2007 MLB Amateur Draft Thread

[jackie hayes]

I doubt they know as much as our Soxtalkers who only follow the game from stat sheets and radar gun readings.

His stat sheet was okay, save strikeouts, and his gun readings are quite good. At least make sense when you insult people.

[santo=dorf]

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Jun 7, 2007 -> 08:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

His stat sheet was okay, save strikeouts, and his gun readings are quite good. At least make sense when you insult people.

My post makes perfect sense. Go back and read the "analysis" of all these posters slamming the Sox's decisions.

 

The first, and main reason why people were/are slamming this pick are due to his K numbers which you just set aside.

[jackie hayes]

My post makes perfect sense. Go back and read the "analysis" of all these posters slamming the Sox's decisions.

 

The first, and main reason why people were/are slamming this pick are due to his K numbers which you just set aside.

I see a lot more about Porcello having more than 1 good pitch.

 

The main complaint is that we didn't take the best player on the board.

[CWSGuy406]

Crosby would have the 2nd best 4 seamer in our MLB rotation if we put him in there tomorrow.

 

So he already has a major league ready fastball but lasted till the end of the fifth round. Hmm...

[jackie hayes]

I really would have liked to seen the Sox "man up" and take Porcello, but he was called the 2nd best player in the draft by some, yet fell to the AL Champs. A lot of other teams past on Porcello, for the same reason we did.

 

I just can't really hold it against the Sox,

And that's fine, that's topical. I don't know either one well enough to have any strong opinion. I just get tired of reading posts in this thread that contribute nothing, that just try to slam everyone who dares to have an opinion about who the Sox should draft. I'm little more than a reader in this, and I just don't get why a number of posters seem to get off just by trying to piss on an interesting discussion.

[whitesoxfan101]

So he already has a major league ready fastball but lasted till the end of the fifth round. Hmm...

He wasn't the only first round talent to tumble today.

[T R U]

So he already has a major league ready fastball but lasted till the end of the fifth round. Hmm...

 

Yes its called demands, and scaring off teams with them

[Heads22]

Off all the videos, I like Ely's. Poreda's velocity wasn't there, Griffith was pretty wild. Hunt looked like he was popping it up there. Poreda did seem to keep the ball down.

[CWSGuy406]

He wasn't the only first round talent to tumble today.

 

Baseball America had him rated 43rd in their May 22nd Top 200 prospects list. I can't say that I didn't want the Sox to take him, but I can say that about a couple of other guys, too, most notably Will Middlebrooks.

 

FWIW, Baseball America's scouting report said nothing of a two-seamer or of any fastball with plus movement, and here's what the MiLB scouting report said about him:

 

FB Movement: Especially for a lefty, Crosby's fastball showed below-average life.

 

I'm sure he'd have more movement on his fastball than four of Danks, Buehrle, Contreras, Garland and Vazquez, though.

[whitesoxfan101]

Baseball America had him rated 43rd in their May 22nd Top 200 prospects list. I can't say that I didn't want the Sox to take him, but I can say that about a couple of other guys, too, most notably Will Middlebrooks.

 

FWIW, Baseball America's scouting report said nothing of a two-seamer or of any fastball with plus movement, and here's what the MiLB scouting report said about him:

I'm sure he'd have more movement on his fastball than four of Danks, Buehrle, Contreras, Garland and Vazquez, though.

 

I was speaking of just velocity. His 2 seamer needs quite a bit of work, which was exposed this year and probably the reason he fell this far. I'd rather have a guy with a 2 seamer that needs work in the 5th round than a guy with 1 pitch in the first. Crosby is still 6'4 or 6'5 (I'd guess 6'4 seeing him in person) and throws 92 to 95 on a consistent basis with pretty good off speed stuff.

[Heads22]

I was speaking of just velocity. His 2 seamer needs quite a bit of work, which was exposed this year and probably the reason he fell this far. I'd rather have a guy with a 2 seamer that needs work in the 5th round than a guy with 1 pitch in the first. Crosby is still 6'4 or 6'5 (I'd guess 6'4 seeing him in person) and throws 92 to 95 on a consistent basis with pretty good off speed stuff.

 

Maybe he can be another Nickolas Lemon?

[CWSGuy406]

I was speaking of just velocity.

 

That's no where near the same thing as saying this:

 

Crosby would have the 2nd best 4 seamer in our MLB rotation if we put him in there tomorrow.

[BearSox]

I just got home... The Griffith pick in the 2nd makes me happier. Fathom, you called the Ely pick (just not in the right round though ). Ely looks to have a live arm though. He really gives it all on the mound though, kinda like MacDougal...

 

From watching Hunt's video, I'm to impressed. He has a 3/4-sidearm delivery so that could help fool some hitters (possible roogy?). He has two different fastballs it seems. One that runs in on righties and another that has some sinking action. He also has a decent curve/slider (couldn't really tell which one it was). Not to bad of a pick, I guess.

