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April 21, 2008

The Draft

Baseball's amateur draft is more than a month away, but Saber-Scouts has mocked up their version of the first 11 picks.
Posted by: Dave Studeman

June 08, 2007

Draft Splits

Now that five rounds of the amateur draft are in the books, I updated CollegeSplits.com with full splits and situational stats for all collegiate selections so far. That's nearly 100 players. Check out the complete list here, or jump straight to David Price or Matt LaPorta.
Posted by: Jeff Sackmann

June 08, 2004

Shox to Sox

After snagging Tommy Hottovy in the 4th round yesterday, the Red Sox grabbed another Shocker today, picking first baseman Logan Sorensen in the 19th round. Most of you probably don't know much about Sorensen, and I know there are a lot of Red Sox fans out there, and of course I'm a huge Shocker and Red Sox fan, so...

Sorensen is a first baseman in the John Olerud/Doug Mientkiewicz/Keith Hernandez mold. He's outstanding defensively (just set an NCAA record for career putouts by a 1B, and he's legitimately good). He had a breakthrough year offensively this season, and hits for a solid average with a ton of walks. He's also got decent mid-range power, with a good doubles rate. He runs really well (26-for-30 in steals for 2004, and 25-for-30 last year). Sorensen was a second-team All-American this year.

Craig Burley's latest rankings of college hitters has Sorensen 31st on the list, but he was the 575th pick in the draft. He's a good "Moneyball" pick, and he may well surprise some people.
Posted by: Matthew Namee

June 07, 2004

Hottovy to the Red Sox

The Red Sox chose WSU lefty Tommy Hottovy in the 4th round of the draft today (125th overall pick). Last night I sent Bill James an email hyping Hottovy, and Bill wrote back that the Sox had already zeroed in on him. Boston's scouting director is David Chadd, who is actually from Wichita (WSU pitching coach Brent Kemnitz is the godfather of Chadd's kids).

Needless to say, I'm elated that Hottovy went to the Sox. For one, my favorite college player went to one of my favorite MLB teams. More so, though, I know that the Red Sox can be trusted. They'll neither abuse Hottovy's arm nor overlook his skills. They appreciate how good he is, and he'll be given every opportunity to excel in the Red Sox organization. So, yeah, I'm pumped.

Two other Shockers have gone in the (relatively) early rounds of the draft -- outfielder Nick Blasi and lefty starter Steve Uhlmansiek (who actually was injured for the last few weeks of the season). Blasi went to Oakland, where his on-base abilities will be appreciated. Uhlmansiek went to Seattle... I'm actually not particularly high on Uhlmansiek (at least, not as high as the scouts have been). His ratios are mediocre, but scouts seem to love him. I'm obviously rooting for him, though.

Tommy Hottovy, Boston Red Sox. Very cool.

Postscript: One other Shocker got picked in the earlier rounds of the draft -- slugger Drew Moffitt, by Baltimore in the 10th round. Moffitt finished the year 2nd in the NCAA in home runs. He also draws a lot of walks, but he strikes out too much and doesn't hit for a high average. You'd expect a guy like that to be slow of foot, but Moffitt runs alright (13 steals this year). I'm hoping he turns out like Jeromy Burnitz, who had a similar skill set in college.
Posted by: Matthew Namee

June 06, 2004

Heartbreaker

Wichita State lost two dramatic games to Arkansas (the first one ridiculously dramatic), eliminating them from NCAA tournament play. It was a great season for WSU, and I'm obviously sad to see it end. A bunch of good position players will be gone -- Drew Moffitt, Logan Sorensen, Nick Blasi, Brandon Green, Shawn Smarsh -- but only one outstanding pitcher, super-reliever Tommy Hottovy.

Those of you who read THT Live often know that I'm a big Tommy Hottovy fan. The lefty finished the year with a 9-3 record, a 2.25 ERA, and a 92-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 76 innings. Pressed into the rotation toward the end of the season, Hottovy proved to be as good as a starter as he was out of the pen, which only increases his value as a pro.

Next year, the Shockers will retain pretty much all of their pitching staff (excepting Hottovy), including potential #1 pick Mike Pelfrey (about whom you can expect to hear a lot more in the next year at THT Live). I'll update here on how the Shockers fare in the upcoming amateur draft. It's been a fun season, and I'm looking forward to 2005.
Posted by: Matthew Namee


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