17 thoughts on “Draft Day 2007”

1. Also, if anyone wants to look at a good scouting page with videos of a lot of the potential draftee’s, MiLB.com is a great place to go.

2. I’ve seen mock drafts that have listed Matt Laporta, a 1B out of the University of Florida, going into the mid-teens and even being as low as 25 to the White Sox. He’s probably the safest bet among position players to reach his ceiling and be in the big leagues within 3 years. If he were to somehow fall to us at 27 (which I think is very unlikely) then I’d consider that a god send. There are others with higher ceilings that will wind up at 1st base (Beau Mills, for instance, out of Lewis and Clark University, an NAIA school. He’s a 3rd baseman now but consensus is he’ll be moved to 1st), but Laporta is a sure bet. He homered more times this year then he struck out, while playing in the SEC, which is a very good conference in college baseball. That’s just plain remarkable. I think it was something like 21 HRs and only 16 K’s this year. He’s always on base and can mash; led the nation in HR’s as a sophomore. He’s a sure bet. Well, about as sure of a bet as possible.

   I’ve seen the Tigers also in a mock draft take Nick Schmidt out of the University of Arkansas, but his stock has excelled as the year has progressed and I think he’s going in the middle of the 1st round. I prefer him to Brett Cecil, who I talk about below, because he’s got a bigger frame (6’5″, 230 lbs vs. Cecil’s 6’1″-6’2″, 225 lbs). He throws around 91 with the fastball with an above average change-up already. The key is if his slider’s developed yet. He won SEC Pitcher of the Year as a sophomore at Arkansas.

   I’ve also seen the Tigers mocked to take Brett Cecil, a LHP out of the University of Maryland. He throws high 80’s to low 90’s and his slider is already big league ready according to some. They say his slider is good enough to be very confident in saying he’ll get a shot in the majors at some point as he dominates LH hitters.

   Personally, if Laporta doesn’t drop to Detroit in the 1st round, I’d like to see them reach about 5-8 picks and take a Todd Frazier from the University of Rutgers. He’s not good enough defensively to stick at SS, which is what he played there, but he’s got the frame and, more importantly, the bat to play at 3B. The Tigers had his older brother Jeff Frazier but they say there’s no comparison; Todd is much better then Jeff.

   That’s just my 2 cents worth.

3. The draft thread is back.

4. PORCELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love the fact that Illitch gives Dombrowski the freedom to take a shot at getting the best player he can in the draft without worrying about signability.

5. Unreal. Tigers are the clearcut winners of the 1st round. I put Porcello ahead of David Price due to a higher ceiling and the gap between the two, stuff wise, not being that great. My silly-ness aside, Porcello’s almost unanimously regarded as the No. 2 pitching prospect in the draft behind price and the clear cut No. 1 HS arm in this years draft and we got him at 27 because people don’t think they can sign him. And, picking him means we didn’t think of taking Andrew Brackman, who the Yankees took, who is basically another pitcher who could easily become overweight and has durability issues.

   I love it. Love it love it love it love it.

6. Here’s what MLB.com’s scouting says about

   Compensation Round pick RHP – Joey Hamilton:

   Hamilton’s pure stuff and ability to pitch are there, and that kept scouts coming all year. But he didn’t always show he knew how to deal with adversity on the mound and wasn’t always aggressive enough. His inconsistencies all year will keep him from going as highly as his size and stuff might dictate, but teams will perhaps be intrigued by his power arm after the first round.

   Second Round pick SS – Daniel Worth:

   College shortstops who can catch the ball are usually in high demand and often in short supply, so Worth should get plenty of attention. He’s very sure-handed and has tremendous defensive instincts. He’s become a better hitter this year, with good plate discipline and a shorter swing that’s allowed him to spray the ball to all fields. But it’s his glove that will carry him.

7. Sweet. Thank you Mike Illitch. While I’m not sure that top talent slipping for signability reasons is necessarily good for the game, I’m happy to see the Tigers take advantage.

8. This may seem irrelevant in this thread, but this is where the Tigers idiotic decision to sign Jose Mesa for $2.5 million really hurts. Stuff like that makes no sense on any level. This is where getting cheap quadruple A level talent (like Byrdak) is a much better option. You get equal or better production….AND a great benefit in having more cash flexibility to blow on the draft. Now…it doesn’t appear that that’s an issue after the decision to draft Porcello, but it could hurt in other areas and it’s something I’d like to see my brilliant GM pay a bit more attention to.

9. MLB on Luke Putkonen:

   Putkonen has been so-so as North Carolina’s Sunday starter, but does possess intriguing arm strength. He throws an above-average fastball and can command it fairly well. The only problem is that his other offerings are far behind the heater. He might be better suited to a bullpen role, but the lack of a good secondary offering makes it hard to project him.

10. my thing is, who cares about baseballs draft. We don’t even konw these guys. at lease with nba and nfl, you see the guys all the time. you know who they are. i didn’t know about justin verlander until he signed a major league contract. i knew about jared weaver because he was jason weaver brother and i heard he was going to be the #1 pick in the draft. we dont knoe these guys and most of them don’t even make it to the majors. so who cares about these guys.

11. Thanks for the ignorance pettus carney.

    i loved the Casey Crosby pick. VERY interesting pick.

    Today, i think the Tigers had a top 5 draft, mainly because of the unreal steal they got with Porcello.

    I think Texas and Oakland had the best drafts and the Pirates and Yankees and Cardinals had some of the worst.

12. man o man…the future is looking bright!

13. I’m so tempted to get seriously Beavis and Butthead with our 4th round pick’s name. I’ll refrain from doing so in this forum.

14. The scouting report quoted was from the second game of the season against the team that eventually won the Alabama State Baseball Championship. Hamilton and his new catcher were still getting acquainted. In that game, he faced 17 batters and walked 7 and struck out 2 allowing 2 hits. Nevertheless, he could have received the win as he gave up no earned runs. Poor fielding and lack of offense crippled him. The wind was also gusting 45-60mph throwing vast dust clouds.

    For the season, Hamilton was 2-7 (10 starts) with a 1.83 ERA, 29 walks, 70 strike outs, and 46 hits out of 252 batters faced. His fastball was clocked as high as 96 mph late in the season with an off speed drop off of around 10 mph.

    His record does not reflect how well he pitched. His team had only 2 returning starters (both seniors) and a junior catcher who had been the back up the year before. Everyone else had only a week or two of varsity experience or were JV the year before. Defense was at times awful and the team hit weakly all season (.227 team average with only two players hitting above .300).

    All in all, Hamilton did very well with the hand he was dealt and can be a strong prospect in the Tiger’s organization.

15. my thing is, who cares about english or writing skills. We don’t even konw how to spell simple words. at lease with other unintelligent posters, you see the decent attempts at proofreading. you know who they are. i didn’t know about justin verlander so therefore i should piss on everyone else’s parade. i knew about jared weaver ut id on’t even know his brother’s actual name. we dont knoe these guys and i don’t really even know how to use a period correctly. so who cares about writing coherently or intelligently.

16. FYI…the tigers drafted a guy named Colin Kaline with the 900-something pick. He was from Groves HS. Name kind of sounds familiar.

17. Speaking of sounding familiar, how ’bout RHP Richard Zumaya of Bonita Vista (CA) High in round 43? Reminds me of somebody… Somebody the organization is willing to do a favor for… unless he can actually pitch. Then I eat my tasty, tasty words.

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