The Houston Astros shocked the world last night. Okay, maybe not the entire world. And maybe shocking is a bit of an overstatement, but the team did surprise a lot of baseball pundits who expected them to take Mark Appel first overall in last night’s MLB Rule IV Draft. Instead, the sabermetrically inclined Astros selected Puerto Rican shortstop Carlos Correa with the first overall pick.
Correa is a 17 year old shortstop who stands 6’4″ tall and weighs more than 180 pounds. He’s big. And he drew immediate comparisons to Alex Rodriguez, which as most of the comps being dished out last night, should be taken with a grain of salt considering more than 75% of the time they were based on race.
Even though Mark Appel was left on the board, the Minnesota Twins, drafting second overall, selected 18 year old high school center fielder Byron Buxton, a player many expected them to take. The Seattle Mariners took Florida catcher Mike Zunino with the third overall pick, the Baltimore Orioles took LSU right handed pitcher Kevin Gausman and the Kansas City Royals rounded out the top five by taking RHP Kyle Zimmer out of San Francisco.
Mark Appel wasn’t selected until the eighth pick which belonged to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team that picked Gerrit Cole first overall at last year’s draft. As a college junior for Stanford, the 20-year-old Appel had an eye catching collegiate season and as previously mentioned, was the first overall selection on many mock drafts.
Here are all the selections from last night:
First round
| Pick | Player | Team | Position | School |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Correa | Houston Astros | Shortstop | Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School |
| 2 | Byron Buxton | Minnesota Twins | Outfielder | Appling County High School |
| 3 | Mike Zunino | Seattle Mariners | Catcher | University of Florida |
| 4 | Kevin Gausman | Baltimore Orioles | Right-handed pitcher | Louisiana State University |
| 5 | Kyle Zimmer | Kansas City Royals | Right-handed pitcher | University of San Francisco |
| 6 | Albert Almora | Chicago Cubs | Outfielder | Mater Academy |
| 7 | Max Fried | San Diego Padres | Left-handed pitcher | Harvard-Westlake School |
| 8 | Mark Appel | Pittsburgh Pirates | Right-handed pitcher | Stanford University |
| 9 | Andrew Heaney | Miami Marlins | Left-handed pitcher | Oklahoma State University |
| 10 | David Dahl | Colorado Rockies | Outfielder | Oak Mountain High School |
| 11 | Addison Russell | Oakland Athletics | Shortstop | Pace High School |
| 12 | Gavin Cecchini | New York Mets | Shortstop | Barbe High School |
| 13 | Courtney Hawkins | Chicago White Sox | Outfielder | Carroll High School |
| 14 | Nick Travieso | Cincinnati Reds | Right-handed pitcher | Archbishop McCarthy High School |
| 15 | Tyler Naquin | Cleveland Indians | Outfielder | Texas A&M University |
| 16 | Lucas Giolito | Washington Nationals | Right-handed pitcher | Harvard-Westlake School |
| 17 | D. J. Davis | Toronto Blue Jays | Outfielder | Stone High School |
| 18 | Corey Seager | Los Angeles Dodgers | Shortstop | Northwest Cabarrus High School |
| 19 | Michael Wacha | St. Louis Cardinals | Right-handed pitcher | Texas A&M University |
| 20 | Chris Stratton | San Francisco Giants | Right-handed pitcher | Mississippi State University |
| 21 | Lucas Sims | Atlanta Braves | Right-handed pitcher | Brookwood High School |
| 22 | Marcus Stroman | Toronto Blue Jays | Right-handed pitcher | Duke University |
| 23 | James Ramsey | St. Louis Cardinals | Outfielder | Florida State University |
| 24 | Deven Marrero | Boston Red Sox | Shortstop | Arizona State University |
| 25 | Richie Shaffer | Tampa Bay Rays | Third baseman | Clemson University |
| 26 | Stryker Trahan | Arizona Diamondbacks | Catcher | Acadiana High School |
| 27 | Clint Coulter | Milwaukee Brewers | Catcher | Union High School |
| 28 | Victor Roache | Milwaukee Brewers | Outfielder | Georgia Southern University |
| 29 | Lewis Brinson | Texas Rangers | Outfielder | Coral Springs High School |
| 30 | Ty Hensley | New York Yankees | Right-handed pitcher | Santa Fe High School |
| 31 | Brian Johnson | Boston Red Sox | Left-handed pitcher | University of Florida |
Supplemental first round
| Pick | Player | Team | Position | School |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | Orlando Berrios | Minnesota Twins | Right-handed pitcher | Papa Juan XXIII High School |
| 33 | Zach Eflin | San Diego Padres | Right-handed pitcher | Hagerty High School |
| 34 | Daniel Robertson | Oakland Athletics | Third baseman | Upland High School |
| 35 | Kevin Plawecki | New York Mets | Catcher | Purdue University |
| 36 | Stephen Piscotty | St. Louis Cardinals | Third baseman | Stanford University |
| 37 | Pat Light | Boston Red Sox | Right-handed pitcher | Monmouth University |
| 38 | Mitch Haniger | Milwaukee Brewers | Outfielder | California Polytechnic State University |
| 39 | Joey Gallo | Texas Rangers | Third baseman | Bishop Gorman High School |
| 40 | Shane Watson | Philadelphia Phillies | Right-handed pitcher | Lakewood High School |
| 41 | Lance McCullers, Jr. | Houston Astros | Right-handed pitcher | Jesuit High School |
