2004 Draft Preview: 2nd Round
By Jason Gage
June 4, 2004
FutureSox.com
Earlier in the week, FutureSox.com highlighted some potential 1st round picks as well as supplemental picks. Now as the weekend before the draft is upon us, FutureSox.com will take a look at some potential picks for the Sox three 2nd round picks.
The Sox will likely reach and take a few players slated to go in lower rounds in this area, because of the large amount of picks they have this season. It also means I will stick to focusing largely on college players, not only because this is a college rich draft, but also because college players typically sign for less money.
The Sox have the 53rd overall, 56th overall, and 69th overall selections in the 2nd round.
Eric Patterson – 2nd – Bats: Left - Throws: Right - Georgia Tech (Junior)Eric Patterson, younger brother of Cubs centerfielder Corey Patterson, has seen his draft stock slip over the season. Patterson had a rough start to the season, but has been improve as of late and has serious upside. He was ranked by Baseball America recently as the 59th best prospect, but his tools may be better then that.
Patterson was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 22nd round out of high school. He was a preseason All American this year. Patterson is a very fast, defensive second baseman that has at times flashed some offensive potential. He has great range at second and projects to be more of a leadoff hitter then his older brother Corey (who has the ability to potentially be a 3 hole hitter because of his power). Patterson stole 47 bases his freshman year (which was his best season) and although flashing power at times, Patterson is too distracted with hitting for power and it has hurt his swing. If a club can get him to focus on having a line drive swing, the homers will come, while the average will increase with the strikeout numbers falling. Of course Corey Patterson has had that problem for a while now. He hit .317 with 7 HR, 11 doubles, 5 triples, 35 RBI, and 40 stolen bases this season.
Blake DeWitt – SS – Bats: Left – Throws: Right – Sikeston High SchoolBlake DeWitt played shortstop at high school, but will likely move to 2nd base or third base. Another option is for him to move behind the plate. DeWitt is a tremendous offensive player and a great athlete. He also has a very strong arm, but will likely grow out of the shortstop position, which is the likely reason for a possible position change in the future. DeWitt has shown good power (11 HR this year) and the power appears to translate to a wood bat. If he doesn’t sign, he will go to Georgia Tech, so he could be an expensive 2nd round pick. This season he hit .544 with 11 HR, and 33 RBI. According to Baseball America, the Twins have shown the most interest in DeWitt, who was rated as the 2nd best prospect in Missouri.
Landon Powell – Catcher – S/R – University South Carolina
Landon Powell is an interesting story. Talent wise, he is a 1st rounder or at least an early 2nd rounder, but realistically, he will slide in the draft. Out of high school, Powell worked his way around the draft (taking advantage of the system) and became a free agent. MLB later overturned him being a free agent and it appears organizations have semi-blackballed him for it.
What you can’t overlook is the fact that Powell is a big, strong, potentially great catcher. He worked very hard this off-season to trim down, as weight has always been a concern. He did a good job of that and he really took off. Powell has a very strong arm, in fact he’s one of the few catchers that can make a strong throw from the crouch (ala Benito Santiago). He also calls a good game and the only knock on him defensively is that he could be a little more agile. Offensively, he’s a stud. Powell has incredible power and a good eye. He hit .356 with 15 HR and 58 RBI this season. Powell could also be a potential 3rd round pick for the White Sox.
Jason Jaramillo – Catcher – S/R – Oklahoma State University (Junior)
Jaramillo was rated as the best collegiate catcher on many teams boards before Suzuki erupted for Fullerton. Unlike Suzuki, Jaramillo hasn’t had recent hype, but he looks up to Pudge Rodriguez and studies his game. Offensively, Jaramillo is still a bit of a work in process. He does a good job using the entire field and projects to have good power as he progresses in the minors. Jarmillo is still new to switch hitting, something he first started his junior year of high school. Now lets get back to his defense, which is his bread and butter. This season he threw out 17 of 39 base runners. He has a strong, and very accurate arm and is very advanced at blocking pitches. However, what is most impressive is the fact that Jaramillo has experience calling a game, something incredibly rare to see out of a college catcher. He hit .352 with 5 HR, and 40 RBI for OSU this season.
Jeff Larish – 1st – L/R – Arizona State University (Junior)Jeff Larish opened the year as one of the best college prospects in the nation. He was coming off of an All American Sophomore season in which he hit .372 with 18 HR and 95 RBI. He also had 78 walks while striking out just 42 times. He then played for Team USA over the summer and despite having a low batting average, he hit 8 home runs. The 8 home runs were a record since Team USA started using wood bats in 2000.
