Baseball America has the update today;
Jonathan Mayo has reported in his blog and Baseball America has confirmed with two scouts that Fresno State junior righthander Tanner Scheppers has a stress fracture in his shoulder and will not be able to throw for six weeks. This is obviously a significant blow to the draft stock of a player who had a strong chance to go in the top 10 picks in June, not to mention a crippling blow to Fresno State’s postseason aspirations.
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There are just five college starting pitchers who are regarded as sure-fire first-round picks, so Scheppers going down figures to boost Tulane righthander Shooter Hunt’s chances to go in the top 10 and help Eastern Kentucky lefthander Christian Friedrich sneak up close to the top 10. It also could impact the back half of the first round, where clubs might reach for a college pitcher like California’s Tyson Ross if they don’t feel comfortable taking a risk on Scheppers. Whoever does land Scheppers will get a high-upside talent at a spot in the draft that would have seemed very unlikely up until this week.
So, how does this immediately impact the Phillies? Well, the Phillies were only able to land Cole Hamels because he was coming off an arm injury, and they turned the same trick last season, taking an injury risk in Joe Savery who slid down draft boards because of the uncertainty surrounding his labrum. Scheppers was being pegged as a potential Top 10 guy, I had him at 13 in yesterday’s mock draft, and this should slide him down lots of boards. The Phillies are picking lower in the first round than they have in a long time, and Scheppers will likely be the most talented guy available. Clearly they’d have to really make sure his arm is sound and he’s fully healed, but this could really work in the Phillies favor.
Phuture Phillies 
Stress fracture in his shoulder? anyone recall a pitcher with that kind of case history? Its just a bizarre kind of injury that brings a lot of questions as to what about his delivery is causing that kind of stress.
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personally sounds like a scary injury for a young guy to get…I mean stress fractures are a bad sign of durability. They DO have 6 picks in the first 120 or so so it wouldn’t surprise me if they took a gamble on someone like him.
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very interesting thought/question.
this one scares me too. a stress fracture is worse than a clean break like cole hammels had. i understand high risk/reward, but i don’t see why we need to gamble all of the time to get talented players. i know we are picking at the end of round 1, but i would still think that we can land a very good player. if we are going to gamble, i like gambling on a high schooler. cole hammels is a very, very rare example. the jury is still out on savery.
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More info will come out on the injury in the next few days/weeks. My guess is, it was a fluke thing that might have come from overuse. Stress fractures are normally caused by overuse, its just rare to see it happen in the shoulder area. If the team expects him to be able to throw again in 6 weeks, its not a serious injury. Obviously the Phillies would need to do their due diligence, but being able to land a Top 10 prospect at #24 isn’t normally possible unless its a bonus baby falling down boards, which we know the Phillies wouldn’t take advantage of.
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Maybe we’ll use the money that they’re NOT gonna use to lock up Hamels long-term to go after some of them…
~not to be taken seriously…we all know they won’t~
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lot’s of pitchers are over used in college. very few get stress fractures in their sholder out of it. it might be the “canary in the cole mine.”
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Was “Cole” mine an intentional pun?
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As I said, more info will come out on this in the next few days.
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no. cole mine was not an intentional pun. wish i was smart enough to think of that though. good work.
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Hey pp, does this possibly shake things up enough that maybe…just maybe Wallace falls to us?
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No. It looks like the White Sox really like him too, and I can’t see any way he makes it out of the Top 20
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Ok I’ll just pretend he will. oh well.
On the phillies message boards I read a name Anthony Hewitt Jr. form CT I think. Some have said he’s anywhere from a 1st rounder to a 2nd rounder. Should we be excited about him?
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KLaw mentioned him yesterday in his chat. He can’t hit. He’s a premium athlete. But we’re talking a lot more raw than Golson was when he was drafted. I’d steer clear there.
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More raw than Golson!?!?!? Wow thanks. yeah I would have to say NO on that one.
Thanks
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How bout we draft an actual baseball player instead of another “toolshed”…love that description of Golson.
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You should have just said it was a pun, then no one would have known that you spelled “coal” wrong.
And stress fractures are scary… I like drafting aggressively but I’d hate to see the Phillies waste another first round draft pick because of injury or for the sake of hopeful stupidity. But if its not bad enough to hold him out longer than six weeks it can’t be that bad.
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He sounds like an “ideal” Phillie choice…for good or ill.
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Can you ponder the players available at #34?!
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In his mock draft today on MLB.com, Jonathan Mayo seems to think that Scheppers will fall out of the first round entirely. “That shoulder injury is so unusual, though, that it could scare any team off.” Does that seem to be the consensus around baseball at this point? How far will he slide before someone pulls the trigger?
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