MLB Draft Day 2

Day 1 was obviously the biggest day of the draft for both Chicago teams, but there are a ton of great players who have been drafted after the first two rounds. The third round alone has seen Eddie Murray, Bert Blyleven, Dennis Eckersly, Gary Carter, and Tony Gwynn, among, I'm sure, others. Other hall of fame players drafted in rounds 3-10 include guys like Goose Gossage, Ricky Henderson, Wade Boggs, and Ozzie Smith (who was overrated thanks to flashy plays and being unbelievably likable (one of my all time favorite players), but still deserved to be in the Hall). Guys drafted on what today would be the third day of the draft include Nolan Ryan, Andre Dawson, and Ryne Sandberg. Ladies and Gentlemen, these are all Hall of Fame players here, not just guys who were pretty good, or even very good, but Hall of Famers. Other players who will soon be in or are still active (depending on who you talk to) taken from the third round on include Albert Pujols (13th round), Mike Piazza (62nd round), Jim Thome (13th round), and Jeff Bagwell (4th round). There is a lot that can be had in these middle to late rounds. Today it was rounds 3-10. I'll go over who was picked, then make a few comments about some of the picks.

For the White Sox, in the third round it was Jace Fry, a 6' LHP. In the 4th it was Brett Austin, a 6'1" catcher. In the 5th they picked Zach Thompson a 6'7" RHP. In the 6th, Louie Lechich, a 6'4" CF. Rounds 7, 8, 9, and 10, in that order, saw the White Sox pick Jake Peter, a 6'1" SS, John Ziznewski, a 6'2" SS, Brian Clark, a 6'3" LHP, and Jake Jarvis, a 5'10" 2B. Of those picks, Jarvis is the only high school guys the White Sox drafted in those rounds, which shows that they're clearly looking for more experienced players to add to the team.

Fry was a nice pick. He has already undergone Tommy John surgery, but at the same time has already come back from it. He doesn't throw especially well, but he has good movement on his stuff and throws a lot of ground balls, which will help at US Cellular, as that park gives up more than its share of home runs. Brett Austin is an athletic catcher who may hit well for average, but doesn't bring a lot of pop in his bat. He does seem to have a good glove, from what I've read. Thompson is an interesting pick in that he's very raw, as he hasn't been pitching for long, but he has very good velocity to build on especially given his size. Jake Peter is a SS, but he's also pitched in college, so he could wind up there. As a position player, a few reports I've read have him as a possible utility guy, which is always nice to have, but he also doesn't bring a huge bat, so you have to take that into account. As a pitcher he seems to have a good fastball, but needs to build on that. Brian Clark was a reliever who was converted into a starter and flourished with a fastball in the low 90's and a good slider.

On the Cubs side of things, I'll try to make this shorter, 3 - Mark Zagunis, 6' C, 4 - Carson Sands 6'3" LHP, 5 - Justin Steele 6'1" LHP, 6 - Dylan Cease 6'1" RHP, 7 - James Norwood 6'2" RHP, 8 - Tommy Thorpe 6' LHP, 9 - James Farris 6'2" RHP, 10 - Ryan Williams 6'4" RHP. Of those picks, Sands, Steele, and Cease were all high school guys.

Zagunis is an athletic catcher with very good speed and a solid bat. It looks like he'll likely be able to stick at catcher. He also seems to draw a lot of walks. Sands has very good raw stuff with a low to mid 90's fastball, a good curve, and a good changeup. Steele has a mid 90's fastball (nice to have as a lefty) to go along with a solid curve and a change that has some promise, but isn't there yet. While he's only 6'1", he's 180 lbs at age 19 and has room to put on weight and be big enough to stick as a starter. I love the Cease pick. He's also a bit on the short side, but he's 175 lbs and can likely fill out more, as he's 18 until December. He's a major talent, first round level, but an elbow injury that may still require Tommy John set him back quite a bit. He still would have been understandable 3 rounds earlier, so the Cubs got great value here, although there is some risk with it, but this is the point in the draft to take those risks. Norwood has a massive fastball that is known to come close to triple digits and good movement. His only issue is developing other pitches. Thorpe is one of those guys without a lot of velocity, but who knows how to pitch. He doesn't have much size, so his ceiling is questionable, but he just seems to be able to get guys out well. James Farris is very similar. He has good command, and actually does have decent size, just doesn't have the most live arm. Lastly, Williams is a big pitcher who put up great numbers at East Carolina last year.

My comments are pretty vague and are meant more for people who want the condensed report of what these teams did. I highly recommend going to Bleachernation who has a much more in depth look at what the Cubs did in the draft, and they cite a lot of sources that I used myself while looking into each of these guys. Many of those same sources were among the places I went to for the guys the White Sox drafted as well.

Anyway, moving on, it looks like both teams went for a lot of pitching. The Cubs have now used 8 of their 10 picks on pitching while the White Sox have used 5 of their 10 picks on pitching. Steve Stone, one of the more respected baseball minds out there (who has unfortunately been dragged down horribly over the last several years by Hawk Harrelson) has always said that if he were a GM he would draft pitching, pitching, and more pitching. With their pitching the Cubs have drafted a healthy mix with 3 high school and 5 college arms. The White Sox have gone more for experience, only spending one pick on a high school arm. Both teams are somewhat thin at catcher in their organizations, and between the two teams there have already been 3 catchers drafted. The White Sox position players seem to be guys who are lighter hitters, but more athletic and probably better defenders. The Cubs two position player give a bit of both worlds, as Schwarber brings a huge bat and Zagunis brings a solid bat, but even moreso he brings athleticism, although his glove seems to be solid, but nothing great.

For the White Sox, one of the things that I like that they've done is that they've gone after experienced players. While this does mean that they give up some as far as ceilings go, they also get guys who are more polished and who can move up through the system faster. Just getting Carlos Rodon, in my opinion, gives the White Sox a win for this draft (although I was huge on Erik Johnson before this season, he still has time). The White Sox may likely wind up with a few bullpen arms here, which is one area where there is plenty of room for improvement on the team, and they may be able to be up within 1-2 years for the most part. The worst part of the White Sox draft is that Rodon's agent is Scott Boras. The White Sox have a well documented history with Boras and the two sides just plain don't get along. Reinsdorf can be cheap, and Boras will fight tooth & nail, often crossing lines that should not be crossed, to get his client the best deal. I still have confidence the White Sox will sign Rodon, and if not, they'll have the #4 pick next year (assuming the Astros and Marlins sign their picks), which could wind up being Rodon again (he's a junior), so it wouldn't be the end of the world if things didn't work out, even though I really like Rodon.

For the Cubs, what I like the most is that they were able to use a great mix of underslot and overslot picks to get guys with high floors for underslot picks, and guys with high ceilings with their underslot picks. They went with the Steve Stone model to a huge extent, drafting 8 pitchers. The bottom line is that they went for pitching, and with that took a good mix of high upside and high floor guys. The only issue I have is that a couple of those high school arms, Sands and Cease, may be a bit tough to sign, but since the Cubs did a great job going under on a lot of those picks, there's a good chance that they'll be able to find the money to sign those guys. Let's hope they get it done.

One more note I'll make is that I've been hearing a lot of comparisons on Schwarber lately, including Mike Trout (I doubt he's that fast, but if he does drop some weight down to about 225, I can see what they're talking about). While I think that comparison is ridiculous, it's always nice to see a guy get that kind of comparison, especially as an underslot type of pick.

So far I think fans of both teams should be very happy with how each team did. Both teams did a great job in getting the most bang out of their picks.