2011 Draft

[rockydennis]

Detroit Tigers. The new Astros.

[cruzer1]

The Tigers lack athletes and speed.

[DontGotSheed]

Looks like they are trying to build up they're position player depth. Not a bad idea.

Still would've liked to see Purke. But like Shelton said, they have to have their reasons.

[tigerbomb13]

YouTube - ‪Aaron Westlake catches a pie in the face‬‏

[keyser343]

This is slightly disapointing to see. I hope there is a strategy that is not just signability. Maybe go for solid guys now and pick riskier guys in the rounds around 7-10? Not sure what risk players are left, with so many teams taking risks earlier this year.

[rockydennis]

This is slightly disapointing to see. I hope there is a strategy that is not just signability. Maybe go for solid guys now and pick riskier guys in the rounds around 7-10? Not sure what risk players are left, with so many teams taking risks earlier this year.

I think that is it.

[DontGotSheed]

From Mark's Twitter:

TigsTownMark Mark Anderson
Potential 55-60 defense/arm; bat is very suspect for me. #Tigers #MLBDraft RT @mksz2010: What can you tell us about McCann?

[tigersrok]

That pick cements that the Tigers will have the worst draft. One of the deepest drafts in recent memory, and the Tigers reach for a no hit catcher. With no first round pick, the team should have selected a talented prospect who had fallen due to signability or injury concerns. With this poor draft, the Tigers weak farm system will fall even further in the rankings. Count me in as another poster who is not a fan of Chadd and his draft philosophy of selecting low ceiling college players after the first round. Chadd has done a very poor job as scouting director, imo.

[Longgone]

So far this draft blows. The Tigers love their cheap senior signs and organizational players.

[JonBenke]

It's good to see Detroit take advantage of not having a first round pick.

[rockydennis]

That pick cements that the Tigers will have the worst draft. One of the deepest drafts in recent memory, and the Tigers reach for a no hit catcher. With no first round pick, the team should have selected a talented prospect who had fallen due to signability or injury concerns. With this poor draft, the Tigers weak farm system will fall even further in the rankings. Count me in as another poster who is not a fan of Chadd and his draft philosophy of selecting low ceiling college players after the first round. Chadd has done a very poor job as scouting director, imo.

Its hard to write off an entire draft after 2 picks but Im pretty much there with you. This is 2008 redux.

[DontGotSheed]

Its hard to write off an entire draft after 2 picks but Im pretty much there with you. This is 2008 redux.

While I agree we have a long way to go....it is hard to be excited right now. Ugly picks so far.

[hammb]

I effing hate drafting College positional players...ugh.

Draft college pitching & high ceiling HS positional guys. Pay the money it takes to sign them.

2 picks in and you have 2 guys whose ceiling is likely a backup...and that's a BIG assumption that they reach the ceiling...

[cruzer1]

That pick cements that the Tigers will have the worst draft. One of the deepest drafts in recent memory, and the Tigers reach for a no hit catcher. With no first round pick, the team should have selected a talented prospect who had fallen due to signability or injury concerns. With this poor draft, the Tigers weak farm system will fall even further in the rankings. Count me in as another poster who is not a fan of Chadd and his draft philosophy of selecting low ceiling college players after the first round. Chadd has done a very poor job as scouting director, imo.

Chadd isn't the scouting director. Do your homework before you spew your usual venom, please.

[cruzer1]

I effing hate drafting College positional players...ugh.

Draft college pitching & high ceiling HS positional guys. Pay the money it takes to sign them.

2 picks in and you have 2 guys whose ceiling is likely a backup...and that's a BIG assumption that they reach the ceiling...

It worked with Boesch, Wells, Granderson, Dirks, Worth, Avila, etc...

[keyser343]

I effing hate drafting College positional players...ugh.

Draft college pitching & high ceiling HS positional guys. Pay the money it takes to sign them.

2 picks in and you have 2 guys whose ceiling is likely a backup...and that's a BIG assumption that they reach the ceiling...

We basically just drafted Chris Robinson/Holaday and Ryan Strieby again.

[irvink]

Let's hope their ceiling is not backup. As mentioned above, they have had some success with college pos players.

[tigersrok]

What a dissapointing draft ... More organizational soldiers, low ceiling college players.

