MLB Draft Preview: Lefties

An article by Sach C.    2 Comments

Thank you all for your kind responses to yesterday’s Righty preview. Today, we’ll look at the southpaws who could be possible considerations in the top seven.

Drew Pomeranz: Pomeranz has had a fair degree of buzz on this site, the only question is whether he possibly falls to 7^th. Pomeranz throws a low-to-mid 90’s fastball, a strong curve, and a low 80’s changeup. The junior from Ole Miss has a reputation for getting hitters to chase his fastball and curve, but they will need work before he can reach the majors. His change is average, but needs growth to be a strong pitch. An alarm may be how his walk total seemed to grow as the year went on.

Side note, In April, #19 Ole Miss hosted #2 LSU in a pitching matchup featuring Pomeranz against Anthony Ranuado. Oddly enough, they were both terrible.

Pomeranz will be a #2 when he does reach the majors. He will get strikeouts, but will give up a fair amount of walks. His command will get better, and when it does, he will eat innings and keep runs off the board. I’m no good at ETA’s but I’ll say late 2012 to 2013.

Chris Sale: Sale, a junior at small Florida Gulf Coast University, throws a low 90’s fastball, a curve that breaks sharply late, and a low 80’s change. The one thing that every scout notices, is that Sale throws strikes, a lot of strikes. He has a bit of a three-quarters side arm delivery. He gets all three of his pitches over for strikes. His command is one prime reason why he has risen up draft boards this college season.

Sale could conceivably go before Pomeranz. Sale could also go anywhere between 4 and 20. Barring any setback, he could make it to the majors before Pomeranz. Will still need requisite time in AA and AAA.

Well, Pomeranz and Sale are really the only lefties you should know. After that, there’s a bit of a drop between them and the other lefties.

But, with the notable names from yesterday’s Righty preview, and Pomeranz and Sale today, we can compare the entire batch of pitchers.

Taillon is the best of all the pitchers. Pomeranz will likely be the second pitcher off the board. Sale will be next. Deck McGuire or Karsten Whitson will be the fourth and fifth pitchers off the board. Brandon Workman and A. J. Cole will follow over the next ten picks. Stetson Allie, Anthony Ranuado, and Alex Wimmers will fall to the bottom of the round, to good teams that they can help soon or have time to spend in the minors.

Taillon may be the only ace in this year’s crop, but Pomeranz, Sale, and Whitson could be good #2’s.  Everyone else projects to be mid-rotation starters. The draft isn’t deep in top of the rotation players, but could be deep in 3’s and 4’s.

So who’s looking for what? The Pittsburgh Pirates are debating between Jameson Taillon and Manny Machado (SS), but it’s looking more like they’ll take the infielder. Baltimore will take whoever Pittsburgh doesn’t. The next four teams may all select pitchers.

The question that I leave you with, is if Chris Sale falls to the Mets, do you take him ahead of whoever else is available?

Tomorrow will be the Outfielders, Thursday the Infielders (including Catcher), and Friday will be my pick. Oh, and Monday is the Draft.