Guys, glad to listen to the podcasts, but would just hope that the ratio of draft tidbits to site promos will be better on subsequent editions ;-). Also, in reference to a subject that came up this week, UCLA infielder Chase Utley has made a pretty good pro so far, no? You may atone by opining on whether Damon Sublett or Brad Emaus have any star potential whatsoever in the pros, and what that might be in percentage terms… 5%? 15%?

I hear that MLB is taking signifigant jumps to uping the interest in the MLB draft. I know it must be hard for two reasons: 1. NCAA Baseball isnt as popular as Basketball or Football. 2. It takes years for the players to have an impact rather than imediatley like Basketball or Football. But do you see the Baseball draft becoming a little more popular because MLB is trying to improve it and the increased popularity of college baseball?

There were more than a dozen comments on our initial Draft Blog post over the weekend and I will try to address a few of the more interesting ones . . .

• Josh Collmenter is a 6-foot-4, 235 pounder at Central Michigan who has been off to a good start so far this year, but according to two sources, he’s been doing it with a fringy (if not below-average) fastball, hovering around 86-87 mph, and likes to pitch up in the strike zone with it. He complements it with a downer curveball that has some depth but not enough power from a pro perspective. There’s potential there if his velocity improves, and he has a pro body, but first five rounds might be a reach with his present stuff.
• The best prospect in Canada is Phillippe Aumont, a 6-foot-7 senior righthander from Quebec who was ranked No. 28 in our most recent high school ranking . He’s athletic, projectable and has flashed above-average fastball velocity. He’s in the midst of a tour through Florida along with many of his teammates from Canada’s 2007 junior national team, which won a bronze medal at the 2006 World Junior Championship in Cuba last fall. He could climb into the supplemental round with a strong showing this spring and his signabilty is considered to be excellent. Righthanders Cameron Gray (Silverthorn Collegiate HS, Toronto) and Colin Buckborough (Stamford Collegiate HS, Niagara Falls, Ontario) are among the other potential top-15 round draft choices in the country, though none of them possesses the upside and present ability of Aumont. Athletic outfielder Leslie Williams (Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, Toronto) is probably the top position player available out of Canada, but he does not have the present skill or ability to be considered a top-10 round draft pick. Chad Stang is a 6-foot-2 center fielder from Surrey, British Columbia who has some tools, but similarly lacks significant present ability. New Brunswick’s Daniel Reid has some strength, and squared up several balls during the Canada Cup last August, but lacks much bat speed.
• The reasons baseball’s draft lacks the popularity of the other popular pro sports are obvious, and include some of those listed by Derek. But given the fact that more than half of the players on big league rosters today are products of the draft, and baseball’s popularity is so strong, it’s puzzling why more mainstream sports fans haven’t kept up with the draft. Our web traffic is astronomical in the days leading up to and during the draft, so we know that there is a large segment of the fan base that has at least some interest in the draft, and the steps taken by MLB to televise it this year can only increase that interest. MLB has not seemed to have a ton of concern that its draft has never been a hot item in the mainstream media or among the game’s fans, but personally, I believe it’s an outrage that the game’s top amateur players are officially introduced to the world of professional baseball trough an unceremonious conference call. Hopefully, those days are quickly falling behind us. An agreement for the 2007 draft to be on TV is still being finalized and is not 100 percent official, but it’s expected that the first round at least will be on one of ESPN’s channels (The Ocho?)
• Price is the frontrunner to be taken first overall, and I believe his performance, projection and profile warrant the Rays’ first pick. An important factor is to look at what is behind Price, who the alternative would be if they passed on Price in order to save money, and I don’t think that they can justify such a move in this year’s draft because of the polish and stuff that Price possesses. The rest of this year’s college pitching class is too far behind Price, at this stage, for me. He won’t come cheap, but the Rays have made a statement to their fan base that they are committed to winning and know the addition of an arm like Price would greatly improve a farm system that has produced a number of strong position players recently but very few impact arms.
• Referencing Emaus and Sublett in the same breath as Utley is like lumping Dave Concepcion into the HOF debate with Ripken and Gwynn. They’re not in the same class as Utley, even at the college level before Utley blossomed with the bat. Emaus, in particular, does not have Utley’s power potential and has never been viewed as an impact-type position player. Sublett lacks that kind of impact bat as well but he’s a solid all-around athlete and has an interesting arm on the mound; he has yet to give up an earned run in more than 30 innings for the Shockers.