1.7 RHP Aaron Nola

What’s the most important pitch in baseball? I’ll accept just about damn near any answer here* with a cogent argument, but I’ll take the fastball all day. LOVE the changeup, really like the curve, can appreciate a good slider, and all the extras (sinkers, splitters, cutters, forkballs, etc.) are lots of fun, but I’ve always been a believer in the magic of pitching off the fastball. It’s nice when years of anecdotal observations from being around the game match up with super smart guy research, but that’s what first led me to and then confirmed my need to see a good fastball from a young pitcher before moving on to anything else. Being as simplistic as possible, I think we can break down the fastball to three main areas of good/bad/ugly: velocity, movement, and command. Hit on two of those three — command ideally being one of the two — and you’re instantly on follow lists. Go three for three and now we’re talking an easy plus pitch good enough to get you to AA all by its lonesome.

Nola’s fastball is an easy plus pitch and the reason why he’s well worth the seventh overall pick in a pitching-rich draft. The ability to spot an 87-94 FB (95-96 peak) with plus movement at any quadrant at any time is pretty damn special. I really think he could use his fastball 80% of the time or more and get hitters out through AA. His 82-85 CU gives him another consistent above-average (plus for me in most looks) offering and he commands two breaking balls each with the upside of showing average or better in any given game. He’s really good. The comp that I keep going back to over and over again is Kris Medlen. I’ll take it. As far as recent draft prospects go, he reminds me a good bit of a shorter Kyle Gibson with a lower arm slot.

Semi-bold prediction: Aaron Nola starts a game in the majors in 2015.

2.47 LHP Matt Imhof

I like Imhof, but don’t love him. I like that he pitches off the fastball (88-92 FB, 94-95 peak), a pitch he commands well that plays up due to solid deception in his delivery. I felt his changeup improved a great deal as the year went on, so I like that. I like his size and physicality. I like his track record of setting hitters up and sitting hitters down. I don’t love that the changeup, though improved, still needs a ton of work before I’d call it a consistent average or better pitch. I don’t love the underdeveloped breaking ball, though others, namely Marti Wolever, deem it presently “above-average.” On balance, there’s enough here to be excited about at this point in the draft. Everybody calling Imhof a potential mid-rotation starting pitcher has it right, I think.

3.81 OF Aaron Brown

It’s absolutely a mistake turning him out as a hitter and not a pitcher, but they are the paid professionals and I’m just a guy on the internet so we’ll just have to wait and see how things play out. Not a direct comparison by any means, but I think there are some similarities pre-draft to former Phillies second round pick Anthony Gose. Brown’s raw tools and current non-hitting baseball skills are undeniably impressive: easy CF range, great instincts on the bases and in the outfield, plus raw power, plus arm strength, the works. His approach is what makes him such a presently ineffective hitter, and, glass half-empty guy I am, I don’t think he’ll ever improve enough in this area to be anything but a minus big league bat. Maybe the speed, glove, arm, and flashes of power make him a useful backup down the line, but I can just as easily see him never escaping AA with his swing at anything remotely close style of hitting. I literally can not recall any hitter with a K/BB ratio as ugly as his amounting to anything professionally. Do not like this pick one iota. Hope I’m wrong.

Semi-bold prediction: Brown reaches the big leagues only after converting back to a pitcher, where he’s currently got the following repertoire: 88-92 FB (94-95 peak), average mid-80s SL, flashes better; better than expected low-80s CU; occasional CB.

4.112 RHP Chris Oliver

Hoskins could be Darin Ruf. I actually like his value in a vacuum, but without having a board stacked up like in year’s past it is hard to determine how many other similar players I would have preferred, not that my own take is gospel or anything. I appreciate how Hoskins cleaned up his approach since his sophomore season. The power will definitely play (above-average to plus raw), he has good size (6-4, 225), and I actually think he’s nimble enough to hang in an outfield corner (LF, most likely) more so than your usual college 1B (like Ruf). Not a guy who moves the needle, but a good enough pick.

6.172 LHP Brandon Leibrandt

Nola, Imhof, and Leibrandt: all college juniors, all from elite programs, all Cape Cod standouts, all with plus fastball command. Interesting. Leibrandt is a crafty lefty straight out of central casting: mid-80s FB (84-88), above-average to plus mid-70s CU, average SL, average CB, and that aforementioned command. The results have been unimpeachable to date, so that’s a plus. Do you know who else lived 84-88 (per Baseball America’s pre-draft report) with his fastball before being selected by the Phillies? JA Happ. Hmm. I won’t go so far and call it a direct comp (Leibrandt has better control, for example), but I think that’s sort of Leibrandt’s best case career trajectory professionally. I’d take that out of a sixth round pick. Solid selection.

7.202 – SS Emmanuel Marrero

Don’t get it. Glove is obviously legit, but he can’t hit. Maybe he’s the next Troy Hanzawa. Cool.

8.232 – RHP Sam McWilliams

Size (6-7, 200), heat (up to 94), and ready to sign. Everything you’d want in an eighth round HS selection.

9.262 – RHP Matt Hockenberry

Saw him a lot over the years at Temple, but never thought all that much of him. Certainly never thought he’d be a top ten round pick, but here we are. One of literally hundreds of college arms with ordinary fastballs (88-92), decent command, and usable secondaries. Maybe he’s one of the few that break through and make it as a reliever. Probably not.

