Chisoxfn

It doesn't sound like Floyd is screwed. All the facts coming out of LA right now and all the radio show people are talking about how many holes the person bringing the claims has in the story and just how checkered there background is. Floyd would have been really stupid to do something that blatant as well and he doesn't exactly have a history of NCAA violations. Bottom line I don't think USC gets in trouble out of this, especially with people saying that Floyd couldn't have done what was claimed cause he wasn't even with the guy on the alleged dates (he was holding a freaking practice). The reality is we are talking about a guy that thought he was going to mooch off of Mayo and didn't end up getting any of the gravy train and now is deciding he's going to try and make a fuss.

It wouldn't be a baseball draft without me hyping a Titan. I've long said the program grooms great baseball players and while there aren't a ton that go on to become big league stars (Tim Wallach and Aaron Rowand being two of the best) there are a ton of Titans that go on to have productive big league careers. Josh Fellhauer is a guy that I think has a shot at being just that, a productive big leaguer. In fact, I'd even go as far as saying he has a similar skill-set as Aaron Rowand, although I'd say he has a bit less power potential and tools than Rowand did coming out of Fullerton. What Fellhauer does well is everything, despite the lack of awe-dropping tools. I wouldn't consider him a very projectable player but the former high school QB has a very strong arm and is one of the premiere defensive centerfielders in college baseball and projects to be a potential above average defensive centerfielder in the majors. Its a good thing too, because he doesn't have the power ability to stick as a corner outfielder. Fellhauer also possesses a very level and compact swing that has the potential to make him a very very good top of the order hitter (#1/#2) as he should hit for a high average. Despite putting up good numbers his first two years of college (now a junior), he made a big change to his swing this season, which has left it much shorter and more major league ready. Power wise his upside is 10-20 HR's, most likely settling in the 12-15 HR range with lots of doubles. He's shown a good eye in college and has cut the strikeouts every season and is a very smart runner on the paths and does a good job handling the bat which should again make him an asset a-top the order (hit and runs, moving a guy over, bunts, etc). As a whole I think the upside is a .300 hitting, good defensive CFer with 12-15 HR's a season, 15-20 steals, and a .360+ OBP. The odds that he does that might not be as great as some other players because that is probably his pure upside (where as many guys you see touted have far higher upside) but I think he has a semi decent chance of coming close to that upside because of his poise, and just the fact that he's been so well coached and is such a smart, level-headed ball player. Basically put, he's got a shot to be Mark Kotsay out in CF. Again, I'm a bit biased but I tend to have a good track record when it comes to Titans and Titans tend to outperform there draft selection. A Pre-Season All American, I honestly have no idea where Josh is slated to go but my guess is somewhere between the 3rd and 10th rounds and I leave such a large gap there because it really comes down to what scouts think of Fellhauers overall skill-set cause his production, there just isn't any way to knock it. I'd quiet pleased if the Sox took him anytime after the 4th round or so and he should be a relatively easy sign if you get him early enough, despite having another year of college as an option. He's batting 397 on the season with 16 stolen bases (23 attempts), 10 doubles, and 4hr's (179 ab's).

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 15, 2009 -> 03:31 PM) According to Rongey, Fields much like Alexei last week has been "benched". And he should be. He looks lost at the plate. Hopefully a mental break will be good and that at the same time, him and Walker are working hard core on making some minor adjustments and that he's working big time on those adjustments in the cages.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 15, 2009 -> 03:23 PM) I agree with ya. I wouldn't want this with either of our top 3 pick. 71 or later would be fine by me, but I see too much risk with this guy. I hate the idea of taking a guy in the first round who doesn't have any sort of secondary pitch and has only flashed a bare minimal potential of a second pitch. It would be one thing if he's shown a plus secondary pitch from time to time cause than you can at least hope you can coach and develop it into benig a consistent pitch but this guy just scares me. Very projectable, but again, your talking about a college age kid, not a high schooler, so will he really add any more velocity? Hell, I'd remotely understand it if he was a lefty, just because its rare to have a power lefty (albeit there are a few real good looking ones in this years draft), but a righty.

By the way, I just want to say...great job so far everyone. There is a ton of great draft stuff out there and we've been doing this for about a week. By the time the draft comes, I think any Soxtalk member that wants to will be able to have a damn good understanding of the draft without every having to leave Soxtalk (and without spending a dime).

Bochering reminds me a bit (just the idea) of a former Sox selection (whom they weren't able to sign out of high school), Wes Hodges. Hodges was a switch hitting 3rd baseman that ended up going to Georgia Tech and is now in AAA with the Tribe. He hasn't put up dominant numbers, but he's been pretty good in his first two minor league seasons (07 and 08) and might get his shot with the Tribe this summer.

