{"id":674,"date":"2010-07-29T10:07:43","date_gmt":"2010-07-29T15:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=674"},"modified":"2010-07-29T10:07:43","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T15:07:43","slug":"a-preliminary-look-at-some-of-the-2011-mlb-draft-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/674","title":{"rendered":"A Preliminary Look at Some of the 2011 MLB Draft Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>While it is hardly early for this sort of piece considering the 2010 draft took place over a month ago, I think it is time the Sombrero begins investigating some of the guys in 2011\u2019s class.\u00a0 This first piece will examine the top three collegiate arms and the top collegiate hitter.\u00a0 They are all potential franchise guys with an enormous upside and the polish that first-round draft picks are expected to showcase.\u00a0 These guys are not typical, though.\u00a0 The hitter, and consensus top talent available, is 3rd<\/sup> Baseman Anthony Rendon of Rice, recipient of the Dick Howser Trophy and BA\u2019s College POY.\u00a0 The arms are UCLA\u2019s Garret Cole, UT\u2019s Taylor Jungmann, and TCU\u2019s Matt Purke.\u00a0 None of these guys should be taken outside of the first 10 picks, and none of them spend a lot of the game under 94 mph.\u00a0 None of them had an ERA over 3.40, and they all possess at least one 60 or above secondary offering.\u00a0 They are exceptional.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Anthony Rendon, 3B<\/span><\/p>\n

Rice\u2019s Rendon<\/a> put up these slashes as a sophomore: .394\/.530\/.801.\u00a0 The dude went deep 26 times, stole 14 bags, and turned in a 65:22 K:BB.\u00a0 His performance is absolutely mouth-watering, and a reasonable argument could be made that if he were a junior putting up these numbers he could have understandably been selected before Harper.\u00a0 He at least should have earned the Golden Spikes over Harper.\u00a0 Sorry, but there has never in the history of the sport been a JUCO guy who deserved the Golden Spikes, not even Harper.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Rendon\u2019s defense is at least playable at the hot corner professionally, and while collegiate defensive metrics are somewhat dubious when attainable, scouts seem to regard his defense as good to great.\u00a0 Perhaps the part of Rendon\u2019s game that I am most impressed with is the fact that he is doing this at an institution like Rice.\u00a0 Yeah, he\u2019s a baseball player, but he still has to go to class at a place like Rice.\u00a0 Hell, he probably is expected to perform as well in the classroom as a lot of the other kids on campus not in athletics.\u00a0 That is a rarity among the better hitters in most draft classes.\u00a0 I personally feel as though this sets Rendon apart.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Rendon went down with a broken ankle<\/a> while playing for Team USA against South Korea a week ago.\u00a0 With him out we dropped two of three against Chinese Taipei too.\u00a0 What he provides is irreplaceable for the Red, White, and Blue.\u00a0 Hopefully Rendon heals quickly and gets back to the form that landed him at the top of the list prior to last week.<\/p>\n

I keep thinking that Rendon might become Longoria.\u00a0 The numbers sure look similar.<\/p>\n

Gerrit Cole, RHP<\/span><\/p>\n

Cole<\/a> struck out 131 guys in 101 innings as a sophomore Bruin.\u00a0 He posted a 3.11 ERA and won ten games, not that I care about either of those marks.\u00a0 What I care about is Cole\u2019s ability to dial it up to 99 mph when he needs\/wants and the fact that his breaking stuff comes in around 15 mph slower than the heater.\u00a0 He actually throws a power sinker as well, but scouts don\u2019t seem so high on it simply because the 4-seamer is so big.\u00a0 He also has a change that may play as plus in a couple of years, but only plays at a 50 at the moment.\u00a0 Changeups are feel offerings, though, and can improve every season until a guy bows out (Hoffman).\u00a0 I don\u2019t put a lot of stock into a guy\u2019s third pitch before he reaches the bigs.\u00a0 Look at Lincecum.\u00a0 The guy basically didn\u2019t throw a changeup for outs until the middle of his second season.\u00a0 Now it grades 80 some days.<\/p>\n

Cole will be the first arm taken because Cole\u2019s stuff is retarded.\u00a0 His mechanics raise some questions from scouts because he fights to get the arm speed he has.\u00a0 Who cares?\u00a0 They will be cleaner by the time he arrives to the bigs.\u00a0 He turned down the Yanks\u2019 offer of $3 million out of high school in 2008 because he really wanted to play in college.\u00a0 The three years he will have spent under John Savage might be worth the extra $5 million the Yanks weren\u2019t offering come next August… this would likely be a deadline kind of sign for the lucky squad that lands this arm.<\/p>\n

Taylor Jungmann, RHP<\/span><\/p>\n

The Longhorns\u2019 Jungmann<\/a> posted a slightly better K:BB than Cole, but his stuff is generally regarded as being a little less than Cole\u2019s.\u00a0 Jungmann is a true mid-90\u2019s guy with a long frame and plus command.\u00a0 He too has a couple of plus other offerings with the ability to get both sides of the plate out.\u00a0 The secondary stuff may be a little ahead of Cole\u2019s at the moment.\u00a0 Jungmann has more pace on his breaker than Cole, but he exhibits a number of the same flaws in his delivery that Cole exhibits.\u00a0 Both guys are across the body throwers and tend to use a lot of arm in their deliveries, but that is what the minors are for.\u00a0 Jungmann is a horse as he averages 7 innings per start.\u00a0 There just aren\u2019t a lot of flaws here.\u00a0 From what I have personally seen of Jungmann, I expect him to generate a lot of groundballs from the right side of the plate and a lot of swings and misses on secondary stuff from both sides.\u00a0 Jungmann is as premium an arm as exists, and the fact that he has had the success he has in a Longhorns uniform is worth millions.<\/p>\n

Matt Purke, LHP<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sombrero has already mentioned<\/a> the lefty Purke, but he deserves to be included with these other guys.\u00a0 Matt Purke won 16 games as a freshman while striking out 142 guys in 116.1 IP.\u00a0 His stuff is electric.\u00a0 He throws real mid-90\u2019s fastballs with good arm-side action as well as a plus slurve.\u00a0 His changeup is not used frequently, but he has some feel for it, and it should be good enough to get the right side out so long as it is in the zone.\u00a0 Purke<\/a> is also long in the arms – very long – and that may lead to some difficulty locating his changeup.\u00a0 Purke is available in 2011 due to some faulty wording in the rules designed to keep guys in college three years, but his early departure is ultimately going to be better for everyone.\u00a0 It will provide Purke the leverage to get the bonus he wants as well as the chance to get through the minors quicker due to the extra polish he has picked up since the Rangers deal fell apart in 2009.<\/p>\n

We will periodically discuss other higher profile guys in 2011\u2019s draft class.\u00a0 These first four will all be multimillion-dollar bonus babies and will all get through the minors quickly.\u00a0 I know this is about a month late in getting posted, but I have been a little fixated on the local baseball scene back home.\u00a0 Go Cardinals!
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While it is hardly early for this sort of piece considering the 2010 draft took place over a month ago, I think it is time the Sombrero begins investigating some of the guys in 2011\u2019s class.\u00a0 This first piece will examine the top three collegiate arms and the top collegiate hitter.\u00a0 They are all potential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,15,9,13,10],"tags":[630,173,631,550,629,196,452],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":678,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions\/678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}