 

Why did we pass up on the somewhat local kid with Crosby? He could have been a steal. I won't say much about Nathan Jones as they don't have a video on him (but that should tell you something if they don't have a scouting video on him though). IIRC, the used to be a WWE wrestler with the name Nathan Jones

[BearSox]

they're only doing 5 rounds today???

[Wanne]

I didn't want to start a new thread on the main board for fear of being pelted with rocks....but GODDAMN KENNY....it's ok if you draft a position player every now and then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gregory Pratt]

Inside The Draft Room

Thursday, June 7, 2007

 

Getting Your Guy

 

The White Sox selected left-handed pitcher Aaron Poreda of the University of San Francisco with the 25th pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft. (see our press release on whitesox.com for details).

 

Aaron was our guy, and the room was filled with excitement and congratulations after the pick.

 

Some random observations, comments and thoughts from inside the White Sox draft room ...

 

... to set the stage, the room is rectangular with a large conference table that seats around 12. On one wall are two boards. The first has all of the players we are interested in drafting, arranged by likely round, position, etc. The second board has the draft order of teams through the first five rounds. As a player is selected, his little magnetic card is moved from one board to the other.

 

On the other wall are the rosters of 29 teams plus a depth-chart like list of our roster. Anytime KW refers to his long-range roster plannning, he is referring to this chart and wall. At one short end of the room is the door and a large flat-screen TV, while a smaller TV is up in the opposite corner.

 

Because today was televised by ESPN2, a tripod and camera sat in the corner, showing half of the room.

 

About 16 White Sox front office staff, scouts and player development folks filled the room, including KW, Rick Hahn, David Wilder and Duane Shaffer, our director of scouting. Jerry Reinsdorf arrived for our first pick.

 

With 5 minutes between pick and not picking until 25, our afternoon was a case of waiting, watching TV, rooting for the right picks ahead of us and eating snacks: twizzlers and beef jerky being the preference this year (nince combo, huh).

 

As our turn came closer, a buzz enveloped the room and the chatter picked up. Ozzie Guillen and Don Cooper stopped by to lighten the mood. Coop came in sweating.

 

"What's wrong, Coop," someone asked.

 

"I just finished my walk," he said.

 

"What, from the clubhouse," came the retort to laughs.

 

With each pick came a fist pump as we sat hoping no one ahead of us chose Aaron.

 

Then came our pick.

 

Andrew Pinter called Roland Hemond and Chet Lemon, our representatives at the draft in Orlando, with the name. They handed it over to MLB and soon the Commissioner made the announcement.

 

Aaron is from the Bay Area and played at the University of San Francisco. We selected him just before the A's had the 26th pick. I wonder if they would have chosen the lefty. I guess we won't be in Billy's next book. Maybe he'll be in ours ...

 

After the pick, KW and Shaffer went into Kenny's office to call Aaron and I tagged along. They reached him on his cell phone to congratulate him and welcome him to the White Sox. It sounded like Aaron was at the biggest celebration party ever. You could hardly hear him over the roar.

 

I hopped on the call and told Aaron we would arrange a conference call with media later in the day (5 pm actually), and then headed out to the dugout with Shaffer where he met the media to talk about Aaron.

 

One humorous aside from the day involved Draft Room Envy.

 

As ESPN2 showed the various draft rooms around baseball, the room reacted. Everyone was laughing and joking comparing layouts, computers, televisions and accommodations.

 

Someone said, with a smart-aleck tone ...

 

"Ours is the most unimpressive room we've seen today."

 

And no, he wasn't talking about the people in the room. Save it.

[Flash Tizzle]

Sox bag power left-hander

Envision Poreda's sinker as good fit for U.S. Cellular Field

 

By Mark Gonzales

Tribune staff reporter

 

The White Sox believe they might have sneaked a prospect out of the backyard of the Giants and A's by drafting University of San Francisco left-hander Aaron Poreda with their first-round pick in Thursday's amateur draft.

 

"This guy probably had the best sinker we saw all year from a college left-hander," Duane Shaffer, the senior director of amateur scouting, said after Poreda's selection. "This was a guy we focused on and we were fortunate enough to get [as the 25th overall selection]."

 

Shaffer saw Poreda pitch three times, including one game that also was attended by Giants general manager Brian Sabean, who passed twice on Poreda with the 10th and 22nd picks. Oakland, which is located 10 minutes from Poreda's hometown of Moraga, made its first choice after the Sox took Poreda.

 

"I thought I had a good shot of going to the Giants, but now that I'm a White Sox, I have a new favorite team," Poreda said in a telephone conference call.

 

The 6-foot-6-inch, 240-pound Poreda has been compared to former major-leaguer John Candelaria because of his 95-m.p.h. fastball and three-quarter delivery.