It is widely believed that Ken Williams attended at least one of Jackson's games in person. The Sox apparently like his tools a lot, although he hasn't played as good as scouts thought he would this season and that makes him no longer a lock to go in the first round. Still, he's a pretty toolsy player with great athletism who fits into what the Sox seem to be preaching. I wouldn't be at all shocked if the Sox went his way. I still think Trout and Pollack are better fits, but you could make a far worse selection than Brett Jackson. The biggest thing is he still has had problem making contact and high strikeout rates from college players tend to be a pretty good indicator that a player will ultimately struggle to make it in the major leagues. He's striking out around 28% of the time, which is a pretty high strikeout rate for a top collegiate draft pick. For example, Josh Fields (yep, our Josh Fields) was said to have a pretty high strike-out rate in college and that was 18.5% of the time. Bottom line, I wouldn't touch him until the 2nd round, anything earlier is too risky for a guy that still has a lot of flaws in his game. Raw tools are good, but you shouldn't take projects too early, imo, especially with more complete players on the board with similar upside.

With 5 picks in the top 102, Volz (see description below) is the type of guy I would like to see the Sox take a chance on if he slides in the draft. Dynamite arm, just hasn't put it all together yet. In fact, I could compare him a bit to a guy like Luke Hudson or Dexter Carter that had good stuff, but didn't click until they moved to the professional ranks. Now I'm not saying Volz figures it out, but he's the type of guy I'd love to have in the system. I'll write a more detailed write-up later on this week or early next week. From MLB.com

From MLB.com

Baseball America released its first mock draft on 5/14/09 and had the Sox selecting a college righty out of Indiana, Eric Arnett. Some of the power lefties that myself and BearSox have talked about (Brothers/Paxton) were off the board while three outfielders (two college and one prep) we've touted were on the board (Stout - HS, Pollack, Aaron Miller). Pollack went to the Cubs with Stout going to the Angels at pick #24 (right after the Sox pick) with Miller sliding out of the 1st round. Prior to this selection, I can't say I was overly familiar with Arnett, however, he's one of two Hoosiers thats projected to go early in the draft (IU's catcher being the other, who statistically looks like a pretty nice pick for a back-stop). As of May 2nd, he was 9-1 with a 2.49 ERA in 10 games, giving up 58 hits in 76 innings of work. He's widely regarded as the top pitcher in the big ten this year but wasn't on most scouts radars (at least not as a top 5 round selection) prior to the season. In fact, he wasn't even on the radards of college coaches as he was a walk-on at Indiana. However, this year he added velocity to his fastball and improved his command. His fastball sits in the 93-96MPH range, but most reports I've read indicate that the fastball has little life. He mixes that fastball with a developing slider, which at times has looked promising but again is currently a work in progress. If I were to grade him, I think your talking about a guy with a good frame, whose put 3MPH onto his fastball this year and could potentially add additional velocity (6-5, 225) with a developing slider (a year ago, he has no other pitch). Bottom line, this guy could go anywhere from the back of the first round to the third round and any team that grabs him has to hope he has a lot more development left in him. He does sound to have a relatively similar scouting report of former #1 Aaron Poreda, although Poreda had a bit more juice to his fastball and a bit more developed off-speed pitch (albeit not a whole lot more developed). I reiterate that whoever takes him hopes he can really develop some additional pitchers, otherwise the only possibility of him making an impact will be out of the pen. And personally speaking, I hope the Sox stay away from him, at least in the first round. In fact, of all the names I've heard or seen, Arnett is the one that scares me the most. Below is a link to a video of Arnett http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgivHkTgXj4

QUOTE (fathom @ May 15, 2009 -> 02:10 PM) I'll be very disappointed if Beckham's not our starting SS within the next 2 years. I would hate for him to be moved to 3rd base, as that would mean Fields and Viciedo (defensively for Dayan) were busts. Fields is teetering on being a bust and it wouldn't shock me if he was. I hope he figures things out though. But I don't think anyone considered him a slam dunk to succeed.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 15, 2009 -> 02:23 PM) I don't know who any of these players are except Strasburg, but I'm glad the Sox had the 8th pick in the draft last year, and not this year. I was reading somewhere that the Sox have talked and the guys they were looking at were Beckham, Alonso, and Smoak. All of which would have been tremendous picks. And your right, the 8th pick this year would be the equivalent of something like the 20th pick in last years draft in terms of talent. That said, this is a very deep draft, its just there aren't a lot of sure things, particularly because this draft doesn't have near the top end collegiate talent. Hence why guys like Crow/Scheppers might go higher than they did last year and that usually doesn't happen. In Scheppers case, sure, because he fell due to an injury, but all things said, you wouldn't expect a guy like Crow to move up after sitting out a season.

Heres a pretty informative list on some of the top high school prospects and where they are going to college. Might give you an idea why a particular guy slides, plus gives a little brief scouting report on each of the players.

