Not much today as far as the reports go from me, as, to be honest, most of these guys probably aren't destined for greatness. Still, every now and then you can find a Clay Zavada (30th round), Damion Easley (30th round), Alex Cintron (36th round), Junior Spivey (36th round), or Kyler Newby (50th round) - guys who have or could play minor but necessary roles on a big-league club - on the third day of the draft. Here's a look at this year's crop of long-shots:
Round 31 (934) - 2B Matt Jensen, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Round 32 (964) - RHP Alex Vetter, Feather River College
Round 33 (994) - LHP Anthony Banda, Sinton HS (Texas)
Round 34 (1024) - C Zachary Jones, Stanford University
Round 35 (1054) - RHP Ross Gerdeman, Bowling Green State University
Round 36 (1084) - C Brian Henry, Keystone College
Round 37 (1114) - LHP Elroy Urbina, University of the Incarnate Word
Round 38 (1144) - OF Freeman Jenkins, San Jose State University
Round 39 (1174) - OF Chris Ellison, University of Oklahoma
Round 40 (1204) - RHP Seth Simmons, East Carolina University
Round 41 (1234) - RHP Michael Cederoth, Steele Canyon HS (California)
Round 42 (1264) - 3B Tyler Bream, Liberty University
Round 43 (1294) - RHP Alex Capaul, University of Hawaii
Round 44 (1324) - 3B Derek Luciano, University of Central Florida
Round 45 (1354) - CF James Lane, Coral Shores HS (Florida)
Round 46 (1384) - OF Joseph Loftus, Vanderbilt University
Round 47 (1414) - RHP Tucker Ward, UMS Wright Prep School (Alabama)
Round 48 (1444) - RHP Raymond Hernandez, Cal State Fullerton
Round 49 (1474) - 1B Jacob Williams, South Mountain CC
Round 50 (1504) - SS David Masters, Timberland HS (Missouri)
Take this to mean whatever you want, but MLB.com actually has a scouting video of our 31st round pick, Matt Jensen from Cal Poly SLO. They picked a rather strange time to clock him from home to first (should be when he's trying to leg out an infield hit, not on an obvious single), but it's a rare instance in which we get to see video of a pick this late in the draft.
MLB also has video on Liberty University third baseman Tyler Bream, Arizona's 42nd round pick. The swing looks pretty complex, with what is essentially a full-body load/timing mechanism before he's able to get into his swing. We'll see how well he handles professional off-speed offerings. The defensive motions in the field are clearly not full-speed, judging by the amount of time he takes to get the ball out of his glove and throw it, so it's hard to judge much of anything regarding his defensive capabilities from the video.
More MLB video can be found for 46th-rounder James Loftus from Vanderbilt. He looks like he has a nice right field-caliber throwing arm, but he also possesses a slightly less-exaggerated version of the Xavier Nady high leg kick as his timing mechanism that could give him fits in pro ball handling off-speed pitches.
Arizona continues developing a sort of pipeline with Keystone College in New Jersey, grabbing Henry the year after taking, and signing, three Keystone College products in the 2010 draft - Yazy Arbelo (round 26), Victor Lara (round 34), and Eric Groff (round 44). Granted, it isn't as if the D-backs are the only team taking kids from Keystone, as there are usually four or five kids from there picked each year, but for a west coast ballclub whose top executives likely aren't getting out to see those guys (I'm speculating here), that strikes me as trust in your area scout, and that's a good thing.
Another new trend worth noting is that the D-backs didn't spend much of the last 10 rounds or so drafting a bevy of local high school kids who have strong college commits. In years past, the organization has scrounged the local high schools for fliers in the late rounds, hoping that something might happen between the kids and their college coaches to suddenly give the D-backs a chance at signing a kid from a late round pick with the potential for early-round talent. If it didn't work out, well, they could bring the kids to a ballgame for a nice PR move, establish a relationship in case they want to re-draft them in a later year, and move on. Rather than dream on a late in-state find, though, the D-backs continued to pick out-of-state college and high school kids under new Scouting Director Ray Montgomery. It'll be interesting to see if any of these kids become serious prospects in the future.
Also noteworthy was the D-backs again selecting Jacob Williams (they also selected him out of high school in the 29th round of 2009), the son of third base coach Matt Williams. Given that it was a 49th-round pick, this screams "PR move," but it at least shows that the team has been looking at Wiliams' kid since he left high school in '09. Assuming he doesn't sign (because I think it's a safe assumption), we'll see if they pick him again in a couple of years when he re-enters the draft.