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Intuitive Picks from 2010 Draft

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Prospects from the 2010 Draft: Intuitive Likings

A reader recently commented that I had mentioned last year that I had a good intuitive feeling about Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels outfield prospect, beyond just the standard scouting expectations. He was a first-rounder of course, but not every first rounder thrives in the way he did this year, and I did have a "gut feeling" about that one.

I do use intuition in my judgments. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I personally think that intuition is an expression or the experience of subconscious information processing: the brain sees a pattern or makes an association that we normally don't detect consciously, and the awareness of it comes into the conscious mind as a "gut feeling." Whenever I make such an intuitive call about a player that may or may not have an empirical basis, I usually label it as such since I don't want to mislead people.

Anyway, the reader's question was, who do I see from the 2010 draft that I have such an intuitive feeling about? I'm just going to list the names here of guys that I like in this way, that trigger such a gut feeling. Please note that the absence of a player doesn't mean I don't think he's a great prospect. Bryce Harper, Jameson Taillon, and Manny Machado aren't on the list. They are outstanding prospects and I fully agree with the consensus on them, but they don't trigger that "gut feeling" that I'm talking about here.

This is just a list of players; I'm not giving REASONS or an analysis here, because that is the whole point: there is no conscious reason.

Notably Positive "Gut Feelings," for players through the end of the third round.

Yasmani Grandal
Josh Sale
Mike Foltynewicz
Alex Wimmers
Kyle Parker
Zach Lee
Noah Syndergaard
Luke Jackson
Seth Blair
Tyrell Jenkins
Stetson Allie
Brett Eibner
J.R. Bradley
Addison Reed
Ryan Brett
Marcus Knecht
Donn Roach