FanPost

2010 Diamondbacks Draft: Open Thread

The 2010 baseball draft starts today, and the Diamondbacks have the 6th pick, the highest they have had since taking Justin Upton with the #1 overall selection in the 2005 draft. The baseball draft is never such a big thing as the NBA or NFL draft, because it doesn't have an immediate impact on the team - sometimes, it's players outside the top round who turn out to have the biggest impact. For instance, Albert Pujols was a 13th-round pick in 1999, fourteen slots after the Diamondbacks picked Jesse Harper. And if you said, "Who?" there, you're not alone...

The 2010 draft won't be as big a deal for the team as last year, when we had a couple of fistfuls of picks in the early rounds, due to the losses of a number of free agents. That was the case last off-season, so we will have to wait more than fifty spots after our first-round pick, at #6, before we see any more action, all the way down at #57. This draft goes on for the next three days, so this thread will cover analysis of the top picks, and any other interesting nuggets from further down. Please post links to scouting reports, etc. in the comments section, and I'll incorporate them into the body of the piece.

With the sixth pick of the draft, the Arizona Diamondbacks pick Barret Loux, a RHP from Texas A&M.

There's a full scouting report after the jump.

Obviously, who we get at #6, depends on who is taken by the teams ahead of us.  Here's how the top six are seen as going down by the various outlets at this point, and details of the Diamondbacks' pick. There seems to be a general consensus as to the top three picks, but not necessarily the order. Beyond that, things get a bit trickier... Here are the players listed in the various mock drafts:

  • Bryce Harper, C/OF, College of Southern Nevada
  • Jameson Taillon, RHP, The Woodlands HS (TX)
  • Manny Machado, SS, Brito Private HS (FL)
  • Yasmani Grandal, C, Miami
  • Michael Choice, OF, UT-Arlington
  • Chris Sale, LHP, Florida Gulf Coast
  • Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Ole Miss

Round
Baseball
America
Baseball
Prospectus
Jonathan Mayo,
MLB.com
MLB Bonus
Baby
MLB Mock
Draft
Fanhouse
1. Nationals Harper
Harper Harper Harper Harper Harper
2. Pirates
Taillon Taillon Taillon Taillon Machado Taillon
3. Orioles Machado Machado Machado Machado Taillon Machado
4. Royals Sale Grandal Grandal Grandal Grandal Grandal
5. Indians Choice Choice Sale Sale Pomeranz Sale
6. Diamondbacks
Pomeranz
Sale Pomeranz Pomeranz Sale Pomeranz

Drew Pomeranz appears to be the consensus pick for Arizona, but if Chris Sale is still on the board, he would perhaps be preferred.

Barret_loux_20signs_nli_medium

The Diamondbacks picked Barret Loux with the sixth pick, which definitely counts as a surprise. None of the major mock drafts had him in the top ten, and a few of them didn't even have him as a first round-pick.

A few quotes on Loux

D-backs' Director, Scouting Tom Allison: "We've scouted Barret since high school and have seen him grow as a pitcher and as a person at Texas A&M, where he was the team's Friday night starting pitcher this season. He had a successful season this year and is now in the midst of leading his team in a must-win game against the University of Miami tonight to advance to the NCAA Super Regional against Florida this weekend. We believe Barret has all of the physical and mental ingredients to be a starting pitcher in the Major Leagues and look forward to him joining the D-backs soon."

Keith Law: His arm action is clean but there's no deception in the delivery; he takes a moderate stride that could be a little longer after he drifts through his balance point. If he junks the spike and either gets more consistency on the slider or switches to a traditionally-gripped curveball, he'd project as a mid-rotation starter, with the downside of a two-pitch reliever who'd probably sit at 94 or better.

David Coleman: His workload and fastball command suggest he could be a very good No. 3 starter. If his secondary pitches develop, that puts his ceiling even higher. For now, though, looking at him as a solid middle rotation starter who will be ready for the big leagues pretty fast seems about right.

Here's an extended peek from Andy Seiler over at MLB Bonus Baby. The following is from his 2010 MLB Draft Notebook which includes profiles on the top 750 players in the draft, as well as draft previews on all 30 teams. It's only $9.99 and is available through his site.

Barret Loux is a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher from Texas A&M University. Loux came to Texas A&M from Stratford High School in Houston, where he was an excellent prospect. He could have gone in the top seven rounds out of high school if not for a slight shoulder problem during his senior year scaring  a number of teams away. However, the Tigers picked him with their twenty-fourth pick, though they failed to sign him despite a hard push to do so. He became a big part of the Aggies’ pitching staff as a freshman, and he was on a roll for two years before going down late in his sophomore season with bone chips in his elbow, which required minor cleanup surgery. That put him down a little to start the 2010 season, but after a wildly successful junior campaign, he’s put himself on track to become an early pick.

He has the solid stuff of a potential number three starter, and there’s still some more left in his body to come. His fastball is an above-average to plus pitch with good deception that sits 91-93, and has touched 96 a few times this spring. He has a big, durable frame, as well, and there’s actually some hope that there may be some velocity left to come. His offspeed pitches are less promising, including a potentially above-average curveball and average changeup, but he pitches off his fastball so much that he doesn’t use them as much as a typical college pitcher, who has to throw softer stuff to succeed against metal bats. He’s snuck up boards all spring to the point that he could sneak into the back part of the first round, though he’s a better fit in the supplemental first or second rounds, where he should sign for about slot money.

Nick Piecoro: Seems to have made a late charge up draft boards this spring. He has a good fastball (low 90s, touching 94-95) and change-up, and apparently has made big strides with his breaking ball. There’s not a ton of effort in the delivery, likely something that attracts the Diamondbacks, although he has an injury history: he had shoulder problems that cost him two months in high school, according to Baseball America, and last year needed surgery to remove bone chips....

Jeff Sullivan: This is a bit of a surprise, but Loux did manage a 2.60 ERA and 136 strikeouts in 104 innings this past season. The drawback is that he doesn't have incredible stuff, preferring instead to change speeds and throw strikes. His fastball hovers in the low-90s, and his changeup is pretty good, but his breaking balls need a good bit of work. Loux doesn't look like an ace in the making. More likely, he winds up a #3 or #4, with the bullpen being a possibility.

Video of Loux pitching, from February this year: