Chisoxfn

QUOTE (fathom @ May 20, 2009 -> 04:33 PM) Futuresox has really become a fantastic forum...thanks everyone. Easily the premiere minor league forum on the web for a specific team, imo. And it couldn't be done without the people that contribute here (ie, all the posters).

Whomever gets the 1st pick in the 2011 draft is going to be lucky. I think most everyone saw video of Bryce Harper, the Sophmore Catcher out of Las Vegas, but below are the ridiculous stats he put up in his high school season. Its quite possible that you'll be able to trade draft picks by 2011 and people are going to be all over this guy, especially given his position. Plus defensive tools and a f***ing stellar bat.

Beckham isn't quite ready yet. He has the maturity to handle the ups and downs but right now it would be a real short sighted move to call him up and I don't believe this is anything more than Levine speculating. I do think that if the club struggles and Gbeck hits well for half a season in AA, you will see the Sox bring him up, potentially shifting Ramirez to CF.

Putting on a good performance today. Per BA:

Awesome stuff Beau!!!

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ May 20, 2009 -> 02:33 PM) Any chance we look at Tanner Scheppers with our first pick? I'd certainly hope so if he was there, but I'd be stunned to see him fall outside of the top 15 and expect him to go top 10. The Angels trainer, Yocum, gave a clean reading on his shoulder but some teams might have concerns and thats the only way (along with $$$) which would send him falling (that or an injury of course).

QUOTE (Cali @ May 20, 2009 -> 02:32 PM) Besides the mid-90's fastball, what else does Dexter throw? Carter has his a plus fastball (92-96, but sits in the 93-95 range), a good to very good curveball, and a developing change-up. He already has enough stuff to eventually be a good reliever, but if his change keeps developing and his command continues to improve he's got a shot at being a middle of the rotation starter. Very very good athlete and he gets good downward tilt on his pitches.

QUOTE (tommy @ May 20, 2009 -> 02:30 PM) If Ozzie's giving Getz a day off why not sit Fields and play Wilson ? Were playing against a tough lefty so it makes more sense for Getz to sit and Fields to play.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ May 20, 2009 -> 02:26 PM) Arnett was actually a walk on on the basketball team this year and credits Tom Crean for a lot of the stamina and velocity he has gained this season. Crean actually has twittered about him a few times. Yep, he's a very very good athlete as well.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 20, 2009 -> 02:25 PM) Yeah, my roommate is the baseball team's beat reporter for the paper I worked at. They are paying for him to go to the Big 12 Tourney starting Friday so it's possible he would get us out to Fullerton if that scenario happens. As for Arnett, I'm really impressed. His secondary stuff is certainly above average for college. I wouldn't be too worried about it in the pros considering this guy has improved at a later age, he still can get better. BearSox said don't take him until 71, no way he slips that far. He's legit. Well Dan, if your out there and need a free place to stay you are always welcome. I'm definately looking forward to seeing this guy. And I agree with you, considering the late progress he's making there is a good reason to be optimistic about him making further progress after joining the pro's. He's been shooting up draft boards, I think he goes in the top 40 picks for sure, possibly in the top 20 or 25.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 20, 2009 -> 02:20 PM) Yep, I've been hearing that as well. But I think if he's still there at 38, you have to put him into consideration. I'd probably pass. A lot better athletes out there as far as I'm concerned, plus I want pitching pitching and more pitching and there are going to be some good arms out there as well. So my choice between good arms, toolsy outfielders our just a pure offensive prospect with obvious offensive holes, I'm going to go with the other two options 99% of the time. Unless the guy can flat out RAKE. I'd rather go after Louisville's 3rd baseman if he slides into the 3rd.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 20, 2009 -> 02:14 PM) Possible, but I don't think Mizzou will get shipped out west. Seems like enough teams closer to them will be hosting (a possible Big Ten host, Arkansas, TCU, LSU, Rice, Ole Miss). If Mizzou gets shipped out west with what should be a pretty good reputation and a probable 2 seed, I'll be upset. 16 teams have made the tourney the last 6 years, Mizzou is one of them, and a few more will drop off that list once it becomes the last 7 years. It would be frustrating to not be given any respect from the committee. No, I wouldn't expect you out here in the first round, but if you happen to win your regionals and Fullerton did I wouldn't be shocked to see you out West for the Super Regionals, in which case you might very well be primed to get a look at Fullerton.

So are our teams going to find a way to meet up again this year?

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 20, 2009 -> 01:58 PM) He got injured a couple weeks ago to more than likely end his season. Broken bone in his hand, nothing super major, but bad timing at the end of the season. This was by far his worst offensive year. I would say the scouting report is wrong about his power, though he didn't show power in the Cod league so maybe he only has metal bat power. The defensive reports are accurate, he's so much fun to watch behind the plate. Another thing worth noting about his defense is that he calls games for Mizzou, which is rare for college catchers. He definitely has a shot to be a solid catching prospect because of his defense, but I don't know if his bat will get him to the Majors. With that said, I would love for the Sox to take him in the 4th round. His bat is a question mark as they said in the report, but if he can hit respectably well his defense will carry him. Yep, while the upside might be limited, your still talking about a valuable position where there is at least a decent chance that he turns into a real nice defensive back-up to go with Flowers or whomever the starter is. And if he hits, he's a pretty solid starting catcher. By the way, good stuff Dan, good stuff (this and the Arnett stuff).

