MLB Draft Open Thread

I think he will unfortunately fall out of the first round, though I think he simply needs a little bit of time off and would likely retain his full value. He has a lot of skills which are not teachable, and I think someone is going to get a great value sometime in the 2nd round perhaps.

I think he could really do himself a favor and not wait until the last day when a lot of people do, just to get the work in. The year in indy league did not hurt him, but I think he could really capitalize on it if he gets in a solid half-year of work this year, followed by a good fall league. There was some talk on MLB.com that his live arm may lead to his becoming a reliever early on (ala Scherzer), and if that is the case, he MIGHT see the club late next season. If the Royals want him to extend to a starter to start his career, I would think the start of the 2011 season would be about right. Crow is a little older than most picks, so that could work to is advantage in terms of time and coming up quickly.

Ahem.

Aaron and Jake Shafer. Younger brothers of a guy I was friends with in HS.
Aaron went 2nd round to the CUBS last year (ick)
his brother Jake went 41st round to the YANKEES!

Man, talk about the two worst teams possible from the perspective of their High School (in the STL Metro area).

Getting to talk to him after games this year as a reporter was extremely, extremely enjoyable. Even though he’s with my #1 most disliked team in baseball, I’ll still be pulling for him. That’s a great system for him, too—they preach throwing strikes, and with Gibson’s stuff if he can do that…he’s going to be great.

I don’t think returning for his senior year would accomplish a whole lot except adding an extra zero to his first contract. As much as I hate hate hate to say it, Gibson was drafted by a HELL of an organization. He’d be stupid to turn it down and be drafted higher by a franchise without the kind of track record of developing good pitching like the Twins. The best thing he can do is sign with the Twins and peak at AA in 2010 before making a move up to the majors in 2011, if everything goes smoothly for him.

I also get the feeling Gibson isn’t after the money in this case. If he fell to the second round, he’d have a legit reason to go play independent ball, but he still was taken in the first round and will get his money.

Plus, if he re-entered the draft next year, it’d be no guarantee that he’d be taken higher—just look at what happened to Tanner Scheppers this year.

I cannot imagine him coming back with that sort of selection level

If Seattle throws enough money at him, he could sign. If he can prove that he can hit next year, a switch-hitting catcher with great game-calling abilities should be a top-6 round pick.

…once his arm heals of course, but given his age and college polish, getting some good months of work in this year could really help him hit the league maybe by 2011

Interesting…