Draft day is here. The Jays pick at #9 and #11 in the first round. The draft begins at 7pm and if you have the MLB Network on your Rogers cable you can watch it live. The Jays should have made their two first round picks by 8pm. The draft will run two rounds tonight. Rounds 3-10 will go tomorrow starting at 1pm and the draft will run to its conclusion on Saturday.
Who will the Jays pick? Most draft experts have the Jays selecting two of three players, Trea Turne,r Touki Toussaint or Jeff Hoffman. Note that in their final mock Baseball america suggests the Jays will take a college catcher, Max Pentecost.
Toussaint fits the Jays recent profile, a raw high school pitcher. Toussaint only took up pitching a few years ago and while he has talent he has yet to develop consistency which is why he would be available when the Jays pick.
If the Jays select Turner it would harken back to the JP Ricciardi era when the Jays selected Russ Adams and Aaron Hill. Turner is a college shortstop who was a consensus top pick before the season began. Turner played poorly over the first half of this season and his stock dropped, but he has picked up his play and his ranking over the second half.
Hoffman was a projected top 4 pick until a month ago when he had to have Tommy John surgery. Obviously a team picking him will have to wait to see him pitch. There is also some debate about how much to pay an injured pitcher like Hoffman. He has little leverage so do you low ball him to save money?
Pentecost is a college catcher, the highest rated college catcher in the draft.
Speaking of money Shi Davidi suggested last week that the Jays might be watching their dollars in the draft. It will be interesting to see if the Jays select players who need an over slot deal in later rounds. Will the Jays punt the middle rounds of the draft this year to give them money to spend in rounds 11 plus when the cap does not apply?
Finally there has been some suggestion that the Jays will adopt a less risky approach to the draft this year. There has been little confirmation of what a less risky approach might mean but picking players you know you can sign could be a good first step.
I will post the final mock draft Jays selections as they come in this morning, final mocks are in bold.
Keith Law ESPN (June 5th Mock): #9 - Pentecost; #11 - Hoffman
Keith Law ESPN (June 3rd Mock): #9 - Toussaint; #11 - Hoffman
Keith Law ESPN (Top 100): #9 - Aaron Nola; #10 - Luis Ortiz; #11 - Derek Hill; #12 - Brad Zimmer; #13 - Touki Toussaint; #14 - Tyler Beede; #18 - Turner; #25 - Hoffman
John Manuel Baseball America (June 1st Mock): #9 - Turner: #11 - Hoffman
John Manuel Baseball America (June 5th Mock): #9 - Max Pentecost: #11 - Hoffman
Perfect Game/Baseball Prospectus: #9 - Turner; #11- Hoffman
Jim Callis MLB Pipeline (June 5th Mock): #9 - Turner: #11 - Hoffman
Jonathan Mayo MLB Pipeline (June 5th Mock): #9 - Turner: #11 - Hoffman
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