Daily Archives: March 2, 2007

Draft and Follow Update

2006 DFE's

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It looks like Rashad Taylor is trying to show the Phillies he’s worth a bigtime bonus, as he continues to rake for Skyline Community College. In 15 games this season, Taylor’s batting line looks like this:

50 AB, .460/.575/.880 with 3 2B, 3 3B, and 4 HR.

He’s also drawn 15 walks to only 7 K. That’s quite a start to the season for Taylor, and after his hot start, he’s showing no signs of slowing down. Here are the statistics for the rest of our picks, what I could track down at least.

Shawn Epps (37th rd): 22 IP, 2.05 ERA, 16 H, 24 K, 7 BB
Bobby Haney (38th rd): 48 AB, .271 BA, 2 2B, 0 HR, 15 RBI
Gerard Mohrmann (39th rd): Can’t find info on him at the moment
Daniel Faulkner (42nd rd): 11.2 IP, 3.09 ERA, 4 H, 9 BB, 9 K
Yazy Arbelo (43rd rd): 68 AB, .338/.402/.632, 2 2B, 6 HR, 24 RBI, 8 BB, 13 K
Patrick Murray (45th rd): Can’t find info on him at the moment
Ty Manumaleuna (47th rd): 50 AB, .280/.438/.380 5 2B, 0 HR, 10 RBI, 12 BB, 11 K
Nick Morreale (48th rd): Can’t find info on him at the moment

With this being the last season of the traditional draft and follow, it will be interesting to see the approach clubs take, especially the Phillies. Gillick wasn’t afraid to take chances in the 2006 draft, he signed a bunch of high ceiling guys, will he be willing to offer Taylor $500,000 to sign? Will Taylor take that much or choose to go back into the draft? Should be interesting to watch.

Phillies 7, Tigers 9

Other Stuff

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In the first official Grapefruit League game for the Phillies, they fell to the Tigers 9-7. Not much in the way of prospect news in the game:

Michael Bourn: 1/2, 1 R
Fabio Castro: 3 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 K
Anderson Garcia: 1 IP, 3 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 1 K
Brian Sanches: 1 IP, 2 ER, 1 K

Also, there was a little writeup on Kyle Drabek’s performance. He said all the right things in camp, and hopefully with a strong showing at Lakewood, people will start talking about him for the all the right reasons, not the troubles he had in the past. Reports were that his velocity was down around 88-89 mph, but that’s to be expected this early in the season. Most of the big name college pitchers, guys like David Price and Andrew Brackmann, were reportedly also throwing 3-5 mph below their peak in early starts. You have to remember that it is March, and I’m sure nerves played a factor for Drabek. Because he appears to have been a model citizen in big league camp, he’ll probably end up with his full season assignment at Lakewood, pitching in what should be a great rotation.