Draft Day

It's draft day for Major League Baseball teams. Head over to the Baseball Analysts where they'll be live blogging all day long.

Something they point out in this post I didn't realize is that the rules have changed for signing picks. No more waiting until just days before the next year's draft to put pen to paper (e.g. Max Scherzer). Instead, players and teams have only until August 15th to work out a contract. If no deal is struck by then, players return to the draft pool.

Baseball Prospectus ($) posted its mock draft of the first round yesterday. Kevin Goldstein has the Cardinals selecting University of Tennessee outfielder Julio Bourbon.

The Cardinals are a real wild card. Always tight-lipped, St. Louis has tended to go conservative and college-heavy under scouting director Jeff Luhnow, while throwing the occasional curveball with a high-ceiling talent like Colby Rasmus--who established himself as the top prospect in the system. No such position player makes sense at 18, so the guess here is that they'll return to the college route here with the only center fielder worthy of a first-round pick in Borbon, yet another Boras client.

That's Boras as in Scott Boras. Until the Jeff Weaver negotiations this past offseason, the Cardinals had good luck dealing with the controversial agent. But I wonder if the well has been poisoned so much the Cardinals are hesitant to return so soon.

Some insight to the Cardinals draft philosophy here.

Players with regional ties picked to go early include Missouri State pitcher Ross Detwiler. Goldstein has him at number five to the Baltimore Orioles, and Arkansas pitcher Nick Schmidt at number 11 to the Seattle Mariners. Schmidt played his high school baseball at Vianney in St. Louis.

Former Sikeston star and Missouri slugger Jacob Priday was mentioned in this St. Louis Post-Dispatch piece earlier in the week.

The Columbia Missourian says Priday is one of three Tigers players, along with Evan Frey and Brock Bond, expected to get drafted.

"Teams are most interested in my bat," Priday told the paper, explaining that the National League teams want to test him as an outfielder or catcher. "That uncertainty of defense is going to play a role in getting drafted, but maybe someone will take a chance on me."

The Columbia Tribune adds this.

It's unclear if Priday, who was relegated to designated-hitter duties, would leave if he wasn't a high draft choice. Priday's offensive abilities - he hit .297 - and power have caught the attention of scouts, but his position will leave some doubting his value.

Priday had shoulder surgery in the off-season. His shoulder is healthy, but Missouri didn't have any room to play him in the outfield. Another year in college could advance his prospects.

Minor League Ball's John Sickels has the Cardinals taking Texas prep prospect Kevin Ahrens in the first round. Sickels has Detwiler dropping to eighth with the Rockies and Schmidt falling to the Washington Nationals with the first pick of the supplemental round.

Today's first round of the draft will be televised by ESPN2.