Round 20

Players signed indicated in Bold

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Pick Overall Team Player Position School State Bonus
1 592 Washington Nationals Jack Walker 3B Concordia (Ill.) Ill.
2 593 Seattle Mariners John Hesketh LHP New Mexico N.M.
John Hesketh is an undersized lefthander with fringy stuff and should be a later-round senior sign. The Canadian has been drafted twice before--in the 42nd round by the Blue Jays out of high school in 2004 and in the 38th round by the Rockies out of Vernon (Texas) JC in 2006. Hesketh helped himself out in his final start by going toe-to-toe with San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg in the Mountain West tournament.
3 594 San Diego Padres John Wooten 3B Eastern Wayne HS, Goldsboro, N.C. N.C.
4 595 Pittsburgh Pirates Sam Spangler RHP Hawaii Hawaii
When lefthander Sam Spangler showed up at Hawaii, he was a skinny walk-on from New Mexico with a fastball in the 81-83 mph range. He redshirted and committed to the weight room, filled out, learned how to control his body and harnessed his delivery. He stays over the rubber longer, getting good leverage and load on his pitches, and his fastball is now sitting 88-91 and has touched 93. He throws strikes and has a firm curveball that he can locate.
5 596 Baltimore Orioles James Brandhorst RHP Lamar Texas
6 597 San Francisco Giants Mitch Mormann RHP Des Moines Area CC Iowa
Scouts have flocked to see righthander Mitch Mormann since he touched 94 mph early in his freshman season of 2008. The 6-foot-6, 230-pounder can push his fastball into the mid-90s, but he remains a one-pitch pitcher who's still trying to figure things out, which is why he probably won't go in the first five rounds. His secondary pitches, command and delivery all need work and showed little improvement this spring, though he did flash a hard slider. He's committed to Louisiana State, and if he can add polish and succeed in the Southeastern Conference he could become a first-rounder in 2010. The Indians drafted him in the 17th round last year.
7 598 Atlanta Braves Jeff Lorick LHP Virginia Va.
8 599 Cincinnati Reds Matt Valaika 2B UC Santa Barbara Calif.
9 600 Detroit Tigers Jimmy Gulliver SS Eastern Michigan Mich.
10 601 Colorado Rockies Dallas Tarleton C Elon N.C.
11 602 Kansas City Royals Patrick Keating RHP Florida Fla.
12 603 Oakland Athletics Tyler Bernard SS Valley Center (Calif.) HS Calif.
13 604 Texas Rangers Jerome Werniuk RHP Neil McNeil HS, Toronto Ontario
Jerome Werniuk is a hulking 6-foot-6, 220-pound righthander. Because of his size, he has difficulty repeating his delivery and his fastball is just average right now. If it all clicks for him he has a chance to be special.
14 605 Cleveland Indians Kyle C. Smith RHP Kent State Ohio $100,000
Kent State had a pair of righthanders with aspirations of going in the first two rounds. The consensus was that while Brad Stillings had better present stuff, Kyle Smith had a higher ceiling. But the debate as to who was better was tabled in late April, when shoulder tendinitis sidelined Smith. He made two more appearances the rest of the season, but didn't show his usual quality stuff: an 88-92 mph two-seam fastball with good sink and a knockout slider. He also throws a changeup. Smith is a good athlete for a 6-foot-6, 220-pounder. Whichever team drafts him probably will monitor him during the summer before deciding whether to sign him in August.
15 606 Arizona Diamondbacks Adam Worthington RHP Illinois-Chicago Ill.
16 607 Los Angeles Dodgers Daniel Palo RHP Houston HS, Germantown, Tenn. Tenn.
One prep righty who improved his stock is another Blue Raiders signee, Daniel Palo, who has good size at 6-foor-4, 210 pounds. He's a two-way recruit who has power as a first baseman, but his power arm is what attracts scouts. There are reports he hit 94 mph, and college recruiters and scouts confirmed him up to 93, sitting at 90-91. He has a loose arm that works well and has shown a feel for throwing his curveball for strikes. Scouts wonder if his body is too soft and his breaking ball too inconsistent to buy out of college, but his velocity could still get him into pro ball now.
