scenario

Charlotte beat Durham 10-2. Where did all that offense come from? Another good pitching performance for Wes "Lousy peripherals but good ERA" Whisler.

Here are links to some of the profiles already posted... Pitchers Tanner Scheppers - Pitcher, Independent Leagues Rex Brothers - LHP, Lipscomb University Mike Leake - RHP, Arizona State Kendal Volz - RHP, Baylor Eric Arnett - RHP, Indiana James Paxton - LHP, University of Kentucky James Jones - LHP, Long Island Sam Dyson - RHP, University of South Carolina Patrick Schuster - LHP, Prep (Florida) Kyle Gibson - RHP, Mizzou Brad Boxberger - OF, Southern Cal Ian Krol - LHP, Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, IL Chad Jenkins - RHP, Kennesaw St. Kyle Heckathorn - RHP, Kennesaw St. Catchers Tony Sanchez - C, Boston College Trevor Coleman - C, Mizzou Luke Bailey - C, Prep (Georgia) Diego Seastrunk - C, Rice Infielders Bobby Borchering - 3B, Prep (Florida) Rich Poythress - 1B, Georgia Outfielders Mike Trout - OF, Prep (New Jersey) Tim Wheeler - CF, Sacremento State AJ Pollack - CF, Notre Dame Aaron Miller - OF/LHP, Baylor Brett Jackson - CF, Cal-Berkeley Josh Fellhauer - CF, CSUF Jabari Blash - OF, Miami Dade (CC) Jason Kipnis - OF/2B, Arizona St. Everett Williams - CF, Prep (Texas) Reymond Fuentes - CF, Prep (Puerto Rico)

The MLB Draft is on June 9th... about 4 weeks away. The Sox have 4 picks in the first two rounds: 23rd; 38th*; 61st*; and 71st; as well as the 102nd pick (in the 3rd round). So... we will get 5 shots to pick talent from approximately the top 100 players in the country. But who will it be? Will the organization look for fill specific needs like a power-hitting outfielder, or go for best available talent regardless of position? As we approach the draft, several Soxtalkers will be posting profiles of interesting players. Feel free to jump in and share your thoughts and opinions about who we should take and why! *38 and 61 from Oakland for OCab

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 7, 2009 -> 05:04 PM) On a sidenote, I'm going to try and do a few of these a week leading up all the way to the draft, that way a lot of us will have an idea of most of the top candidates that might be there with some of the Sox early selections. I encourage others (BearSox, Scenario, Dan, whomever) to do more of the same, that way we have a nice informational database right here on Soxtalk. Good idea. Count me in.

It sure builds up the anticipation for Hudson's next outing, doesn't it?

They stake him to a nice lead. And then it looks like there's a rain delay. Can't catch a break with this stupid weather. Looks like Hudson struck out the first two guys he faced too. Nice.

Does Wesley Snipes play Alexei in the movie?

And I think all of Beckham's errors this year have been in night games. So, he can't hit during the day... and he can't field at night. This is a freakin' Greek tragedy.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2009 -> 02:45 PM) FWIW, it hasn't been raining here in the Quad Cities for at least two hours. Quad Cities?? What are you doing in the Quad Cities? Did you take a wrong turn at Chiang Mai?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:58 PM) Lot of dark clouds rolling in right now. Just had about a half hour of hard rain + lightning in Rockford.

I know this is a tangent from the Broadway conversation but I thought it was sort of interesting. Two MLB center-fielders: Player A (age 25) 2008 - .280/.336/.394/.730 2009 - .287/.320/.348/.668 Player B (age 24) 2008 - .286/.350/.383/.733 2009 - .270/.333/.360/.693 Look pretty similar? Who are they? Player A = Jacoby Ellsbury Player B = Ryan Sweeney Just thought it was relevant given some of the angst about not using our 2005 1st round pick on Ellsbury.

Regarding Retherford today... 2-3, both doubles... raising his average to .319 on the year Plus a sacrifice bunt + a sac fly. Currently 5th in the Southern League in slugging percentage; 5th in doubles; and 11th in batting average. Attaboy CJ... show 'em how it's done. Not shabby for an unheralded and undrafted player, eh?

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 6, 2009 -> 12:00 PM) You're slipping... I know... and it's not even Happy Hour yet.

