Top draft talent not named Price, Wieters, or Brackman.

by neutralluke on Mar 16, 2007 6:35 PM EDT

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to get your guys' opinion the draft's top talent other than the top 3. Right now I am thinking that the next tier of talent will almost assuredly come from the highschool ranks as it seems that there aren't any college players that have distinguished themselves as top 5 talents other than the 3 mentioned. So who is it? One of the power hitters like Heyward, Burgess or Vitters? Or is it one of the myriad fireballers like Porcello, Main, Harvey, and Beavan?

Right now I'm leaning towards either Heyward or Burgess as they are the two that are both ranked fairly high by both brewerfan.net and pgcrosschecker and these are the best free sites that I know of although Beavan, Harvey, and Porcello seem to be making pretty strong cases as well.

Who do you guys think the drafts top highschool talent is? If you think the next best thing to the three headed dragon of Price, Wieters, and Brackman is a college player feel free to mention him.

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Heyward....

by alot actually.

He's got the best combination of skills and tools from what it seems. I like Vitters quite a bit too, but I think Heyward's upside is larger.

by SenorGato88 on Mar 16, 2007 7:00 PM EDT reply actions

Sites

What other sites besides the two that were mentioned does everyone look at? Minor League baseball had a profile for lots of players but i can't seem to find it.

by JD Sussman on Mar 16, 2007 7:10 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah

MiLB.com is very difficult to navigate.

by afoster on Mar 16, 2007 9:32 PM EDT up reply actions

From all the info I have heard from this draft

is that this draft is very heavy with lefthanded pitchers.

by NYYLover1000 on Mar 16, 2007 7:29 PM EDT reply actions

or read

by NYYLover1000 on Mar 16, 2007 7:29 PM EDT reply actions

Baseball America.....

has Harvey and Porcello ahead of the hitters in a mock draft.

As for the hitters, I'd rank 'em Burgess, Vitters, Heyward/Justin Jackson. There's another 3B named Lambo(I think that's his name) who hasn't gotten as much attention, but looks the equal of any of the aformentioned. There's also Matt Dominguez and a speedster named Dent.

There's also a HS catcher with a vaguely spanish or middle eastern sounding name. I think he's a switch hitter who sounds very good. This is supposed to be a great year for catchers. Canham of Oregon State and Donaldson? from Auburn are a couple of good ones in addition to Wieters.

Looks like a tremendous draft!

by DrBGiantsfan on Mar 16, 2007 7:36 PM EDT reply actions

Great stuff

So BA likes those pitchers better than Heyward and Burgess? I've read great things about Harvey's arm action and smooth powerful delivery. Do you know anything about Harvey's changeup? I've read a few places that have his changeup as one of the best of the high school ranks and others say he is very reliant on his ++fastball while his secondary stuff needs work. Does anyone have any information on this?

I have heard that Porcello is one of the best of the high school ranks as far as ceiling and current pitchability. Does anyone know what his stuff is like?

by neutralluke on Mar 16, 2007 7:58 PM EDT up reply actions

BA's Top 10

Out of 100:

Matt Harvey
Rick Porcello
Michael Burgess
Josh Vitters
Jason Heyward
Jake McGeary, LHP.
Madison Bumgarner, LHP
Matt Dominguez
Michael Main
Justin Jackson

The catcher's name is Yasmani Grandal

Lambo's first name is Andrew.

Don't know much about secondary stuff for Porcello and Harvey. I get the feeling from the little information I've read that Porcello might be more advanced but Harvey may have more velocity.

by DrBGiantsfan on Mar 16, 2007 9:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow, thanks

I was curious to see where Vitters ranked on BA's top 10 as he is #1 on brewerfan.net but not mentioned in PG's top 10. There still seems to be some conflicting reports on his power potential as some say it's the best in the class while others say he is more of a pure hitter.

I assumed the same as you concerning Harvey and Porcello. It seems that Harvey's fastball has to be ranked near the top of the draft especially when you consider how smooth his delivery is. Porcello must have better secondary stuff. I think Porcello also may have a little bit more projectability as well making his mid 90's fastball have high 90's potential.

I may be just jumping on the bandwagon but I think Beavan could turn out to be the best of the lot. I know he doesn't have Main or Harvey's fastball but you have to love a 6'7'' 17 year old with plus command of low to mid 90's fastball and a repeatable delivery.

I don't want to start a new post so I'll just ask this here: Where do you guys think LaPorta is going this year? Is he regaining the top 10 status that he had before his disastrous season last year?

by neutralluke on Mar 16, 2007 10:24 PM EDT up reply actions