[TonyJM]

McCann went 44th in Sickel's shadowdraft...He was listed as a guy Sickels had an interest in and a good guy feeling about...Here's his quick blurb on him:


2011 Baseball Mock Draft: Supplemental Round - Minor League Ball

44) Mets (for Pedro Feliciano): James McCann, C, University of Arkansas: Good defender with a chance to hit, and the Mets need catching.

[IdahoBert]

The mlb.com video coverage is really boring. Is everything they do this boring? if some girls from Hooters delivered lunch to them that might help. This is like watching golf with bad players.

[irvink]

If Westlake can adequately man a corner of pos, as this blog post suggests, I like the pick more:

2011 MLB Draft: The Detroit Tigers select Aaron Westlake with the 106th pick - Bless You Boys

[Shelton]

I guess I'm not sure what people expected to get picking at 76 and later. There isn't anything necessarily wrong with going after solid but unspectacular players. This draft was not going to fix the farm system. All of the "studs" that were still available were passed over by plenty of teams before the tigers. I'd be upset if they were reaching or something, but they are picking guys that were appropriate at those spots. If you draft for raw upside, you are just as likely to have the guy bust.

People complain about having no positional prospects all the time. Now they have a couple guys out of college that appear to be solid pieces.

[TonyJM]

Westlake was went 53rd in the shadow draft and Sickels considered taking him in the supplemental round. He listed him as a guy that would go in the first round that he had a good guy feeling about.

[TonyJM]

If Westlake can adequately man a corner of pos, as this blog post suggests, I like the pick more:

2011 MLB Draft: The Detroit Tigers select Aaron Westlake with the 106th pick - Bless You Boys

I had been reading LF on a couple blogs with Westlake...Others view him as being a guy stuck at first.

[hammb]

It worked with Boesch, Wells, Granderson, Dirks, Worth, Avila, etc...

Granderson has been a very good MLB player, and Avila looks like he could follow suit. The rest of that group is pretty meh...

I guess I should clarify that I hate taking college position players early in the draft. I would prefer to take the highest ceiling players available early on, and that seems like it is usually not the college guys.

Neither of these guys we have drafted with our first 2 picks look like they have a ceiling. I can't stand that. Spend the money to get guys who might actually play.

Compounding it even further is the fact that neither of these guys will probably ever displace our current starters at their position. I'm not for drafting for need, but 1B & C are probably the 2 positions where it will be nearly impossible for a guy we draft this year to ever play for us.

[TonyJM]

Jason King, Kansas State, 3B

[IdahoBert]

[hammb]

I had been reading LF on a couple blogs with Westlake...Others view him as being a guy stuck at first.

If he can actually play a corner OF position, I will warm up to the pick, but I still wonder what his ceiling is.

[Scottish caveman]

Another senior !! Swich - hitter though !

[TonyJM]

Fluff piece on King, who wasn't highly ranked headed into this draft:

It’s good to be K-State’s King - KansasCity.com

It’s good to be K-State’s King
By KELLIS ROBINETT
The Kansas City Star

MANHATTAN, Kan. | Whenever Jason King is away from the baseball field, he usually can be found leaning back into a recliner.

There’s no place better for King. Give him a comfortable seat and a free evening, and he will happily pass the time.

“I just like to lie down and think and be by myself and get away,” said King, Kansas State’s junior third baseman. “Just relaxing, not really doing too much.”

This may be an unusual way for a college athlete to spend his free time, but it seems especially odd for King. Watch him on the diamond or in the dugout around his teammates, and he looks like an assistant coach. Not only is he one of the most active players during games, but he is also one of the most vocal and helpful during practice.

Even last season, when he was forced to sit out while recovering from elbow ligament surgery, he pushed himself as hard as coaches would allow.

“I would go on adventures,” King said. “I would run around before the game and just go on runs. Then I would come to the games and run in the outfield, because that’s all I could do. I like to stay active. So sitting around — not doing anything — was not something I was going to do.”

Clearly, King approaches athletics differently than he does the weekend. But the contradiction works. As he learned this season, a lazy side can be useful.

“He’s playing the best baseball of his career,” K-State coach Brad Hill said.

After establishing himself as one of the Wildcats’ top hitters and most serious players as an underclassman, King has figured out how to relax at the plate and has taken his hitting to a new level.

That newfound approach has helped him shrug off slumps and play with less on his mind. He is hitting .333 this season with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs, and he is a main reason why K-State is headed to the NCAA Tournament to take on Stanford at 6 p.m. Friday in Fullerton, Calif.