 

The Sox believe Poreda's sinker will fit well at U.S. Cellular Field. He is projected to start his professional career at Class-A Winston-Salem.

 

Poreda agreed with Shaffer's observation that he needs to work on his secondary pitches. But Poreda isn't exactly raw, as evidenced by his 66 strikeouts and 18 walks in 99 2/3 innings for the Dons this year.

 

This marks the third consecutive year the Sox drafted a college pitcher with their first pick, and Poreda appears to have more upside than Lance Broadway (2005) and Kyle McCulloch ('06).

 

"He will be fairly close to getting to the big leagues in the next year or two," Shaffer said.

 

Poreda, a junior, is expected to sign rather than stay in school. He hired Matt Sosnick as his family adviser. The 25th overall pick in the 2006 draft signed for a $1.35 million.

 

"I haven't had the chance to see any White Sox games," Poreda said. "I watched them in the World Series a couple of years ago. I feel they will be a great fit for me, and I can't wait to get started."

 

The Sox's first five picks were pitchers, including second-round selection Nevin Griffith of Middleton High School in Tampa in the second round. Griffith was projected as a sandwich pick.

 

Fourth-round pick Leroy Hunt of Sacramento City College is a former outfielder who possesses a 92-m.p.h. sinker.

Hopefully he'll reach the big leagues in several years as a front-line starter with several quality secondary pitches.

[Gene Honda Civic]

he better have an off-the-chart GB/FB ratio if they expect a guy with his college strikeout rate to succeed in the majors.

[BearSox]

I find it hard to believe that Poreda will be ready in a year or two. From what I've read, it sounds like Poreda didn't really start focusing on baseball until college and left after his junior season. He probably isn't much more ready then some of the better high school arms, including Griffith. And if BA is correct, he doesn't have good command but throws a lot of strikes.

 

If Poreda is anything less then a no. 1 or 2 or even a good reliable SU or even CL for us, I will declare him as a bust. If Poreda is even a decent starter, the only way I might remove that label from him is if Porcello is worse then him, and I doubt that will happen.

[BearSox]

So your saying if every pitcher that was taken before Porcello doesn't put up as good as numbers as he does, they will all be busts?

No, because not all teams were in the same situation as the White Sox. The White Sox only had two picks in the top 100 and were in need of top of the line talent. It is very understandable to pass on someone like Porcello when you A) Don't have the money, and B.) when you more then just 2 picks in the top 100.

 

Like the Giants, I am sure they would love to have Porcello, but since they had 6 picks in the top 100, they wouldn't be able to give him the bonus he wanted. But Porcello was sitting in the White Sox laps and they passed.

Edited June 8, 2007 by BearSox

[Flash Tizzle]

he better have an off-the-chart GB/FB ratio if they expect a guy with his college strikeout rate to succeed in the majors.

Surrendering 7 HRs in 99 collegiate innings isn't a very good indication of that.

 

Maybe we'll teach him how to throw something besides a fastball like we have Sisco and Thornton.

[knightni]

Um.

 

They do remember that people actually hit in this franchise once in awhile, right?

 

5 pitchers?

[BearSox]

So because the Sox, the organization, decided to pass on Porcello, Poreda should be viewed as a bust if he isn't better than Porcello? Sorry, just don't see the logic there.

Well, answer me this. Would YOU have passed on Porcello? Lets say everything else is the same as it is now, but for some reason you got to make the selection.

[Flash Tizzle]

As it stands, Porcello>Pordea. However, if it were that simple, he would probably be a Royal right now. Just remember, 20+ teams passed on Porcello just like the Sox did. Sure it would have been nice to see the Sox take a bold move, but 20 some odd teams made the exact same choice the Sox did.

Whatever reason you may feel justifies our decision to select Poreda instead of Porcello, the fact remains a divisonal rival selected the second overall rated pitcher. A team already full of projectable arms with another (Miller) ready to replace Robertson in the rotation.

 

It's past the time of reasoning. Phrases such as "29 other teams would want a (insert pitcher)" too are no longer valid. Whether that be in regards to our draft selections or the money alloted to international scouting. If we don't find a legitimate ace within the forseeable future to combat those of other teams it's not going to be a good 4-5 years. Why else were our first five selections pitchers other than Williams and company saying to themselves, "oh s***, we somehow have to match Verlander/Miller/Porcello/Bonderman."

 

If the White Sox feel selecting a college lefthander with medicore numbers and one pitch because of signability exceeds the need to revive a stagnant farm system with a pitcher drawing comparisons to Verlander, all because he commands 9+million, then it freightens me to think how they will compete in the international market.

[GoodAsGould]

According to that article Poreda was the target all along. And for some reason they all thought he had a chance of being taken before us too. Kind of odd since he wasnt on anyones mock to even be in the 1st round or supplemental draft for all I know. Why is it we get all excited for lame pitching prospects. Although atleast this time it seems like we took a guy with top of the rotation potential if everything goes right.