Draft Review - Continued

Let's see...where was I...

30. San Francisco - John Penny - RP - $2330k bonus - RL
John looks to be a pretty good setup reliever or left specialist. If my scouts are off and he's better vsR than his 61 my scouts show, he could be a closer because he has very good control (88), vsL (80), velocity (92) and a 95 rated fastball to go along with a 65 slider. He has tremendous durability at 93 so he'll be out there almost everyday getting lefties out, but his health (47-53) is a risk. Solid end of the first round pick, but not great.

31. Los Angeles - Herm Jarvis - SS/3B/2B - unsigned
Either Herm didn't want to play in LA/Sarasota or trev decided not to pay him a relatively paltry $1.81M because he should be signed by now. He has very good power (81) and can hit lefties well (72) but righties not as well (57). His contact (41) and eye (46) leave much to be desired, and he's not really a good enough fielder to play SS at the ML level since range, glove and arm strength are all rated to mid-70's at best. Solid ML infielder here.

32. Cheyenne - Emmett Walsh - C/DH - $1000K - LowA
Emmett is a decent catching/DH prospect with all hitting ratings in the 60's except batting eye which I see as topping out at 74. He's extremely durable, but not really good enough to justify getting all that time at the ML level. A pitch calling rating of 61 is decent but combined with only 70/68 for arm strength and accuracy, he's not really the guy you'd love to have behind the plate defensively everyday.

The best of the supplemental round picks:

33. Little Rock - Bennie Zambrano - 1B/DH - $1000k - RL
A power hitting 1B with very good contact (83) and splits (82/67) and good batting eye (73). His health is risky at 57, but hopefully he can avoid the nerve irritations and bulging discs and he'll be very productive come season 8 hitting right in the middle of the Nine's lineup for many years to come. A very nice pick here.

34. Charlotte Knights - Rudy Bennett - SS - $960k - RL
Rudy can field his position very well with good enough range and glove (82/85) to go along with a great arm (90/89). He can hit pretty well too with 71 contact, 57 power, 70/52 splits and 55 eye. He should stay healthy and is reasonably durable such that he should make an impact by year 7 if not the end of next season. A real nice pick up here at 34. Surprising that he was passed up by others.

38. Chicago Pizza - Tony Bennett - 1B/DH - $800k - RL
The Pizza have this crooner playing Catcher, but that won't last. He could play 1B or DH at the major league level because he sure will hit, especially left handers. With 72 contact, 99 power, 88/56 splits and 84 eye Tony will put fear into the best left hander out there, and he should make the Pizza owner very, very happy come year 8. A very good DH/1B prospect who could be a MVP candidate if he could hit righties better.

40. San Francisco - Jack Ashley - 2B - RL
Jack has very good range for 2B, but not a great glove. However, his impact will be in the field, possibly at leadoff due to very good contact (75), splits (75/74), speed (85) and eye (82). His power of 31 is good enough for the occasional extra base hit, so he should be a very productive and healthy 2B for years, impacting the Seals' order come the end of season 7.

54. Charleston - JR Sweeney - 3B - RL
JR looks like a very good fielding 3B with a very strong arm (84) who can hit well enough too. He has good hitting ratings accross the board (62 contact, 69 power, 68/83 splits and 54 eye) and should always be healthy (100). A pretty good selection at 54 if I don't say so myself...

61. Florida - William Cairncross - RP/spot starter - RL
One of the best pitchers taken after the first round William has the elements of what I like in pitchers, which is good control (83), very good vsR at 82 and good enough vsL at 62 to go along with decent pitches, including one at or above 85 (forkball is 85 with others at 67,63, 42, 39). He could be very productive as a long reliever in the ML and spot starting occasionally as needed. Very good pick here.

Notable Mentions:
39. Jin Che Woo of New Orleans (solid SS with a great glove and adequate bat to start for many years);
54. Rodney Walker of Charleston (end of the rotation SP with good splits (64/69), control (70) and three decent pitches combining to over 200)
55. Mendy Martin of Chicago (a solid 3B with decent fielding and good hitting ratings, especially splits and 77 power)
63. Raul Saez of San Diego (if he stays healthy, which is unlikely, this is a find at 63 - 86 control, very good splits and 4 pitches combining to about 290)
70. Dennis Martin of Scottsdale (a SP almost identical to Rodney Walker with a bit worse control and splits but with slightly better pitches)
75. Bruce Terrell of Austin (a very good fielding SS (85/83 range/glove and 100/92 arm) with 100 batting eye. So what if he can't hit himself out of a paper bag (0 pwr), he has 57/55 splits and 47 contact. He'll be very useful.
76. Felipe Rodriguez of New York (a RP/SP combo (65 stamina) with 79/58 splits and pitches of 82/84/63/31 to go along with 81 control)
78. Edge Simpson of Jacksonville (if he only had better control he'd be an excellent pickup here. But at 49, his mid/high 70's splits and very good pitches might not be enough.)
79. Elston Overbeck of New Orleans (Like Edge, his control will be his downfall, but if not, he's got great upside.)
82. John Rogers of Little Rock (RP/spot starter with 71 control, 62/68 splits and 3 pitches combining for 250 make him a great selection here)
87. Erik Leach of Chicago Pizza (not sure what he's doing in RF but at 1B/DH he'll hit for sure)
91. Fred Kane of San Francisco (control and very good splits make Fred an excellent RP selected at the end of round 2)
93. Pedro Jimenez of Cheyenne (a 3B that should be a pretty good hitter at the ML level)