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ May 20, 2009 -> 01:44 PM) Are we sure about that? I thought they were on major league contracts. Aren't those specifically NOT what the contracts players sign after being drafted. I guess I thought they were in the same position as those Japanese players who often avoid arbitration. It is fantastic news if true though. Yep, we had our people at the same event and thats exactly what we were told, straight from Rick Hahn. So you can take it to the bank. It is 100% true.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 20, 2009 -> 01:45 PM) Arnett is on Big Ten Network in the Big Ten Tourney against Purdue. His fastball is sitting mid 90s. I wasn't paying much attention and missed the first few innings, but a mid 90s fastball will catch your attention. He threw a pretty sick 66 MPH curve to K a batter last inning. Gun could have missed it, but that's a HUGE velocity difference from his fastball. The curve is a very raw pitch of his. I got the game recording right now, but he might very well be the guy the Sox take. He's starting to grow on me a lot, especially since he tends to hold his velocity deep into games as of late.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 20, 2009 -> 01:45 PM) seems like Flowers knows what he's doing at the plate with walks and hitting for power, staying in the minors for another season or so to work on his D can only help his hit for more average then be ready to catch for the Sox mid '10 or '11 season... Plus he has a pretty solid arm and he's a good athlete. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him turn into a league average defensive catcher and with his offensive skill-set that would be a major plus.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ May 20, 2009 -> 01:45 PM) Even though the Sox say it, I am not convinced Flowers stays at C. I expect the Sox to take a catcher within the first four rounds of this draft. I wouldn't be shocked either, its a very strong catcher draft. Basham is a nice looking pickup if the Sox buy into him becoming much of a hitter because defensively he projects well and shouldn't go super early in the draft. That said, the Sox are going to do everything they can to keep Flowers at C, especially since Viciedo and Allen both look pretty solid as well and I still think they might target a corner infielder early in this draft (as there are some good quality guys that seem to be sliding).

Should be a great game. I'm excited again to watch some White Sox baseball.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 20, 2009 -> 12:35 PM) I only have time for 1 profile today, and I'm gonna knock that out in a couple minutes... but, if I have time this weekend, I plan on doing a mock draft. It'll be tougher this year since outside of the top 5 or so, there's not gonna be a huge difference between the players taken at 10 overall and 20 overall like there was last year, but I'll try my best. I'll give you guys a sneak preview though... Bit of a surprise, I have Strasburg going no. 1 overall! Shocker, I know. Oh, one other interesting thing coming from Hahn, was that he mentioned how the 70th pick of the draft might not be much different than the 10th pick in the draft. Basically stating whats been said a million times over, lots of solid baseball players but very few guys that fall into the 10-25 range in the draft (its gonna be a wild draft).

QUOTE (daa84 @ May 20, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) he hasn't hit for as much power as i expected (yet...and that big park may have something to do with it) but I feel like in all the Beckham/Poreda/Danks/Viciedo/Allen hype Tyler Flowers has gotten a bit lost in the shuffle....His OBP is currently .445 Flowers is the guy Hahn, outside of Beckham, that is apparently the most untouchable on the Sox. The rationale given was that both of them have the ability to be above average offensive weapons at there respected positions (SS & C).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 20, 2009 -> 01:17 PM) How does a guy without much stuff put up a 31/2 K/BB over 15 innings? I don't know anything about him, at all, so I can't comment. Pretty ridiculous numbers there though.

He's been falling in recent weeks due to his struggles against good college pitching. He's pretty much made his living off of poor college starters throughout his career.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 20, 2009 -> 12:03 PM) Yep that's HUGE news. The Viciedo contract looks so much better. Yea, in fact it looks downright stellar, imo. Especially with him hitting. I do have some news on Viciedo, but it didn't come from last night or Hahn. But I've heard that Viciedo has been putting in major extra time down with the Barons hitting coach and that no one in the organization is at all concerned with Dayan and that his struggles were related to how much different the pitching style is here as opposed to in Cuba. In addition, there were some expected problems relating to the language barrier but from what I was told, he's getting much more comfortable now. And obviously it shows in his statistics. Again, I reiterate that the above is not from Rick Hahn.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 20, 2009 -> 12:24 PM) He's clearly the no. 1 college catching prospect right now, and it seems he can come off the board anywhere from 20-40. Here is a good scouting report on him with a little video: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2009/...content=sanchez I dont' know who to compare him to, but I think he's a guy that could be a lot like AJ in a sense, but with a bit better defensive upside. And I say that as a compliment. I'm talking a mid .280 hitter with 10-20 hr's, and hopefully unlike AJ a solid OBP. Oh and currently a bit more speed than AJ. Probably the safest of the catcher picks.