Beckham SS 6-foot-1, 180 Griffin HS (Griffin, Georgia)

Beckham is a developmental player with loads of upside going forward. He is one of the best athletes in the draft and has a solid high school bat going into professional ball.

His name is Tim. Oh, and yeah they don't have Gordon Beckham who has had the best bat in college baseball and almost guaranteed top 10 pick in the top 25 picks.

24. Luke Burnett RHP 6-foot-8, 260 Louisiana Tech

Burnett has the potential with his frame if he can keep it in shape but had a poor junior year. He went 0-4 with an 8.40 ERA for Louisiana Tech this past season.

WTF. Maybe before the college baseball season started but he has sucked all year.

16. Harold Martinez 3B 6-foot-3 195 Braddock HS (Miami, Florida)

Martinez has moved around the board this year and ended up finished at No. 16. He has a good bat with power potential and is solid at third base defensively. He would be a decent complementary pick for a team looking for a third baseman after Alvarez.

Again, are we in last year? Martinez was horrible this year and almost definitely won't get drafted in the top 2 rounds.

25. Jacob Thompson RHP 6-foot-6, 215 Virginia

Another really nice frame prospect is Jacob Thompson, who is known at this point for being around the strike zone. He struck out less than one batter an inning for Virginia this past year. He was 2:1 in strikeouts to walks this season though.

Again, it isn't last year, his stock has dropped a ton.

[TyCobb]

I think Kyle Skipworth will end up being the best player from this draft.

[GS Warriors 1]

I think Kyle Skipworth will end up being the best catcher from this draft.

Fixed.

[SportsWorld]

Buster Posey is 15th on the big board?

[GS Warriors 1]

I'm not that high on Gordon Beckham but to leave him out of the top 25 is out there.

[HeyIt'sMe]

Skipworth would make me highly leary if I was selecting him. I know it's not necessarily fair to him, but like it or not high school catchers have a horrible rate of success.

[studcrackers]

just hope the rangers stay away from shooter hunt and cashner from tcu