17 608 Florida Marlins Rand Smith OF Appalachian State N.C.
18 609 St. Louis Cardinals Scott Schneider RHP St. Mary's Calif.
19 610 Toronto Blue Jays Kevin Nolan SS Winthrop S.C.
20 611 Houston Astros J.D. Martinez OF Nova Southeastern (Fla.) Fla.
21 612 Minnesota Twins Tommy Mackoul LHP UC Riverside Calif.
22 613 Chicago White Sox Nate Reed LHP Pittsburgh Pa.
Lefthander Nate Reed emerged as Pennsylvania's top prep prospect heading into the 2006 draft thanks largely to his arm strength and projection. But as one scout put it, he's been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in three years at Pittsburgh, and he was wildly inconsistent as a junior this spring, going 4-6, 6.21. On good days, Reed pitches downhill with an 89-92 mph fastball, flashes an average curveball and shows feel for a changeup. Other times, he works in the 86-88 range with a below-average curveball and struggles to get hitters out. As a 6-foot-3, 180-pound lefthander with arm strength, Reed could be drafted in the 10-to-12-round range, or he could slip and return to Pitt for his senior year. He profiles as a reliever in pro ball.
23 614 New York Mets Joey August OF Stanford Calif.
24 615 New York Yankees Thomas Keeling LHP Oklahoma State Okla.
Lefthander Thomas Keeling had the best strikeout rate (12.9 per nine innings) on a talented Oklahoma State pitching staff. Hitters have a tough time making contact against his 88-92 mph fastball because of the riding life the 6-foot-3, 184-pounder achieves by throwing across his body. His mechanics make it difficult to maintain a consistent breaking ball or control. He redshirted in 2007 because the growth plate in his shoulder blade was irritating a muscle. On talent, Keeling projects as a sixth- to eighth-rounder, though his extra leverage as a sophomore-eligible means he could drop significantly lower. He sat out his first year of college because of problems with the growth plate in his left shoulder blade. Keeling will pitch for the Cape Cod League's Chatham Anglers this summer, giving the team that drafts him more time to evaluate him.
25 616 Milwaukee Brewers Franklin Romero OF Cerro Coso (Calif.) CC Calif.
26 617 Philadelphia Phillies Darin Ruf 1B Creighton Neb.
27 618 Boston Red Sox Alex Hassan OF/RHP Duke N.C. $90,000
Duke does have hope to get righthander/outfielder Alex Hassan back for his senior season. Pro scouts like him better as a pitcher at 6-foot-4, 200 pounds and think he could pick up velocity when he ditches hitting and playing center field. He has touched 95 mph in relief outings with his fastball, but he's more effective in the low 90s with some sink. His slurvy breaking ball and changeup need tightening up, and he needs to improve his command as well.
28 619 Tampa Bay Rays Dylan Floro RHP Buhach Colony HS, Atwater, Calif. Calif.
Many clubs had Floro pegged as a supplemental first-rounder when the spring began, and while his velocity has dipped this spring he still isn't likely to last much past the second round. Slightly undersized at 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds, Floro has a long track record with local and national scouts. He still sits at 90-92 mph with his fastball, and he adds a changeup to his mix, but his best offering may be his tight, high 70s slider, which has the makings of a plus pitch. Floro is committed to Cal State Fullerton and might be well served by three years of college experience, but he may find it hard to pass on signing if he goes in the second round.
29 620 Chicago Cubs Eric Erickson LHP Miami Fla.
30 621 Los Angeles Angels Dan Eichelberger OF East Central (Miss.) CC Miss.
Eichelberger hit 10 homers this spring and has good speed. He's also a third-year sophomore who takes an enormous, unrestrained hack more often than not, and hit just .329 this spring against modest competition.

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