We’ll use this post to track the draft. I’ll be largely unavailable this afternoon/evening, but will try to chime in.
First Round: Ryan Perry RHP Arizona
The Tigers went with collegiate right hander Ryan Perry with their first round selection. Perry has a high 90’s fastball, a change up and a slider. He’s 6′ 4″, 200lbs and 21 years old.
He pitched as a reliever, but we’ll see if the Tigers keep him in the pen or if they make a starter out of him.
Baseball America thinks that if he signs quickly he could be in the Tigers pen later this year.
Baseball Prospectus notes the following about Perry:
Perry is a story, let me tell you. Ryan Perry was, simply, not good enough to earn an invitation to the Cape Cod League last summer. However, when a different Arizona reliever needed to drop out of the league, Arizona coach Andy Lopez pushed for the Orleans Cardinals to take Perry instead. They did, and Perry might not have thrown a fastball less than 95 mph all summer.
Catcher target Jason Castro went early. And relievers Josh Fields and Andrew Cashner went in the 2 picks prior to the Tigers.
Analysis: Take it with a grain of salt because I’m not particularly informed. But with Casey Kelly and Shooter Hunt still on the board I would have preferred going a different direction. Perry got rocked as a starter this year and if they spent the pick on a reliever I’m disappointed.
Second Round: Cody Satterwhite RHP Mississippi
Satterwhite sounds a lot like Perry. He’a a 6’4″ college junior with electric stuff, but who has gotten hit a little more than he should. He pitches in the low to mid 90’s and has a good but inconsistent slider along with an inconsistent delivery.
Third Round: Scott Green RHP Kentucky
An even bigger right hander at 6′ 7″ but this seems to be a full potential pick. He hasn’t put together a solid track record at the collegiate level. His fastball is high 80’s to low 90’s with a meh slider and below average change. Oh, and he’s had TJ surgery already. I don’t really get this pick.
Fourth Round: Brett Jacobson RHP Vanderbilt
Hey, it’s a big tall (6-6) right handed college pitcher. A high 80’s fast ball with deception and a big curve and decent change.
Fifth Round: Alexander Avila C Alabama-Tuscaloosa
Yes, that is the son of Al Avila. BA says he’s being drafted more for his bat which has good power potential.
Sixth Round: Tyler Stohr RHP North Florida
Yeah, another collegiate right hander who struggled in the rotation and had some success in the pen.
RHP Ryan Perry from University of Arizona it is.
Here’s the scouting report from Keith Law @ the Mouse Ears Network:
“Perry touched 100 mph in the NCAA regional last weekend. He was consistently 94-98 mph on the Cape last summer. Arizona tried to make him a starter, but it didn’t work. He has the best stuff of any closer prospect in the draft. Given the Tigers’ bullpen situation, Perry might be the first player in the draft to make it to the majors this year.”
As long as they don’t spend much over slot if at all, I don’t think this is an awful pick. Personally, I would never pick a reliever for the first round. But if he’s got good stuff (which he seems to) and good control (which is the difference maker, not stuff), then fine. I hope they don’t go nuts on giving him money, but overall not an awful pick.
I was a bit underwhelmed by the pick myself. I guess we’ll see .
Second round pick, Cody Satterwhite doesn’t seem particularly strong either.
“he issues largely come from inconsistencies in his delivery and despite the subpar season, a team that feels it can tweak his mechanics is still likely to draft the right-hander fairly early.”
Doesn’t instill confidence in me as I look at what we have out on the mound today.
Totally agree that I would prefer a starter in this spot.
There was a solid looking left handed starter from Eastern Kentucky (can’t remember his name). Maybe he would have worked out as well as Kenny Baugh, but I don’t know. I hate the idea that they may have looked specifically for a reliever.
Hopefully they can turn him into a starter, if they went after him hoping he would help this season I don’t see the wisdom of the pick. Why would you expect this guy to be any more successful than Dolsi or Cruceta I don’t know.
I don’t follow the amateur players all that much but I’m not getting good vibes about Perry. He sounds like he has potential but doesn’t come across as a strong first rounder.
Not impressed at all with the draft, but I don’t claim to be any more than a distant follower of amateur talent. I tend to agree with the notion that these guys struggled as starters and will be relievers long term. Maybe it’s by design because they have had such a hard time building a bullpen the past two years and want options down the road? The general notion seems to be hard throwers w/ inconsistent offspeed stuff with mechanical flaws and/or an injury history.
Avila is not a nepotism pick. He’s legit.
I am not a fan of that pick with Casey Kelly, Casey Kelly, Reese Havens, Anthony Hewitt, and Gerrit Cole (one of my top 3 prep pitchers) still on the board. And Jake Odorizzi was also available and I pegged him as my top prep pitcher (I’m no analysts — I just love reading up on this sort of thing so I’m no official anything but I’m not just throwing out names for the hell of it).
Pretty underwhelmed with the pick of Perry, to put it nicely.
I was originally pissed about the first pick and those that followed. But after looking into things a little deeper, I’ve warmed to the overall draft a bit. Of course, most of that warming is based on an assumption that the Tigers have an eye toward most of these guys going into starting roles.
Green and Jacobson both had success as starters in Cape Cod and Satterwhite has potential with three pitches, so maybe this isn’t the parade of relief prospects I feared it was.
That’s probably me just putting on my rose-colored glasses, though.
as a graduate of Alabama, I agree with Eddie–I have watched Avila up close–he was a very good player in Tuscaloosa.
I hope he can have a good career in DET.
I was okay with the draft, but still think Perry is just the wrong pitcher to take at 21 given the talent that was still on the board behind him. Don’t like that at all — even after watching him a bit tonight in his game against the Hurricanes on ESPN.
I’m not knowlegeable about the young talent out there but from what I’ve read it appears we may have done better than we did. I’m hopeful the C Avila is good though. Lets face it, Pudge is not getting any younger and I don’t see any great prospects in our minor leagues to step up and take over for him.
the 7th pick was a kid from Shades Valley HS here in Birmingham. They are about 10 miles from where I live, and were my high school’s rival.
Jade Todd..I have only seen highlights, but he was the Metro Player of the Year for B’ham. Big, strong pitcher.
Selfishly, I like to see a bit of Alabama flavor in the draft…two of the top 7 picks:)…here is a link…he has already signed with DET, so he won’t be going to U of A.
http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/121258352512910.xml&coll=2