2011 Community Mock Draft Review: AL East

by John Sickels on Jun 4, 2025 7:00 PM EDT

Reviewing the Community Mock Draft, we begin with the American League East and the huge bucket of extra picks.

American League East Mock Draft Review

Baltimore Orioles
1-4) Dylan Bundy, RHP, Oklahoma HS
2) Dwight Smith, Jr, OF, Georgia HS
3) Dillon Peters, LHP, Indiana HS
COMMENT: Seems plausible to me. Bundy sounds like it will happen in real life, and he's about as advanced as high school pitcher can be. Smith can just plain hit. Peters is a signability risk with a strong commitment to Texas. This class would not be cheap, but there's lots of upside.

Boston Red Sox
1-19) Alex Meyer, RHP, Kentucky
1-26) Brandon Nimmo, OF, Wyoming HS
1-S36) Austin Hedges, C, California HS
1-S40) Andrew Chafin, LHP, Kent State
2) Williams Jerez, OF, New York HS
3) Nick Ahmed, SS, Connecticut
COMMENT: I would be very happy with this as a Boston fan. Two top college arms, two uber-tools outfielders, a catcher with a great glove, and a solid middle infielder with local ties. It wouldn't be cheap but the Red Sox have the money and this is a nice bundle of diverse talent.

New York Yankees
1-S51) Derek Fisher, OF, Pennsylvania HS
2) Nick Burdi, RHP, Illinois HS
3) Rookie Davis, RHP, North Carolina HS
COMMENT: This looks like something the Yankees would do. Fisher will be expensive but would be worth an overslot deal. Burdi and Davis are upside arms that would need time to develop. The Real Yankees would probably then load up with some polished college arms in later rounds based on their history.

Tampa Bay Rays
1-24) Kolten Wong, 2B, Hawaii
1-31) C.J. Cron, 1B, Utah
1-32) Andrew Susac, C, Oregon State
1-S38) Jackie Bradley Jr., OF, South Carolina
1-S41) Anthony Meo, RHP, Coastal Carolina
1-S42) Michael Kelly, RHP, Florida HS
1-S52) Hudson Boyd, RHP, Florida HS
1-S56) Nick Delmonico, C, Tennessee HS
1-S59) Johnny Eierman, OF-SS, Missouri HS
1-S60) Kyle Winkler, RHP, TCU
2) Dan Vogelbach, 1B, Florida HS
2) Billy Flamion, OF, California HS
3) Josh Tobias, INF, North Carolina HS
COMMENT: What can you say? You have four of the best college hitters available, two impressive high school arms, a high school catcher, a high school infielder, two high school outfielders, a slugging first baseman, and a pair of solid college pitchers. Perhaps another polished college pitcher could have been included, but that's nitpicking, and overall this looks excellent to me, quite balanced.

Toronto Blue Jays
1-21) Robert Stephenson, RHP, California HS
1-S35) Brian Goodwin, OF, Miami Dade CC
1-S46) Matt Dean, 3B, Texas HS
1-S53) Aaron Westlake, 1B, Vanderbilt
1-S57) Michael Fulmer, RHP, Oklahoma HS
2) Julius Gaines, SS, Georgia HS
2) John Stilson, RHP, Texas A&M
3) Patrick Connaughton, RHP, Massachusetts HS
COMMENT: This is also a good use of multiple picks. You have an excellent college hitter in Westlake, a pair of very impressive high school power arm guys, a lesser-known-but-very-talented prep right-hander, a slick infield glove, a third base power bat, and an injury-risk-with-high-upside pitcher. I'm not a huge Dean fan but a lot of people like him. Some gambles here, but lots of potential payoff.

Poll

Who had the best Mock Draft in this divison?

Baltimore Orioles

46 votes

Boston Red Sox

30 votes

New York Yankees

15 votes

Tampa Bay Rays

159 votes

Toronto Blue Jays

52 votes

302 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

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Read More: Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox

Comments

Nimmo

love him in Boston. As I said in other threads, Meyer not as much.

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by Marisa Ingemi on Jun 4, 2025 7:07 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed

Meyer is not my favorite pitcher. The rest of that draft is excellent though, I especially like the Ahmed pick

Brandon Jacobs of Lowell > Brandon Jacobs of NYG

by Lesterfan on Jun 4, 2025 7:13 PM EDT up reply actions

If Boston ever got Nimmo...

I would be very happy.

