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The event is taking place in the studios of the MLB Network, in Secaucus, New Jersey, with the team being represented on the first day by Special Assistants to the President, Luis Gonzalez and J.J. Putz. The first round is expected to begin a little after four p.m., and the Diamondbacks first pick should be known at around 4:10pm. For the first time, they are using a flexible time-frame for subsequent picks, with selections being allowed to take between 3.5 and 4.5 minutes. Our second pick - #43 overall, opening the second round - is expected to take place at about 7:30pm, but obviously depends on the pace of the previous choices.
The general consensus remains that Arizona will pick a shortstop: most likely is Vanderbilt's Dansby Swanson, but Baseball Prospectus's Chris Crawford prefers high-school selection Brendan Rogers. He says Rodgers has "got much more offensive firepower than Swanson, who I believe is more of a 60-45 player as compared to the potential 60-60 you could get from Rodgers," and also thinks Rodgers is more likely to stick at SS than other top picks, such as Alex Bregman. However, others still think Swanson remains the Arizona pick, e.g. Fangraphs' Kiley McDaniel.
Here's how I'd handicap the odds for who Arizona picks at #1 tomorrow: Dansby Swanson 75% Tyler Jay 15% Tyler Stephenson 10%
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) June 8, 2015
The team continues, as expected, to play things close to their chest, though I'm a little surprised Dave Stewart hasn't pronounced someone as "his guy" - someone we could then cross firmly off the board, going by previous Stewart votes of confidence, e.g. Mark Trumbo, Miguel Montero. It is a shame there is no white-hot talent at the top of the board, but as we've seen before, the first pick is not always the best one Indeed, of the 19 drafts in which the D-backs have taken part, only a handful of times (Jack Cust, Stephen Drew, Justin Upton, Max Scherzer and Archie Bradley) has their first selection been the most valuable in terms of career WAR to date.
We'll see what unveils this afternoon. Stay tuned for updates as we go through the next three days!