Nationals Arm Race

"… the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same – pitching.” — Earl Weaver

Nats top picks verdict: fantastic!

6 comments

Anthony Rendon – What a draft day steal. Photo: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via chron.com

I’ve been out of town the past few days (hence the late coming regular rotation reviews).  When, while driving home yesterday afternoon, a friend offered to text me the first 6 picks of the MLB draft I said absolutely.

Here’s a running set of thoughts (paraphrased from text messages).

1. (Pirates select Gerrit Cole): slight surprise here, but apparently Cole was consensus 1-1 pick in most drafts.

2. (Mariners select Danny Hultzen): Can’t believe Mariners skipped Rendon, and also surprised on the Hultzen pick.

3. (Diamondbacks take Trevor Bauer): Damn, I wanted Bauer.  Still can’t believe Rendon is falling.  O’s like HS guys…

4. (Orioles take Dylan Bundy).  hmmmm.  If Rendon is there at 6 the Nats have to take him. Surprising draft so far.  Where do you play him?  Move him to 2b, move Espinosa to short and trade Desmond.  Nats looking like they’re on Starling or Meyer now.

5. (Royals take Bubba Starling).  Damn.  Take Rendon!!!  What an amazing opportunity; this is the absolute consensus 1-1 in the 2011 draft for the past couple of years.

6. Nats take Anthony Rendon. Wow!

I still can’t quite believe that Rendon fell to us.  I thought for sure he was going #2 or #3 overall.

Then, to get Alex Meyers at #23 when we were reportedly considering him at #6 is an even bigger steal (if he’s worth what the Nats think he’s worth).  Bryan Goodwin at #32 seems to represent good value.  Here’s Byron Kerr‘s take.

We didn’t have a 2nd rounder (lost to Phillies for Werth), but Nats went very bold with Matt Purke in the 3rd.  Scouting pundits love the pick.  He’s hurt, but he was also a consensus top 10 pick at one point.  Its risky but bold.

For a full list of our picks, here’s the Draft Tracker at mlb.com.  Also, do a saved search on #Nats tag in twitter.

Written by Todd Boss

June 7th, 2011 at 2:26 pm

Posted in Draft

Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

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6 Responses to 'Nats top picks verdict: fantastic!'

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  1. I still can’t figure out why Meyer was even available @ 23. Just dumb by a lot of clubs and very much to the Nats gain.
    I think they were afraid of his height.

    Mark L

    7 Jun 11 at 6:12 pm

  2. Apparently we’re the only ones who really rated him. I dunno. Lots of teams don’t have a problem going after HS guys; Rizzo obviously wants college guys. I have a nother post in the can that basically talks about the draft makeup so far. First 11 picks: 11 college guys, 8 of which are college arms. amazing.

    Todd Boss

    7 Jun 11 at 9:23 pm

  3. Can you do a post reviewing the pitchers drafted by chance…Im having trouble finding the pitches they throw and velocity, Also I call 3 overslot possibilities on the pitching side so far, Purke will be paid 1st round money if he signs, Hawtin Buchanon will be paid top 10 money in my mind, strong commitment to Ole Miss but he is 6 ft 8 and hits 93 but will probably hit 96 with muscle, then Josh Laxer of the 20th round, 95 mph fastball Im thinking 97 when his body fills out, he could easily get top 5 money, think AJ Cole or Robbie Ray

    Konnor F.

    7 Jun 11 at 11:06 pm

  4. The word is that it will take over $15 million to sign the first 4 picks.
    If they do that, it will rank their draft as good as last year, when they had the 2nd best draft, by almost all accounts.

    Mark L

    8 Jun 11 at 9:06 am

  5. The first two are going to sign, albeit not before August 15th. Goodwin may be a slightly tougher sign b/c he’s committed to playing at South Carolina next year … but my guess is that he wants to go pro after failing out of UNC. Purke is the toughest one to get signed. He was at one point a top10 talent and my guess is that he won’t sign for less than top10 dollars. Why would he? If he gets offered anything below that, he’ll just got back for his junior year to try to regain his draft status. I would, based on what’s happened to him this season.

    Todd Boss

    8 Jun 11 at 10:41 am

  6. I’d love to. But i’ve run into a massive time crunch in my life right now. I’ll get to it at some point. In the meantime, this guy here (Sean Hogan) did a fantastic job of getting part of the way to what you’re looking for. Read his last few posts: http://dcisforbaseball.blogspot.com/

    I’ve honestly yet to see the rnds 11 and up yet to see who we even got..

    Todd Boss

    8 Jun 11 at 10:42 am

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