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by Marisa Ingemi on Jun 4, 2025 7:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Mad props to everyone who picked for the East

Love the Rays draft. It is hard to go wrong with so many picks, but when your “worst” pick is Tobias in the 3rd (which is still a great pick), you didn’t really go wrong with any picks.

The Red Sox also had a great draft here - I don’t think there were any overdrafts.

The Jays draft had some good picks, but a bit too much risk for me personally - Stephenson, Westlake, and Fulmer are all nice picks.

The Orioles, like the Yankees, only had three picks. Bundy is a no-brainer, and Smith at 64 was good value. I didn’t love the Peters draft - probably an overdraft by a round or two.

And the Yanks - In my unbiased opinion, great job! :)
I was real happy Fisher and Burdi fell to me, and I think Davis had great value and upside at 118.

by cookiedabookie on Jun 4, 2025 7:27 PM EDT reply actions

Tobias in the third

You’re right - it is a great pick. He’s probably no worse than one of the top 45-50 players in the whole field on talent alone & if he’s signable this pick could be a coup.

by Matt0330 on Jun 6, 2025 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions

I guess this isn't a surprise

But I really like my draft. Maybe it is a bit risky given the fact that I took Stilson, but I got what I came for: athleticism, bat speed and arm strength.

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by Jeff Reese on Jun 4, 2025 10:23 PM EDT reply actions

Not sure what to think

I selected 2 players that TOR actually took (of course, Dean was a much later pick than where I took him) and I was right to avoid a college hitter in the first round.

What really hurts my draft is the fact that Gaines and Connaughton have yet to be selected, so they’re college bound unless something unexpected happens and a team throws money at a 30+ round pick. Dean was also a fairly late day 2 selection who might end up at Texas. I knew Connaughton was a signability risk (wish I had went Senquez Golson now!), but I didn’t realize Dean and Gaines were asking for enough to make them tumble.

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by Jeff Reese on Jun 8, 2025 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

My take on these drafts.

Orioles— I liked it. Bundy is great and the othet two were both above average picks.
Red Sox— Not really my favorite draft. If I was looking at someone else’s board, this would be a good draft. I just am not a big fan of several of the picks, especially Meyer. Lets just say I have not seen Meyer at his best. I do really like the Nimmo pick though.
Yankees— Depite only having three picks, I like what they did. Not a huge Fisher fan, but I thought he was a solid pick. The other two were both good picks too.
Rays— My head would explode if the Rays drafted like this. Honestly, the Rays would not have a top 100 prospect from this group (although an arguement can be made for the top four). The depth though would be incredible. How many top 200 prospects does this group have? Incredible…. And there really is no bias in this. I don’t think many could argue with this draft.
Blue Jays— This is the most unconsensus of the group, but I still liked it. A few gambles, but good gambles.

Overall, I would grade them:
1. Rays
2. Orioles
3. Blue Jays
4. Yankees
5. Red Sox

This ranking was based on the talent each team got (imo) for the types of picks they had.

by mr. maniac on Jun 4, 2025 11:02 PM EDT reply actions

Susac...

was getting buzz as the #2 position player in the draft before the hamate bone surgery. That injury isn’t a problem long-term (or even medium term), so the only concern is that it cut the number of looks scouts got at him. I think he’s a pretty damn good bet to rank in the top-100 next year. So’s Wong.

I loved the Rays draft, personally.

by slamcactus on Jun 5, 2025 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Its hard to screw up

Having more then 16% of the first 60 picks. Well, for anyone not named the Jets

by ADLC on Jun 4, 2025 11:24 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Rays Draft...

…is fascinating this year and even more so after reviewing Andrew’s great work here.

It is worth reviewing Andrew’s work after Aug 15 to see how much the Rays spend after 3 rounds and see if that amount would cover the picks here and if now, who would Andrew not sign to stay in budget.

My shadow draft of the Rays based on this draft was:

24 JC 3B/2B/1B Spangenberg, Cory - Looks like an overdraft but near slot I hope
31 COL 1B/C Cron, C.J. - We agree
32 COL SS/2B Michael, Levi - Probably a 2Bman
38 COL CF/RF Bradley Jr., Jackie - We agree
41 HS RHP Boyd, Hudson - Score one for Andrew who took Boyd at 52
42 COL RHP Meo, Anthony - We agree
52 HS LF Smith Jr., Dwight - I like the hit tool more than most I guess.
56 COL RHP Winkler, Kyle - Andrew plucked him at 60, Score another for him
59 COL LF/1B Dickerson, Alex - I think signable with good hit tool
60 HS RF/3B Goeddel, Tyler - BPA pick for me, HSer and not sure on signability
75 HS RHP Maples, Dillon - BPA on stuff but tough to coax away from UNC
89 COL OF Carter, Kes - Back to a signable college bat
119 HS 2B Evans, Phil - Too good for me not to grab at this spot but no argument with Tobias who I love here too.

