AL South S18 Draft Review

Louisville Loud Mouths

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	SUMMARY
1	22	Lew Whitaker	RP	21	Solid Reliever with ace quality control and 2 top pitches. Splits indicate he will be quite good against all batters and should induce mostly groundballs. He lacks any type of strike out punch though, so he is going to need a good defense to be effective.
1	24	Jose Toregas	SP	22	4 good pitches and great control and stamina. He showed weakness in college against elite right handed batters that is only going to get worse in the pros. Expect a guy who will hover around 5 in ERA
1	38	Edgardo Rodriguez	RP	19	Solid long reliever with great splits, control and pitch selection. His low stamina will keep him out of the regular rotation expect for the occasional spot start. His strikeout potential has wowed a number of scouts...
2	66	Bruce Jacome	3B	19	Average hitter with great baseball splits; He might be a solid team guy for a weaker team or a cheap everyday option. He isn't going to light up the score board but should provide a consistent hand,
2	79	Toby Cain	CF	20	Average across the boards with a little extra speed. He's not a bad guy to have in the minors just in case there's an injury or an emergency. I like him with this pick.
3	112	Carlos Beltre	P	22	NOT SCOUTED
4	144	Ed Logan	CF	19	Below average across the boards, but he is fast. Can't run the bases well enough to exploit his speed, but he can win the clubhouse race
5	176	Hipolito Galarraga	RF	19	Below average hitter with good batting splits, solid runner and fielder. If he gets a DITR on his hitting he would be great. This is a perfect project pick in the 5th round. Keep your fingers crossed that he blossoms.

SUMMARY: Brought in a number of pitching prospects and a few defensive guys to round out the minors. The value will be in in those guys who are the projects and if they can get DITR bumps to make them that much better. Louisville took the right approach with the late rounds and brought in guys with strong base tools to build on.

Grade: B

Tampa Bay Pelicans

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	SUMMARY
1	16	Ajax Gibbons	CF	19	Solid runner with good speed and great contact hitting. He has below average power and a below average batting eye. He might struggle against left handed pitching. Overall he's a solid prospect, but might have been picked a little high at 16.
2	73	Carlos Mendez	2B	21	Another high speed good runner with no power. He also has a below average batting eye, but overall is a solid IQ hitter. I like him better than Gibbons and he was picked 57 picks later.
3	106	Brian Rowan	RF	22	A 3rd speed guy with a below average bat and poor fielding. He does have baseball knack, but I don't see him getting out of the minors.
4	138	Hugh Post	LF	18	Has a reputation of struggling to see the ball against left handers, but overall he's a solid hitter with good strength and speed. Nice pick up in the 4th round.
5	170	Rey Matheson	2B	19	It is obvious that Tampa was targeting speed That is about all Matheson offers.

SUMMARY: A lot of speed will change the philosophy of the Pelicans for the future. I'm not sure how a speed team will fare in the high powered Al, but it's worth a shot to see and in 3-5 seasons we might get that chance.
Grade: C

Houston Stone Cold Killers

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	Cur Level
1	9	Geoffery Frank	SP	20	Potential to be a very good pitcher with 4 pitches, solid splits and excellent control. He lacks ideal velocity and might need an extra day off every few starts. His makeup will make him a slow mover through the minors without great coaching.
1	46	Andrew Rodney	2B	20	Great speed and contact. He struggles at times with decision making on the base path... He should be a .260 hitter with 10 hr and 40 sb.
1	55	Sean Hughes	1B	18	Average 1B with great contact and some power. He should be a good low power option, but in a position where offense is key he might get overlooked for a while.
3	99	Vitas Stavinoha	RP	18	Low durability and average splits versus left handers might ground him in the minors. He is skilled enough to be an ML'er if a manager wants to monitor his useable.
4	131	Joe Justice	P	20	Average pitcher who will be a swing guy with the ability to spot start. He might be a solid mop-up guy or long reliever, but he's far from ideal as a guy to count on every time. A short term replacement would be a fine role.
5	163	Gus Henderson	RP	19	Solid late inning reliever with good splits. He has the control and 2 pitches, but his average makeup will make his minor league journey a long one.

SUMMARY: Frank and Rodney are sure deal ML players. Frank is already in HiA which might be too big of a jump for a guy with his makeup, but put him with the best coaches. Hughes is a nice player but I'm not sure who will take a flier on him and give him everyday action. His price tag will become too high for his skill set in FA.
Grade: B+

Texas Tornadoes

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	Cur Level
1	33	Cyrus Scelfo	SP	22	Good stamina and control, but average splits will limit him to the back of the Texas rotation. He has 3 solid pitches to work with, but his middle of the road velocity means he will have a number of balls in play. I see his makeup keeping him in the minors with a few spells in the bigs.
1	53	Harry Torres	SP	20	Solid supplemental pick up. He has good velocity and solid splits control, and stamina. He has only 2 working pitches to throw which means he will have to work in his weak sinker to keep hitters honest. I great catcher will do wonders with him.
2	88	Walter Key	RF	22	At the university of Miami, Key was a .290 hitter with middle range power and excellent speed. He should be able to carry that speed over to the major leagues, but I would expect his bat to lose both power and contact. His makeup also will make it a struggle to translate his skills to the majors.
3	121	Manuel James	SP	18	Average to below average starting pitcher. He has 3 pitches and solid control and splits. e' strictly a groundball pitcher which should help him when he has a good defense behind him on the mound
4	153	Lawrence Page	SP	21	Poor pitch selection on an otherwise solid starter. He needs to develop at least 1 of his pitches to be even a factor in AAA.
5	185	Carl Crawford	CF	22	This is not the Carl Crawford who just signed with the Boston Red Sox for millions of dollars and was the prize of the 2010 winter meetings this might be the left over ooze that rolled down Carl Crawford's mom's leg. He does have good contact. That's something to work with.

SUMMARY: solid draft, but didn't land anything special look for these guys to be role players when all is said and done.

Grade: C