I know the Broadway-Ellsbury thing will keep coming up... as well as another other prospects we missed on. But come on... hindsight... In Broadway's last year of college, he was one of 3 finalists for the Roger Clemens Award. Threw 5 complete games in 16 starts, including 2 of his last 3 games... one over the #1 team in the country at the time. Had a 1.69 ERA on the season. Gave up only 2 homeruns in 117 innings. Yada yada... And regarding the Clemens Award... here's how the voting works... the three finalists were selected in a second round of voting by all Division I head baseball coaches, a selection of national college baseball media, the 16 winners of the R. E. Bob Smith Award (college player of the year) and the three finalists from the first Clemens Award. In other words, it wasn't like he some bum off the street. There was a fairly large group of knowledgeable people who thought he was one of the top 3 pitchers in the country.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 6, 2009 -> 11:40 AM) Gilmore will be 21 in August. Oops. Yeah, I can add. And I'm a numbers guy who works in the financial services industry too. LOL. Still, 20 is very young for the Sally. For example, he is the second youngest player on the Kanny roster as well as being one of the youngest players in the league. So... the same logic of my comments applies. But my numbers were off by one year.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 6, 2009 -> 10:14 AM) Jon Gilmore is doing no better for Kanny so far than he did in the SAL last year in similar number of games. I'm still not convinced he's the real deal. Keep in mind that at 19, he's one of the youngest players in the league. And at 18 years old, he was ripping up the Appalachian League before getting promoted late last season. (23 doubles in 235 at-bats... for an 18 year old? Gotta like that.) He had a very rough start to this season (0 for 20 or something like that), but has been coming around pretty well since. For example, he's had one or more hits in 8 of his last 10 games.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 6, 2009 -> 07:37 AM) The White Sox employ a lot of people and pay a few of them a lot of money to select players. Guys on this board could probably have drafted just as well over several years. And if you really believe that.... another purple unicorn for you. Yeah the Sox made some bad picks... as did every other organization in MLB. But the reason we have no MLB ready prospects in AAA this year is NOT the result of bad draft choices, it's the result of trades. Imagine how different the world would look if we hadn't traded Chris Young, Aaron Cunningham, and Ryan Sweeney for example. I don't think people would be sitting and asking why we can't find major league ready outfielders in our system.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ May 6, 2009 -> 06:52 AM) How old is Shelby? Seems like we've been talking about him for a few years now on ST. Turned 23 last August. Age-appropriate for AA. (5 months older than Tyler Flowers and Brandon Allen who are also both 23. And 11 months older than Beckham and 1 year older than Jordan Danks, both 22.)

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2009 -> 06:39 AM) Shelby and Danks are plenty athletic...there's some question, though, whether Shelby can legitimately play major league CF. Scenario would be able to discuss this, because I think Shelby mostly played LF last year, at least that was my impression, after they moved him off the infield. Shelby III seems to be one of his favorite players. Cutting down strikeouts is one of the biggest issues for both, although Danks has improved in that area recently. According to a milb.com article, Shelby was selected in a survey of Carolina League managers as the most exciting offensive player in the league last year. And when you look at the power-speed package... 37 doubles, 7 triples, 15 homeruns, 33 stolen bases, only 5 caught stealing... you can see why. On the other hand, last year was his first full year as an outfielder, so he still needs some work there; and his plate discipline still causes some concerns. Strikeouts isn't the issue as much as his lack of walks. But this year, it's looking better. As of last night, 12 BB's, in 79 at-bats. (He only had 22 walks last year in 447 at-bats. So he obviously is working on it.)

I think if we talking about trades, it makes sense to look at the A's and D'Backs... Those tend to be the usual suspects for KW deals.

After a hot start many players in the organization have cooled off... But Christian Marrero is still batting .374

Kent Gerst got his first hit of the season last night in his 19th at bat. Batting a robust .053 after last night. He's young for the league he's in, but it would be nice to see him start demonstrating some of the tools he supposedly has.

Charlie Shirek moves to 4-0 with a nice performance last night... 6 innings, 3 runs on 6 hits, 7 Ks, and 2 BB;s. Dexter Carter one-upped him... 6 innings, 2 runs on 7 hits, 9 K's, and 3 BB's. Carter's ERA on the season is 1.98

You do realize that Longoria played in over 200 minor league games before being called up, right? Beckham has played in less than 40.

Charlotte @ Durham Knights lose 8-2 Bad game by a bad team Birmingham @ Montgomery Harrell pitching Winston-Salem @ Frederick - Game One Shirek pitching Winston-Salem @ Frederick - Game Two Maxwell Lowe scheduled to pitch Kannapolis @ Lakewood DCarter pitching