Overall, I think Andrew’s group will be more signable meaning I’ll probably have to pare my group down, some of whom may not give me an option by not signing.

Man, the Rays draft does fire the imangination this year!

by ttnorm on Jun 5, 2025 3:40 PM EDT reply actions

I really think the Rays will pay this year.

Friedman has said many times to many people that they have no intention to look to go cheap on any picks. They have a boatload of money from coming off an ALCS run and cutting $30 million from the big-league payroll. And more importantly, this team has shown time and time again that they value the draft tremendously. They’ve missed on a couple of picks, but they’ve always spent what it took to get the draft’s top talents.

They’re not going to let this opportunity to bolster the farm system go to waste. They’re too smart an organization.

by slamcactus on Jun 5, 2025 4:54 PM EDT up reply actions

Shadow Draft

Thanks for the compliment — here are my thoughts on your shadow guys.

1.24 Spangenberg — I like Spangenberg a lot, but I don’t see an argument for him over Wong, who’s got a better hit tool and can stay at second. I’d try Spang as a CF as I said above.

1.32 Michael — A legit talent, but I just don’t see him as a good fit in the Rays system. I think he’s in much in the same mold as a bunch of 2B already in the system (Tyler Bortnick, Robby Price, Cole Figueroa). If he had fallen to the supplemental, I probably couldn’t pass up the talent, but I chose to go a different direction.

1.52 D.Smith — I really, really love this guy and thought about taking him in the supplemental starting at this pick. At 52, I couldn’t risk Boyd falling any further. At 56, I had Delmonico one spot higher on my board and I thought he’d be a slightly easier sign. At 59/60 I went for the college pitcher (Winkler) and a guy who’s been linked to the Rays (Eierman). I definitely had Smith over Eierman on my board, so if you wanted to maximize talent that would be a fine pick.

1.59 Dickerson — I like Dickerson a lot and he was part of my game plan when the draft began. I figured the Rays would have a lot of high-upside HS arms, would probably miss out on Cron, and would be looking for a signable college guy with upside. The way the draft unfolded was almost the exact reverse — we had a bunch of high-upside college bats already, so I figured a college arm (Winkler) was the better fit. Plus, at this point I was planning to pop Vogelbach in the 2nd, and I think Vogelbach is a similar player with more upside.

1.60 Goeddel — A fine choice, I rank him very close to Eierman on my board but you saw my thoughts above. I was also trying to stay away from tough signs at this point because I wanted the Rays to be able to realistically ink the class.

2.75 Maples — By far the BPA on the board, but I was determined not to take any way overslot guys at this point. I went with Vogelbach but was considering Burdi here.

2.89 — I like Carter, but I have Flamion significantly higher. Was planning to pop Burdi here until the Yankees spoiled my plans, but Flamion is a really nice backup plan. Flamion’s stock has been down all spring, and I haven’t seen him linked to any outrageous signing demands, so I thought it was okay to take the high schooler here.

I should add this general philosophy was part of my plan from the beginning — I wanted to take mostly college, mostly signable players in the 1st and supplemental rounds, so that I could take upside players in the 2nd and 3rd rather than have to reach for signable college guys with less upside. I’m not sure that was optimal given that in this mock, a lot of really nice college players fell to the 2nd and 3rd, but it was part of the plan.

3.119 — I actually have Evans higher on my board, and in a real draft I probably would have gone for him. In a 3-round mock I like Tobias’s upside more than Evans’s higher floor. Evans also reminds me a lot of the 2B already in the Rays system, so that’s why I went the way I did.

I think what you’ve put together is really nice as well, and as a Rays fan I would be happy with your shadow draft as well.

by AndrewTorrez on Jun 5, 2025 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree with this

1.24 Spangenberg — I like Spangenberg a lot, but I don’t see an argument for him over Wong, who’s got a better hit tool and can stay at second. I’d try Spang as a CF as I said above.

I think he will come cheaper than Wong and as such is a value play to help with later picks. I could be way off base here.

by ttnorm on Jun 5, 2025 7:07 PM EDT reply actions