10.292 – OF Matt Shortall

I want to like Shortall more than I do, though I still like him as an underslot senior sign gamble with better tools than your usual underslot senior sign gamble. Strong arm, enough speed, makes good hard contact, really intriguing power, good glove in a corner, solid pedigree (Tulane transfer), nice size (6-3, 210). The approach is still a mess, but that’s easier to swallow with a tenth round pick than a third rounder. Just saying.

And the rest…

11.322 – SS/2B Drew Stankiewicz – probably the best ’14 prospect on a decent ASU team; good not great numbers; announced as a SS, but more of a 2B profile defensively; not my preferred college middle infielder left on the board, but not a pick to hate on

12.352 – LHP Austin Davis – scout pick for sure, as ’14 numbers (only season of D1 experience) weren’t pretty; really impressive stuff: 88-92 FB, 94-95 peak, 78-82 SL with upside, good 78-82 CU, low- to mid-70s CB; pro body (6-5, 240 pounds); will need to spend a little of those 9th/10th round savings on him since he’s got two more years of eligibility as leverage, but have heard he’d rather turn pro than return to school assuming the money is there

13.382 – RHP Nathan Thornhill – senior sign who has seen his velocity regress over the years (once hit 94-95, now mostly lives 88-90); also shows CB and 76-81 CU, both flash average or better; above-average command; really solid college performer who lacks dominance in track record or stuff, but a decent pick with the chance to be a good reliever in time

14.412 – OF Chase Harris – well-rounded senior sign with chance to be average or better across all five tools; bit of a tweener since he can’t really play CF, but should be nice organizational soldier for a few years in a Steve Susdorf kind of way; raw numbers are a bit misleading, considering park/schedule adjustments playing at New Mexico

15.442 – RHP Jared Fisher – pathetic peripherals in ’13 got a little better in ’14, but still more a scouting pick than a numbers guy; have him up to 93 with his FB and he has good size (6-4, 235 pounds); hard to find positives in this one, but (count the qualifiers) we can maybe take some solace in the fact there’s a chance he came recommended at least in part by Pat Gillick (four?)

16.472 – RHP Calvin Rayburn – first college guy they stumped me on, no notes on him in my database; D2 player with average numbers, good size, and a funky arm action; some digging reveals he works upper-80s with a lot of cutters and sliders, plus the occasional change; another senior…

17.502 – 3B Damek Tomscha – had an honest laugh when I heard he was the pick, as the Phillies have been after him forever, and, as yet another senior sign, they appear to finally have gotten him (update: he’s already signed); drafted him in the 50th round in 2010, but he was a much better prospect than his draft standing would have you believe; Marlins drafted him out of Iowa Western CC in round 36 the next year and then the Cubs gave him a shot in the 19th round in ’12, but he didn’t sign because a) both teams wanted him to pitch, and b) he wanted to honor his commitment to Auburn; I like his athleticism, glove, and arm strength at third, and he has the chance to hit with a little pop as a pro; nice gamble at this point, I approve

18.532 – C Sean McHugh – good idea of the strike zone, but neither the hit tool or power stand out; not a big believer in his glove, but does have some experience in the outfield if need be; similar to the Stankiewicz pick in that I think the idea behind it was sound, but I don’t love the actual player choice

19.562 – LHP Joey DeNato – crazy successful college arm who will go down as an all-time great for Indiana; scouting profile is almost identical to fifth round pick Brandon Leibrandt (mid-80s FB, relies on good to plus CU, pair of breaking balls that flash average, stellar command), which is either good news or bad news depending on your outlook on life; only major differences between the two are size (Leibrandt is 6-4, 200 and Denato is 5-10, 180) and class (Denato is, you guessed it, a senior)

20.592 – 2B Derek Campbell – taken from my notes: “good athlete, good arm, good glove, weak bat”; numbers support those claims; fifth senior in a row and not a particularly inspiring one at that

21.622 – 2B Tim Zier – second straight college senior 2B from the state of California, so that’s fun, sixth senior in a row; wrote about him last year on the site “rock steady glove, never gives away at bats, smart base runner” and all those things still apply

22.652 – RHP Ryan Powers – finally, a junior – big moment; another college starter with average numbers, good size (6-5, 210), and not a whole lot in the stuff/projection department

23.682 – C Joel Fisher – second senior catcher from the Big 10 in six picks; can’t hit a lick; almost like the Emmanuel Marrero pick, except Fisher isn’t in the same universe as Marrero’s plus glove; it’s the 23rd round, so, whatever, but, short of doing an area guy a favor or something, this is really an indefensible pick

24.712 – RHP Preston Packrall – got nothing on Packrall, the Phillies second D2 pick of the day; for clarity’s sake, whenever I mention numbers for pitchers, I’m pretty much just honing in on K/9 and BB/9, which is apparently the complete opposite way the Phillies must be looking at things since Packrall has a shiny 2.12 ERA and a just super 11-0 record (Tampa, a traditional D2 power, went a decent 54-4), but just 45 K in 80.2 IP; all I can say positively is that he’s from a HS in Clearwater, so presumably they know him better than anybody else would; also, hey, another senior…

25.742 – RHP Bryan Sova – college reliever with so-so peripherals but pretty traditional numbers; sub-six foot righthander short on stuff; another senior…