{"id":735,"date":"2010-08-09T19:05:51","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T00:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=735"},"modified":"2010-08-09T19:05:51","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T00:05:51","slug":"2011-draft-a-look-at-the-arms-of-the-connie-mack-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/735","title":{"rendered":"2011 Draft: A Look at the Arms of the Connie Mack World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Connie Mack World Series is always littered with draftable talent, and first-rounders are in the Series annually.\u00a0 This year has been a little different, though.\u00a0 The first round of this year\u2019s CMWS<\/a> has seen potentially four first round picks and a handful of guys who should eventually land within the top few rounds (or at least be paid like it).\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at East Cobb\u2019s Daniel Norris, Arizona Firebird Jake Cole, Midland Redskin Dillon Howard, Florida Legend Luke Jackson, Farmington Cardinal Jake McCasland<\/strong>, and DBAT Mustang Dylan Bundy.\u00a0 All seven of these guys were starters in the CMWS opening round, which took place Friday through Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with two guys who presumably will be off of the 2011 board: McCasland and Jackson.\u00a0 These two righties took center-stage in Sunday\u2019s noon game where the StrikeZone Cardinals<\/strong> of Farmington shut the Florida Legends out, 3-0.\u00a0 Both guys exhibited fastballs early in the game that reached as high as 94.\u00a0 Both guys eventually settled a couple of ticks slower and pitched around 90 most of the game, although McCasland flashed 92 a couple of times beyond 100 pitches.\u00a0 Jackson exited early after recording just 12 outs.\u00a0 He was taken by the Rangers with the 45th<\/sup> pick overall and likely will either accept a bonus in the seven figure range or head to the U, where he can continue to surf on the side and between starts.\u00a0 His slim build makes his arm velocity surprising, but it\u2019s real and projectable.\u00a0 The Rangers cannot afford to blow this one because doing so will mean that they failed to sign their first pitcher in consecutive drafts after they were unable to sign Matt Purke<\/strong> in 2009.\u00a0 Jackson\u2019s relatively late ascension into the upper echelons of amateur pitching prospects has left him lacking a third pitch capable of getting both sides of the plate out, which caused him problems against the Cardinals in the form of an Andrew Castillo moon-shot, but his slider has good pace and decent tilt and projects to at least average.\u00a0 When trying to slow it down, though, he slowed his arm speed considerably and lost some command.\u00a0 I expect the Rangers to get a deal done before the deadline.\u00a0 Rumor is $2 million seals the deal.<\/p>\n

McCasland showed his typical great command and good tilt on a 12-6 breaking ball as well as the best changeup I have ever seen from him.\u00a0 Leaving the pen Jake was attempting to get a little more speed differential between the two straight pitches by choking a tad harder.\u00a0 It worked.\u00a0 McCasland struck 11 Legends out, a squad that saw 14 kids taken in 2010\u2019s draft in 108 pitches.\u00a0 He was selected in the 38th<\/sup> round by the Giants, and they have been in attendance every start since then.\u00a0 McCasland felt as though he deserved 4th<\/sup> round money or better.\u00a0 Rumor is he earned it on Sunday and will have the papers in front of him ready to sign early this week.<\/p>\n

Daniel Norris of the East Cobb Yankees and Jake Cole of the Arizona Firebirds tossed Friday night\u2019s opening game, and Norris came out the victor.\u00a0 He has been ranked as highly as the top prep arm in the nation by a number of scouting services.\u00a0 The lefty\u2019s fastball hit 96, but his off-speed stuff has a long way to go.\u00a0 His curve exhibited bad tilt and worse pace, occasionally dipping into the 60\u2019s.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t need it, because his fastball was good enough to beat Arizona regardless.\u00a0 His body projects very well, and his mechanics exhibited decent polish.\u00a0 That polish paled in comparison to Cole, however.\u00a0 While Cole will not be eligible until the 2013 draft due to his commitment to North Carolina, he is a guy to watch out for then.\u00a0 Currently his stuff only occasionally reaches 90, but he has three average pitches, plus command, good genes, and a projectable body.\u00a0 The only question is whether he will develop into a hitter or a pitcher.\u00a0 He was the best prep player in Tucson this spring, and the southwest is sad to see him leaving.<\/p>\n

Dillon Howard of Midland looked like a combination of Cole\u2019s off-speed stuff and Norris\u2019s fastball pace.\u00a0 I would be very surprised to see him fall out of 2011\u2019s first round due to his repeatable delivery, athleticism, arm speed, and projectable frame.\u00a0 The only thing that might keep him out is his command, which is not quite a 50 yet.\u00a0 He ran fastballs into the mid-90\u2019s and will be able to get both sides of the plate out.\u00a0 I have seen him as high as 5th<\/sup> in the prep ranks and third among righties.<\/p>\n

First among righties is often DBAT\u2019s Dylan Bundy<\/a>.\u00a0 Bundy received 10 runs of support in the first inning and was able to cruise to a mercy rule victory against Louisiana\u2019s Bill Hood Broncos.\u00a0 Still, the Broncos are a quality program, and Bundy was never in trouble.\u00a0 While I was not in attendance, I know the stadium gun flashed 96 a few times.\u00a0 Bundy will undoubtedly land in the first round of 2011\u2019s draft after earning Oklahoma\u2019s Gatorade Player of the Year honors as a sophomore and as a junior.\u00a0 He is about the only player who may deserve to be taken before one of the myriad college arms who should be taken before the rest of the high school class.\u00a0 He possesses potentially four average to above-average pitches and may not even be the Mustangs top guy.\u00a0 That honor might fall to Archie Bradley who has not appeared yet in Farmington but is presumed to be taking the hill Tuesday against the winner of the Cardinals matchup tonight with the Illinois Longshots.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all for now, but I will continue to write as I find time between practices and games this week.\u00a0 Headed to BP at the StrikeZone now.\u00a0 Go Cardinals!\u00a0 We are sending righty and Oklahoma signee Adrian Houser to the mound.\u00a0 He will be on a plane to Chicago for the Under Armour game Tuesday.\u00a0 The Longshots are presumed to be throwing either Joe Claver (Illinois State) or Matt Lynch (Maryland).\u00a0 Longshot and Creighton signee Mike Gerber won Sunday afternoon\u2019s homerun derby and will surely be a tough out tonight.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Connie Mack World Series is always littered with draftable talent, and first-rounders are in the Series annually.\u00a0 This year has been a little different, though.\u00a0 The first round of this year\u2019s CMWS has seen potentially four first round picks and a handful of guys who should eventually land within the top few rounds (or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,15,8,6,9,13,10],"tags":[609,671,247,550,628],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735"}],"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=735"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":738,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735\/revisions\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}