11. ASTROS: Francisco Lindor, ss, Montverde (Fla.) Academy. http://ht.ly/5bbBA Callis has Lindor going to us. Like I said earlier, dude looks like a legit talent but another middle infielder???
You ALWAYS go BPA in baseball drafts, doesn't matter of need. It's the hardest draft to guage on how talent will develop.
I agree the policy should be BPA every time but you can't ignore talent that can contribute right away. Take Mike Leake for example. The Reds took him 8th two years ago and one year after being drafted he pitched 140 innings in the majors. He put up a 1.1 WAR his rookie season. How many first rounders won't even sniff the majors? The Astros own history is littered with first rounders who busted and never made any contribution to the big league team. The Astros are in the unenviable position of needing both high-ceiling players and immediate contributors.
If he is the best player on your list, take him. You can never have enough good middle infielders. Besides Villar, Mier, and if they draft Lindor none of them are sure things. If all three of them makes the bigs, good and you can use them as trade chips for pitching.
immediate contributors for what, exactly? to save us from our current 100-loss pace to a more respectable 92 losses? '91 wasn't very fun in terms of W/L. But they were certainly fun, as we were watching the beginning stages of a beautiful, beautiful thing. Build, build, build.
That's exactly the point, we don't even have young guys to watch develop in the bigs right now. We're watching retreads like Hall, Barmes, Keppinger, Feliz get trotted out. We don't need high-impact prospects at every position, but at least some that can contribute. For all the depth we have up the middle in the minor system, we're currently starting Towles, Barmes and Keppinger up the middle. You know why? Because all our minor league depth is high-ceiling talent that are years from contributing.
I agree with drafting the BPA in almost all circumstances and do think the Stros aren't in a position where they can overlook anyone for a need position. That said, if we can get a power arm at the 11th spot then I make that a priority. To much pitching talent to bypass on them when the one area of strength in the farm system is middle of the diamond. Now, don't get me wrong, I won't be broken up about the Stros drafting Lindor one bit. The kid might be the best talent in the draft and has a VERY ceiling with superstar potential. So if they tab him at #11, its just more good to great talent in the system and just puts an emphasis on the rest of the draft to get some nice arms.
Fine, I'll say it. I think they'd be nuts to draft another SS/2B/C. There's absolutely no reason to go after another one when all of our best position prospects play those positions. We're two deep at all of those positions: SS: Villar, Mier 2B: Deshields, Altuve C: Castro, Heath, Wallace
Precisely. But drafting a guy like Leake and his making an impact within 12 months of being drafted is the exception, not the rule. If that's the expectation you're going to place on this draft, it's a failure before it ever happens. Yes, the Astros are FUBAR right now. FU. BAR. I'd rather see them do things the right way going forward and build their system back up, even it means watching a $1.5MM retread in RF next year because we traded Pence for three prospects and the guy we drafted is still at Lancaster.
That's obviously an exception not my expectation but as with Castro its not unreasonable to expect a polished college player to make the majors within 2 seasons. None of those guys in Lexington are making to Houston in 2 years, not one of them. Correct me if I'm wrong but this is what your team building strategy sounds like: 1) Draft only high ceiling, high school players 2) Wait the 3-5 years it takes for them to get through the minors. Ignore how the team performs during those years. I'm sure Jim Crane is thinking "hey I'll let my team lose 100 games each of the next 3 seasons while the prospects develop. I don't mind sub-20k attendance numbers at every home game".
First shocker of the night...Danny Hultzen to the Mariners. Edit - Anthony Rendon may slip a bit but sadly not enough for the Stros to grab him.
Dbacks choose Trevor Bauer...Rendon moves down another spot. UCLA has the #1 and #3 picks in the draft...nice rotation.
Mayo says Rendon won't get picked by Baltimore so the slip continues. Washington could end up with Strasburg, Harper and Rendon. Archie Bradley to the Orioles according to MAyo and he would be wrong lol. Dylan Bundy to Baltimore.
