While most of the players predicted to go near the top of this year’s draft class have already had their season end, there are a few players still in action as they try to help their team to the College World Series. With just six days until the MLB amateur draft begins, we take a look at those players and make mention of some draft notes below.
Oklahoma’s Jonathan Gray threw a complete game over Coastal Carolina today, solidifying his top-ranked status. Gray might not be chosen first overall, but most people have him as the best player in this draft class. He gave up two earned runs on nine hits and a walk, while striking out 11 batters. Gray threw 129 pitches on the night.
Kris Bryant and San Diego lost to Cal Poly tonight, by a 9-2 score. Bryant went 0-for-3, with a walk and a strikeout. He still looks like he will be the first hitter off the board, although some sources say the Astros could go with Colin Moran. Either way, Bryant won’t likely get past the fifth pick.
Speaking of Colin Moran, he went 1-for-5, with a strikeout and single tonight in a North Carolina win over Canisius. The third baseman is not finishing out his season strong, yet surprisingly keeps edging up the draft charts.
DJ Peterson and New Mexico had a tough test today, going up against Trevor Williams and Arizona State. Williams ended up picking up the win in the 4-3 game, going 7.2 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, three walks and three hit batters. Peterson went 1-for-3, with a HBP. He had a single and an RBI, his 71st of the season. Williams might be a player the Pirates look at it in the second round, if he lasts that far.
Hunter Renfroe from Mississippi State, went 1-for-4 today against Central Arkansas. He had an RBI double, his 15th double and 55th RBI on the season. Miss. St won 5-3.
Jonathon Crawford threw 6.1 innings against Austin Peay today, giving up one run on four hits and four walks. He struck out five and threw 112 pitches on the day, 64 for strikes. Florida lost the game 4-3, with Crawford getting a no-decision.
LSU’s Ryan Eades had a rough outing tonight against Jackson State, lasting just 2.1 innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and three walks, striking out two batters. Eades needed 55 pitches in his limited time, just 28 went for strikes. His team ended up winning 11-7.
Kevin Ziomek from Vanderbilt, pitched a gem today against ETSU, picking up the win in the 9-1 game. He went seven innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits, a walk, five strikeouts and two hit batters. Ziomek threw 100 pitches, 69 for strikes.
Rice used a combo of two former Pirates draft picks to beat San Francisco today. Austin Kubitza worked the first seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk, with six strikeouts. Zech Lemond got the extra inning win with four no-hit innings immediately following Kubitza. Lemond was a 50th round pick in 2011, while Kubitza was taken in the seventh round in the 2010 draft. He will likely go around the 3rd/4th round this year.
One former Pirates draft pick that has been all but forgotten, is Dale Carey at Miami. The Pirates chose the talented outfielder in the 21st round in 2010, but couldn’t sign him. He went 0-for-4 today, with three strikeouts. He is now batting .200 on the season. In 55 games, he had one homer, 12 stolen bases and a .575 OPS.
Draft Notes
If you missed it from the last three days, mock drafts are coming out fast and furious as the experts get more info and a better idea who might go where. Here are links to all four recent mock drafts. The top 10-15 picks seems to be almost all but set as you’ll see, though the exact order isn’t agreed upon.
Kiley McDaniel at scout.com thinks the Pirates take Reese McGuire and Hunter Renfroe. Check out the recap of his article here.
Next we saw two in one day with that familiar name there again. Keith Law has McGuire and DJ Peterson, while Jonathan Mayo has McGuire and Renfroe.
The latest, but not last mock draft, came out today from Jim Callis at Baseball America. He had Reese McGuire too, so that seems like a strong possibility for the Pirates, unless someone better drops unexpectedly, or another team ahead of them takes McGuire first.
I’ve posted this before, but it can’t hurt to get familiar with him again. Here is McGuire’s article on MLB.com from a week ago.
McGuire was just named the Washington Player of the Year.
Here is McGuire’s Perfect Game page, with some old scouting reports and videos. What is interesting is the fact they called him first round talent two years ago.
Finally, Jim Callis had a prospect and draft chat worth checking out and yes, Reese McGuire is mentioned, twice.