| 42 | Luke Bard | Minnesota Twins | Right-handed pitcher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| 43 | Pierce Johnson | Chicago Cubs | Right-handed pitcher | Missouri State University |
| 44 | Travis Jankowski | San Diego Padres | Outfielder | SUNY Stony Brook |
| 45 | Barrett Barnes | Pittsburgh Pirates | Outfielder | Texas Tech University |
| 46 | Eddie Butler | Colorado Rockies | Right-handed pitcher | Radford University |
| 47 | Matt Olson | Oakland Athletics | First baseman | Parkview High School |
| 48 | Keon Barnum | Chicago White Sox | First baseman | King High School |
| 49 | Jesse Winker | Cincinnati Reds | Outfielder | Olympia High School |
| 50 | Matt Smoral | Toronto Blue Jays | Left-Handed pitcher | Solon High School |
| 51 | Jesmuel Valentin | Los Angeles Dodgers | Shortstop | Puerto Rico Baseball Academy and High School |
| 52 | Patrick Wisdom | St. Louis Cardinals | Third baseman | St. Mary’s College |
| 53 | Collin Wiles | Texas Rangers | Right-handed pitcher | Blue Valley West High School |
| 54 | Mitch Gueller | Philadelphia Phillies | Right-handed pitcher | W. F. West High School |
| 55 | Walker Weickel | San Diego Padres | Right-handed pitcher | Olympia High School |
| 56 | Paul Blackburn | Chicago Cubs | Right-handed pitcher | Heritage High School |
| 57 | Jeff Gelalich | Cincinnati Reds | Outfielder | University of California, Los Angeles |
| 58 | Mitch Nay | Toronto Blue Jays | Third baseman | Hamilton High School |
| 59 | Steve Bean | St. Louis Cardinals | Catcher | Rockwall High School |
| 60 | Tyler Gonzales | Toronto Blue Jays | Right-handed pitcher | James Madison High School |
A couple of other things worth mentioning include the Washington Nationals taking Lucas Giolito with the 16th overall pick. Giolito suffered a sprained UCL in his elbow and missed his entire season at Harvard-Westlake high school in California. Prior to the injury, he was a favourite to go first overall. It’s also interesting that the Toronto Blue Jays selected 5’9″ reliever Marcus Stroman out of Duke University with the team’s 22nd pick. Stroman, out of the bullpen, is believed by many to be the most Major League ready of any player available in this year’s draft. There was even some speculation that Stroman could be seen in a Blue Jays uniform as early as this year.
And The Rest
Oakland A’s starting pitcher Jarrod Parker took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers. [SF Gate]
Philadelphia Phillies closer Jonathan Papelbon thinks that the umpire for yesterday’s game sucked. As always, an eloquent and efficient use of the English language. [Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia]
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel reading tweets? Phillies manager Charlie Manuel reading tweets. [MLB Fan Cave]
After mistaking the second out of the inning for the third and allowing a run to score, shortstop Starlin Castro has been put on notice by Chicago Cubs manager Dale Sveum. [Comcast Sportsnet Chicago]
Remember when Tim McCarver suggested that the increase in home runs was due to global warming. Well, let’s take a look at that. [Baseball Prospectus]
On the latest Getting Blanked show, we bury Jimmy Rollins and talk about the MLB draft. [Getting Blanked]
I’m really pissed off that the Jays didnt end up with the guy i’d never heard of and had to settle for some other guy i’d never heard of. Disaster!!!!
Me Too!
Future me is also really pissed that they didn’t draft the other guy I’ve never heard of who is going to go in the 20th round but end up being a solid major leaguer.
AA should be fired.
What the hell… future hind-sight is 40-20
I’m pissed off I wasn’t able to use the terms “Upside” and “Small Sample Size” when referring to the guys I know absolutely nothing about.
At least we all got to make comparisons based on race, position and size.
Notice how all of the comps are to superstar players? Just once I’d like to see a draft pick comped realistically – “If everything works out right, this kid could be the next Joe Orsulak”.
I really like the Michael Strahan pick by the Jays (see what I did there), even more than DJ Davis. The team has a ton of starting pitching depth and it is exciting to me that he could be the lock down set-up guy or even closer as soon as next year.
Davis seems to be another Anthony Gose clone, which could be great, or could be nothing.
Smoral is a great pick, but I suspect he won’t sign, but still worth the risk.
If the team gets anything out of the other two guys I see that as a bonus.
Michael Strahan, hmmm that name sounds familiar. ;)
I think the Gose comp is a little off from the scouting reports I’ve been feverishly reading so that I can pretend to be informed on the kid. He is said to have a fairly decent and developing hit tool (not something that Gose is known for) and a “less than stellar arm” (in quotes because, for some reason, that is the only thing anyone can seem to say about him), where Gose has a plus arm (7ish from what I’ve read). More accurate comps seem to be either a Billy Hamilton or a Dee Gordon… although comps are meaningless.
I think I’m most pleased by the reaction that the Smoral pick caused..
Describe? I missed it.
No comp column Parkes? For shame…