“He’s been absolutely killing the ball,” senior Kent Urban said.

Add an academic All-America nomination and a spot on the All-Big 12 team to his resume, and King truly has little to stress about these days.

“He’s put together a tremendous year,” Hill said. “He’s a kid who is very emotional and has a lot of pride in how he plays and how he represents this university. Sometimes that hurts him a little. But I can’t be more happy or proud of what he’s done here. His numbers have jumped, unbelievable. He’s playing with great confidence right now.”

At the best possible time, too.

When K-State needed a late surge to earn an at-large bid, he came through with the best hot streak of his career. He is on a 16-game hitting streak and has multiple hits in nine of his last 10 games.

Relaxation achieved.

“I’m trying to keep the game more in perspective,” King said. “It’s a short part of my life. It’s not defining who I am as a person. I’m really not thinking too much about it other than that it feels good to help the team.”

King — with a freshly trimmed bald head and a small goatee — can joke about his transformation. That’s something he learned from his younger brother, Jared, who joined the Wildcats this season as a freshman.

Though it did take a while.

“I try to get a couple laughs out of him because he’s always so serious,” Jared King said. “When you get him to laugh, it feels like an accomplishment.”

Both because of the smile he cracks and the offense it inevitably produces.

“He’s really turned it up and is playing like he’s capable of,” Jared King said. “Everyday life with him, he wants to be the best at everything that he does and especially the things he can control. He’s very tentative, and he wants to do good all the time.

“But when he relaxes and doesn’t worry about the pressure always being on him … when he just plays, he’s as good as anybody.”
Posted on Wed, Jun. 01, 2011 11:05 PM

Read more: It’s good to be K-State’s King - KansasCity.com

[pyrotigers]

Looks like the Tigers are taking a bunch of low ceiling college players with mediocre at best production in college.

Cool draft so far.

I guess I'm not sure what people expected to get picking at 76 and later. There isn't anything necessarily wrong with going after solid but unspectacular players. This draft was not going to fix the farm system. All of the "studs" that were still available were passed over by plenty of teams before the tigers. I'd be upset if they were reaching or something, but they are picking guys that were appropriate at those spots. If you draft for raw upside, you are just as likely to have the guy bust.

People complain about having no positional prospects all the time. Now they have a couple guys out of college that appear to be solid pieces.

It's one thing to draft college players, or even easily signable guys, nothing wrong with that. But when you're taking seniors with non exceptional production I'm not seeing it.

[IdahoBert]

Compounding it even further is the fact that neither of these guys will probably ever displace our current starters at their position. I'm not for drafting for need, but 1B & C are probably the 2 positions where it will be nearly impossible for a guy we draft this year to ever play for us.

There may well be better reasons for these picks than my layman's first glance can ascertain but I agree with this statement too.

[rockydennis]

If he can actually play a corner OF position, I will warm up to the pick, but I still wonder what his ceiling is.

didnt Strieby get some games in the OF. His build seems similar 6-4 235 is pretty big.

[rockydennis]

Looks like the Tigers are taking a bunch of low ceiling college players with mediocre at best production in college.

Cool draft so far.

Im thinking maybe that debt ceiling deal was bigger than I thought. This is terrible.

[TonyJM]

If he can actually play a corner OF position, I will warm up to the pick, but I still wonder what his ceiling is.

Westlake was a first base prospect most sources seemed pretty high on. Sickels had good things to say about the bat, he went in the supplementary round of his shadow draft, BA had him ranked highly (supplemental first round range), and Detroit got him in the third. I think it looks like their getting good value regardless of where he plays.


-Tony

[TonyJM]

Q & A with Westlake:

Baseball Beginnings Q&A with Aaron Westlake, Vanderbilt (2011 Draft)

[TonyJM]

BA's blog on McCann:

Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America Draft Blog

76. Tigers: Arkansas C James McCann. Good defense, OK bat, one of the better college catcher in the draft. Detroit opts not to make a Nick Castellanos-like splash with its top pick.

[Longgone]

Jason King, Kansas State, 3B

Another older cheap senior. King was eligible last year but wasn't drafted. Westlake was drafted in the 22 round last year.

[DontGotSheed]

Sickels gut feelings....meh.

[cruzer1]

A local player I'd love for the Tigers to take later in the draft is senior MSU CF Brandon Eckerle, who's a really good leadoff hitter and he can fly and play some defense.