This season the Sun Devils moved Larish to left field. Larish has a very strong arm and is capable of playing left field at the major league level. Larish struggled early in the season and then hurt his wrist. He didn’t miss much time and has improved a bit since then, but the season is still a disappointment. He hit .295, with 3 HR, and 39 RBI. However, on the bright side, this means one of the best pro prospects will potentially slide into the 2nd round. Larish projects to hit for power, and a high average at the major league level and he would fill a void in the White Sox organization (1st base). While its unlikely that Larish will fall to one of the Sox 2nd round picks, I would say its highly possible that he could be selected with their last compensatory pick.
Matt Fox – RHP – University of Central Florida (Junior)Fox is trying to follow a recent line of tradition at Central Florida, which recently saw right handers Justin Pope and Jason Arnold get drafted in the 1st and 2nd round respectively by the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees in 2001. That same year Matt, and his brother Mike, were drafted. Matt was drafted in the 6th round by the Diamondbacks while Mike was drafted by the Cardinals in the 50th round.
In 2003 Fox also played shortstop, but this season focused fully on pitching. The decision paid of as Fox ranked behind Jared Weaver for most of the season in ERA while going 11-2 with a 2.02 ERA with 100 strikeouts in 89 innings of work. Prior to the switch, Fox was mainly a fastball-curveball pitcher. He has since added a hard slider and a developing changeup to his repertoire. He has good command of all 4 pitches with his best pitch being the curveball. His fastball consistently hits 90-93 and can get as high as 95 MPH. Fox is another player that may go earlier then the Sox 2nd round picks, but once again could be a great option as a little bit of a reach in the supplemental round.
Micah Owings – RHP/DH – Georgia Tech (Sophmore)Owings was a 2nd round pick in the 2002 draft by the Colorado Rockies as a pitcher. He dominated high school baseball with both the bat and arm. He hit an astonishing 69 homers during his high school career (4th all time in high school history), while going 12-1 with a 1.03 ERA with 125 strikeouts in his senior year of high school.
Owings features a good fastball (90-94) as well as a hard slider and a changeup. Typically he has good control of all pitches and has been working on some minor tweaks to his delivery which could add a little more zip on his fastball.
The big question with Owings is how much will he cost and do you let him pitch, because he has so much power potential. The likely answer is that he will be drafted as a pitcher, but hitting is still a possibility. Owings may also slide in the draft because he is happy in college, and as draft eligible sophomore, he will hold out for more money. He reportedly turned down $800,000 from the Rockies back in 2002.
Grant Johnson – RHP – Notre Dame (Junior)
Johnson showed a lot of promise after going 9-5 with a 3.46 ERA as a freshman. He then missed the 2003 season after undergoing shoulder surgery and he struggled at times this season because of it. Johnson’s velocity now appears to be back (92-94) and is throwing his plus slider again. Johnson’s slider was rated as his best pitch, even when his fastball was hitting 95 during his freshman year of college. Johnson is yet to be 100% and is a risk, but his upside is high. The Sox, if interested, would have to watch out for the Cubs, who have shown some interest in Johnson with their 2nd round pick.
David Price – LHP – Blackman High School (Tennessee)
Price absolutely dominated the high school circuit this past season, despite having a losing record. He went 4-5 with a .43 ERA while striking out 151 batters in 65 innings. Price is tall and skinny so he projects well. He already throws a fastball that’s consistently in the low 90’s and occasionally gets as high as 94 MPH. He also throws a curveball, which at times can be devasting and at other times flat. Price, like most young players, lacks secondary pitches but has a ton of upside. He could be a tough sign as he has a scholarship to Vanderbilt.
My Take:
Realistically, it is unlikely that Larish and Matt Fox would be around. I would like to see the Sox draft the two of them in the compensatory round, both should be easier signings, while waiting to draft J.P. Howell from the University of Texas in the 2nd round. With the remaining two 2nd round picks, the Sox should draft Grant Johnson from Notre Dame. Most of my suggested picks tend to be on the safe side and Johnson is a high risk, high reward type of guy. Micah Owings would be the other player I’d love to see the Sox pick up in the draft, but unless the Sox were confident he would sign (and if he slid), I would possibly pass him up to go with Patterson. Blake DeWitt would also be a very good selection while Landon Powell should be available in the 3rd round.
