Here's my ten best remaining talents in the draft, and why they are still on the board.
1. Stetson Allie, RHP, St. Edward HS (OH)
Just priced himself out of the market. If he's throwing bullets like he was the last six weeks of the high school season, he's a top three pick in 2013.
2. Brett Eibner, OF/RHP, Arkansas
Despite huge offensive numbers, including more than twice as many home runs as teammate Zach Cox, teams like him better as a pitcher, and he wants to keep hitting.
3. Austin Wilson, OF, Harvard Westlake HS (CA)
Too raw to spend huge money on him, another possible big name in three years if the tools blossom at Stanford.
4. Brandon Workman, RHP, Texas
In the end, too many teams saw him as a future reliever, as he's primarily as fastball/curve pitcher, and it's not the prettiest delivery in the world.
5. Yordy Cabrera, SS, Lakeland HS (FL)
The concept of paying seven figures to a high school player who turns 20 in October proved too much. He should be an early name tomorrow.
6. A.J. Cole, RHP, Oviedo HS (FL)
Once he slid past the 20s, signability became a big issue, as he's going to want first-round money no matter where he's drafted. Miami could benefit from this drop.
7. Sammy Solis, LHP, San Diego
When the trend went to high-ceiling high school arms, the low-upside, polished college type got pushed to the side. Like Cabrera, he won't be waiting long tomorrow.
8. Jedd Gyorko, INF, West Virginia
Another easy second-round projection, scouts being unable to confidently project a good defensive home hurt him on day one.
9. Ryne Stanek, RHP, Blue Valley HS (KS)
Too much, too soon. Scouts didn't trust it in the end, and his secondary pitches failed to impress late. Could end up going to Arkansas.
10. Jesse Hahn, RHP, Virginia Tech
Just the worst timing of any player in the draft, as he left his post-season start on Sunday after three innings with forearm tightness, and final evaluation of the injury is still up in the air.
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I saw the red sox drafted Matthew Price as a sophomore out of Va Tech and was trying to figure out how they could do that
I wonder if the new draft format -- splitting the first and first comp rounds from the rest of the draft -- will have an effect on the negotiations with players who dropped for signability reasons. In the past, the disappointment of not getting chosen in the first round might not have had so long to fester -- the draft used to proceed in rapid fashion, so even if a player fell to the fourth round, the shock and disappointment of not getting chosen in the first round didn't have that long to linger.
Now, the player perhaps has spent a night brooding about it, responding to texts from his friends and posts on his Facebook wall asking why he didn't get drafted. Might that harden negotiating positions? I think it's plausible.
Of course, it's equally plausible that it will be down more to the specifics of the individual player -- how much interest he has in college, his adviser(s) and the team drafting him. Perhaps he might even end up pretty happy overall -- maybe the team that drafted him didn't have a first-round pick so they have money to spend, and it's a team he's always liked, or they developed one of his favorite players.
And there may not be enough examples to really say one way or the other even after the signing deadline.
They won't.
Bile.
Pirates fans should have some hope! Seems like they're starting to take the draft seriously.