With the Pirates’ victory yesterday, the Nationals secured the first-overall pick in the 2010 draft. With the win, the Pirates are now 59-96 with seven games left to play. The Nationals also won and are 53-103 with six games left to play. So, even if the Nationals win out and the Pirates lose their final seven games, the teams would end the season in a tie, and the tie-breaker would go to the Nationals because they also had the worst record last year.

This marks only the second time a franchise has held first-overall picks in back-to-back years. The Rays had first-overall picks in 2007 and 2008 when they chose lefthander David Price and shortstop Tim Beckham, respectively.

The rest of the top 10 picks are still up for grabs, though. Here are the contenders:

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While Team USA’s World Cup squad was marching to a gold medal win in Italy, the 18U National Team got off to a hot start in the COPABE “AAA” Pan American Championships in Venezuela. They are 3-0 after beating Aruba, Argentina and Panama by a combined score of 41-3.

In Friday’s opener against Aruba, shortstop Manny Machado (Brito HS, Miami) went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and three runs scored while outfielder Brian Ragira (Martin HS, Arlington, Texas) knocked in three runs with his 2-for-4 performance. Righthander A.J. Vanegas (Redwood Christian HS, San Lorenzo, Calif.) started the game and went four innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out five. Team USA won 13-3. [...] Continue Reading »

Several of the top high school players in the Class of 2010—as well as the top college player available, CC of Southern Nevada’s Bryce Harper—will try to help USA Baseball’s 18-and-under squad win a gold medal at the age group’s Pan American Junior Championships. The entire event will be played with wood bats, as opposed to metal bats as has been the case in the past.

The 18U roster has 20 players on it and was selected after a six-day trials period this week in Cary, N.C., and ended a process that began at the Tournament of Stars in June. The team will work out with exhibitions against local junior-college teams before heading to Venezuela on Sept. 24. The tournament concludes Oct. 4, and Team USA has never won gold in the Pan Ams. Garye LeFevers, a veteran of USA Baseball national teams, will serve as head coach. [...] Continue Reading »

Aaron Crow, the 12th overall pick in the 2009 draft, and the Royals have agreed to terms on a three-year major league contract that includes a $1.5 million bonus and $3 million in guaranteed money. If he spends the duration of the deal (which runs from 2010-12) in the major leagues, he’ll earn just short of $4.5 million.

The deal will be finalized in time for Crow to attend the opening of Kansas City’s instructional league program, which begins Saturday in Surprise, Ariz. It’s possible that he could pitch in the Arizona Fall League afterward.

Ranked as the top righthander available in the draft in 2008, when he pitched at Missouri, Crow went ninth overall that June to the Nationals. But the club and Crow’s agents, Alan and Randy Hendricks, couldn’t compromise on a deal, and the signing deadline passed with Crow seeking $4 million and Washington offering $3.5 million. Rather than return to Missouri, Crow signed with the Fort Worth Cats of the independent American Association.

Though his deal with the Royals offers less guaranteed money than the Nationals would have paid him, Crow placed a premium on being able to pitch for the big league club closest to his hometown of Wakarusa, Kan. Kansas City is about 75 miles away from Wakarusa.

Crow was the second American Association pitcher to sign on Thursday. Supplemental first-round pick Tanner Scheppers received a $1.25 million bonus from the Rangers.

Crow has one of the best fastball packages in recent drafts. At his best, he commands a hard 92-96 mph sinker and maintains that velocity into the late innings. His slider is also a plus pitch at times. He shouldn’t require much time in the minors, though some scouts have wondered if the effort in his delivery and his size (generously listed at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds) will make him more of a closer than a frontline starter.

The Royals spent heavily to lock up their top three picks in the 2009 draft, all of whom had signability issues. Kansas City committed $6.45 million in guaranteed money to Crow, third-rounder Wil Myers and fourth-rounder Chris Dwyer.

The Rangers announced the signing of supplemental first-round pick Tanner Scheppers on Thursday.

Scheppers, who pitched for Fresno State from 2006-2008 and worked in the independent American Association this summer, received a signing bonus of $1.25 million, according to a source with knowledge of the negotiations. The slot for the 44th pick was $776,700; Scheppers’ $1.25 million bonus is the largest of the supplemental first round. He becomes the Rangers’ highest signed pick after they failed to land first-rounder Matthew Purke.

"It’s a mixture (of feelings)," said Scheppers, who spent much of the last three months at Athletes Performance in Arizona and in Irvine, Calif., throwing with his former pitching coach, Ted Silva.  "I’m just so happy that it’s over and I have a direction, so I can grow as a player.

"I told the Rangers that I’d be ready to go whenever I signed. I don’t think I lost anything; I lost some development time, but my arm feels as good as ever." [...] Continue Reading »

With a little more than three weeks left in the regular season, most baseball fans are keeping a close eye on the pennant races and wild card standings. Of course we’re doing the same here at Baseball America, but we also have one eye pointed in the other direction to see which team will end up with next year’s first-overall pick in the draft. Let’s see how the contenders stack up . . .

With 572 runs scored and 714 runs allowed, the Royals have the lowest expected winning percentage of the bunch. With starters Gil Meche and Brian Bannister likely done for the season, things aren’t looking good in the City of Fountains. They also have the toughest remaining schedule, with their upcoming opponents’ current records in parenthesis . . .
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