Since I’m not planning on doing a mock draft this year (I don’t think), my draft thoughts will come at random more than likely, and so get used to more of this quick posts for consideration. I’ve kind of come up with my initial thought on a guy the Phillies might target. Last week I wrote a quick post throwing 5 random names out there, based on Keith Law’s initial Top 100. Looking more at this list, one guy jumped out at me; Slade Heathcott, a prep outfielder from Texas. You can check out his bio/scouting report from milb.com right here. He ticks off a number of boxes; athletic, toolsy, from Texas (they place a lot of faith in the Texas area guy), and is lauded for his energy/work ethic on the field. He’s had a number of injuries, but looks to be recovered and none of them are long term concerns. This was the line that jumped out at me in his report

He’s an intense competitor who’s only question is about some character issues off the field. The team that gets those questions answered could be the one to take him on Draft Day.

I spoke to one of the people I know, who said that he wasn’t aware of any issues. So I don’t know where this came from. I’m sure Baseball America will have more on him, my PG Crosschecker account expired, so I don’t know where they have him ranked. But he’s a definite name to consider. I mentioned Matt Purke last time as a possible signability guy, and there’s another name to consider along those lines in Jacob Turner, a prep righthander from Missouri. You can read about Purke here, and Turner here.

Stay tuned…

The draft is less than a month away, and I suppose its time to start considering what the Phillies will do. As we all know, the Phillies do not have a first round pick, and this year the sandwich round contains 17 picks, meaning the Phillies first pick will not come until the 2nd round, #75 overall, with their second pick coming at #106. This takes some of the fun out of the draft buildup for me, since its tough to project the first 30 picks, let alone the first 80 picks. Its going to be impossible to peg one guy, or even a handful of guys. There are a number of teams (Yankees, Red Sox) who will take a guy with a large price tag that falls, so that is one potential road block. This year’s draft is very pitching heavy, there are very few impact bats available, even those that could fall to us in the 2nd round. Check below the fold for more…

Continue reading What will the 2009 draft approach be? →

ESPN has added a draft blog, and Keith Law will be adding tons of stuff there leading up to the draft. Law had this to say

Based on my own evaluations and conversations with many scouts and scouting directors, the pool of first-round talent seems to run only about 20 players deep; since the first round has 32 selections this year, we could see some teams calling audibles at the end of the round, overdrafting players who’ll sign at discounts or taking players they like but whom the industry views as second- or third-round talents.

While I’m still bitter we tossed away a first round pick on Ibanez, this draft class, at least at first glance, doesn’t appear to be especially stacked, especially in the range where we’d have picked. If the Phillies can employ a strategy of grabbing 2-3 premium talents that slip a bit, they could still end up with an above average haul in 2009.

Everyone here knows how much I love the draft. Part of the luster from this year’s draft is gone because we won’t have a first round pick and will pick near the end of the second round, but as always, I’m excited about the draft nonetheless. Steven Strasburg is the clear #1 pick, Grant Green is likely the 2nd best player in the draft, and the Phillies will be looking much further down the board. While we need to target the best player available with our first few picks, what areas of the system do we really need to strengthen? My first glance, when looking at our current prospects, is that we need to focus on corner infielders, as well as middle infielders. We have a glut (relatively speaking) in the outfield, as well as at catcher. I suppose we could also use a few more prospects with plus raw power, as Taylor is really our only legit power prospect. And I suppose it never hurts to have a few more arms, particularly lefties.

I’m getting close to unveiling my new prospect evaluation toy I’ve been building, and I will also crank out my Top 30 list, hopefully by the end of next week. And once spring training games start, we can monitor the progress of Jason Donald, Carlos Carrasco, Lou Marson, and others. Should be fun to watch, so stay tuned.

Hyperbole! With the signing of Raul Ibanez, the Phillies forfeit their first round pick in 2009. Because they did not offer arbitration to any of their free agents, they won’t receive any compensation picks. So the Phillies will not pick in Round 1, there will be a decently sized compensation round between the first and second round, and then the Phillies will pick near the end of round 2, likely to be somewhere in the 60’s. Of course if they sign another Type A free agent they won’t pick till the 3rd round. Last year’s draft was great, as I’ve detailed a number of times. This year, they are going to have to go well over slot a number of times to make up for the lack of picks. We’ll see if they do. No using getting upset over it right now, nothing we can do about it.

Hey, its never too early to start talking about the 2009 draft, right? Law’s prelim Top 60, which I’m sure will change quite a bit over the next 10 months, features Phillies draft pick Kyle Gibson at #4. Kind of wish we’ed signed him. But anyway, you can check out the list here.