Here's a really interesting article with a guy that takes a statistical approach based upon the college players past history. AJ Pollack, one of my favorites, looks really good based upon this guys analysis. http://projectprospect.com/article/2008/12...-quantitatively Another guy I like ranks fairly high on the list as well, Josh Fellhauer from Fullerton, although I wouldn't take him in the first couple ruonds of the draft. Another interesting part of the article is where he talks about how he expected Josh Fields to not live up to expectations based upon his collegiate statistics.

BA On Viciedo

Per the White Sox Twitter, JD is appealing his suspension and will be in the lineup tonight.

QUOTE (Texsox @ May 15, 2009 -> 11:37 AM) I believe intent was factored in, imagine if he intended to hit the ump with a helmet. He'd be out a few weeks or longer, even as classy as he is. I don't think so. Maybe another game or two, but look at what Milton Bradley got.

QUOTE (lostfan @ May 15, 2009 -> 11:31 AM) 5 cool points to whoever gets my reference btw. Eastbound and Down?

That is a little ridiculous, considering there was no intent. This better get reduced to a game via appeal. Especially when you consider Dye's history (ie, being a classy ballplayer).

No word on whether he will appeal the suspension or not.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 15, 2009 -> 10:59 AM) Not CF, but defintely LF or RF. Mostly RF. Well I guess you answered my next question.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 15, 2009 -> 10:58 AM) He covers ground well enough in the outfield. He gets to ball sometimes that I think he's not going to get. Would he at all be able to even play a mediocre center? I believe he played there a bit in college.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 15, 2009 -> 10:56 AM) Yes, he has a rightfielder's arm. Yes, he has power to ALL fields. Tremendous power the opposite way. He's faster than he looks. He's a hell of a good guy as well. He's big and strong, I've never noticed any serious flaws with him. He does look at a lot of pitches, so that accounts for a lot of his K's. Its a bad comparison, but he kind of has that Vladdy build to him (think 2 years ago Vladdy). Where he's a pretty big guy, but finds a way to move well. And no, I'm not at all comparing him to Vladdy the player.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 15, 2009 -> 10:53 AM) How's his Defense? Solid defensive player. Don't know how he'd be able to handle CF, but projects as a solid defensive outfielder with a plus arm. By all means I'm not saying we have a star, but he's the type of guy that if he got a shot, might just be a pretty solid all around ball player or at least a solid bench player. And since the Sox might have some big holes in the outfield and not many major league ready replacements in the outfield, this might be a good year for Gartrell to get his chance.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 15, 2009 -> 10:47 AM) Right now, I'd love for our first three picks to be: 1 (23) - Mike Leake, SP Arizona St. 1b (38) - A.J. Pollack, OF Notre Dame (could also potentially play either 2B or 3B as well) 2 (610 - Aaron Miller, OF Baylor Mike Leake is someone who can progress quickly and be a real solid no. 3 (if not better) for a long time. He doesn't have dominant stuff, but he has good stuff and knows how to pitch. Great poise, great command and is a true baseball player. Pollack is a great baseball player and can play all 3 OF spots, and could potentially move back to 2B or 3B. He has good speed, and can hit. Very solid player and another true baseball player. Miller is a bit raw, but also another very solid baseball player. Get him to focus on just his offensive game, and he can be the next Andre Ethier. Got a sweet swing, and again, a true baseball player. I guess you see the theme with my draft, and it goes right with what Ozzie said, good, true baseball players. 3 guys who could progress through the system rather quickly and become solid players for us. I like Leake, but I think he's a bit of a reach with the 23rd pick. I'd like to see the Sox take someone with more upside, but Leake is a guy that has done nothing but excel in his collegiate career. That said, I just don't buy him having the stuff to be an impact pitcher and I think he falls in a similar mold as a Lance Broadway/Kyle McCulloch. I'd put him more in the Broadway range since Broadway was pretty damn good in college and had a plus spike curve coming out of college, but at the same time Leake's a bit "meh" to me. If you got him with the supplemental pick, I'd be excited and I honestly would love that draft as you'd be getting two outfielders with baseball ability and solid tools all across the board. I absolutely love Pollack and while he might be a bit of a reach at 23, would have no problem if we grabbed him. Miller is a pretty toolsy guy with a very strong arm. I still like Trout a whole heck of a lot and I've heard a lot of noise about him being a pretty strong bet to go somewhere in the 20's. Basically put, love the selections, but I'd much rather go with the best collegiate pitcher still on the board cause I really think you'll find a power arm there at 23. It probably wont' be Brothers but a guy like Paxton would look damn good too. Not near as close to the sure thing Leake is, but he possesses the ability to eventually turn into a top 10-20 prospect in all of baseball and when you have 5 picks this early, you should take some chances.