Cleveland Sports Forum

Draft order 2015 announced. We draft No. 20 and No. 37 [competitive balance: is that because our attendance is last?]

2015 Draft Projection from Baseball America:

17. Indians

Preps with impact tools remain in Cleveland’s mix. High school catchers are a risky phylum, but Betts has enough offensive potential to be a regular even if he max to move to first base. The other choice is one of the top high school arms. They’re also said to be in on Georgia prep infielder Cornelius Randolph, who seems to be in play everywhere from 14-21.

Selection: Mike Nikorak, rhp, Stroudsburg (Pa.) HS

IF anyone is left here who follows the draft this could be interesting:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/top-200-draft/

I follow it, but from a good distance behind.

Latest BA Mock Draft gives up Vanderbilt RHP Walker Buehler. "Has the look of a polished college starter thanks to his stuff, delivery and athleticism" 6-2 175. 72 K in 70 IP. Fastball in low 90s. Slider, curve and change all have promise. BA says scouts not thrilled about his size and Fastball "doesn't have a lot of life"

[didn't we go to Vandy for Jeremy Sowers about a decade ago? One of our frequent LHP flops. This guy is right-handed so I'm sure he'll be a big success.]

Draft is June 8. But with Joe gone, I don't think anyone here really follows it, or knows anything about the talent. I don't.

Opening round of draft tonight.

Personally I'm hoping to infuse more power into the system. Or a lefty SP.

Lately we've been picking up outfielders and have league leaders in power hitting at the lower levels. I'd go for a 3rd baseman if Kris Bryant happens to be available. I'd like left handed pitching, but we tend to make a mess of those draft choices [Sowers, Huff, Pomeranz maybe not quite as weak]. In general we are lacking in pitching prospects compared to a growing surge of position players, so I'd like to see emphasis switch back to pitching this year.

I want to add a good right handed power bat. I love our draft last year but Zimmer & Bradley (and Papi) are all lefties. I don't trust Frazier. He looks like a righty Branyan to me, as far as striking out. I just think we need some legit power from the right side in the system. If he was a 3rd baseman it would be nice for sure.

Jordan Bastian ‏@MLBastian · 29 minutes ago
Indians have 3 picks tonight (17, 42, 59) and 4 in first 100. At No. 17, best-available approach is best
http://atmlb.com/1cH3kKD via @mlb

We have RH first basemen in Aguillar and Nellie Rodriguez [the latter is on a real hot streak and has a pretty good total of doubles and walks along with his homers; another kind of klutzy defender]. But I'd also like some RH bats in the outfield.

Keith Law's final 2015 mock draft

We're just a few hours away from the 2015 Rule 4 draft, and I'm still hearing from lots of sources, even inside draft rooms, that teams don't know who's getting to them well enough to say "we're taking so-and-so." I'll try to update this over the course of the day if I hear anything more concrete, but for now, here's my best guess at the first 30 picks. The first round is technically only 26 picks deep, but I've gone ahead and added my projections for the first four picks of the sandwich round as well.

17 Jon Harris SCHOOL: Missouri State HT: 6-4 WT: 175 POS : RHP
Analysis: They're mostly on college players, particularly arms who could fall to here, with Nate Kirby and Kaprielian also being possibilities.

Well yeah, we have a lot of righties, but hard for me to get super excited about them.

I just mentioned the other day that I personally like Nellie and am rooting him on, but he & Aguillar are in the same boat as Frazier for me. BB/K ratio is scary..

I'd love to have a righty power bat that I can get excited about. Some star qualities.

Love this pick!

I like the gamble. Guys come back stronger than ever from TJ surgery now adays. We got a stud lefty starter prospect if healthy, and I think he will be.

Got my lefty starter, now for a righty power bat.

Tony Lastoria retweeted
jeff ellis ‏@jeffMLBdraft · 3 minutes ago
The reports on the medicals is they werent as scary, He is the number 3 guy maybe number 2 in that system right away