My 2 Cents ...   pending availability I'd go with Drew Storen, then Aaron Crowe, then Kyle Gibson, then Wheeler as my first selection... I've bought into the Drew Storen hype and could see the Jays trying him as a starter (a la Brett Cecil experiment) ... Law is predicting Crowe to fall perhaps as low as the 2nd round due to money demands but he is a top 10 talent who could be frozen out (possibly risking a second year out of his career development) and the Jays can afford to wait him out (especially with Cdn.$' rise where more later would be less later). The same approach could be used to apply to Kyle Gibson's situation with his arm injury. Wait til later to see if he recovers velocity, if he doesn't  a 20th selection next year might be of more value in a stronger field of draftees than this year where some view picks 15 through 50 as a wash .

     ....we've got a nice stock of young outfielders with upside in the lower minors (Sierra, Chavez, Wilson, Eiland, Brisker...)

They're in the low minors, and therefore it's very risky to count on any of them.  Yes, one or two of them could turn into decent major-leaguers, but that's not enough talent to consider the OF to be fully stocked, especially for the post-Wells, post-Rios era. 

• Chad Jenkins
• Chad James
• Kyle Gibson, if they want to take a flier on a top 10 player with an injury
• Eric Arnett
• Shelby Miller

It's a good pick, though there were still a couple sexier ones out there (with more risk).  He's a good bet to sign early as well (I think).  I'm just glad they didn't go college outfielder.  I wasn't overwhelmed by the talent there.

Interestingly, Sickels took Jenkins at number 10 in his community mock draft, as he was drafting for the Nationals owner who never showed up. Sickels likely took several factors into consideration when making the pick, such as signability (after presumably having to try to sign Strasburg), but it's a sign that Sickels thinks relatively highly of him, as he wouldn't have taken a marginal talent at 10th overall, even if he was pretending he had very little money to spend.

Like last year, it seems the Jays did about the best they could with the spot they had and given how the draft had already gone.

Will the Jays have to spend over slot to sign Jenkins?  Were there any better (over slot) talents still available?  I just want to know if Beeston and Ricciardi were serious about drafting over slot or if it was just lip service.

Interesting to read this comment from Lalonde:

Lalonde said the Blue Jays had a pair of eyes on the big righthander for a majority of his starts this year.

"We saw him pitch a whole lot," Lalonde said. "I saw him right before Easter, really really liked what I saw and I think we saw every one of his starts after that with someone. Matt Briggs, our area scout, has seen him pitch multiple times this year. We saw him pitch a lot—especially here down the stretch."

The Jays should really know what they are getting with that level of scouting, and recently they have done a good job in selecting and developing pitchers.

The biggest jump in the minor leagues is getting to AA, aside of the jump to the big leagues.  The Jays have a number of youngsters in Dunedin and it is not definite that the young guys will move up, they might need another half season in Dunedin.  That might in turn create a log jam in Lansing if guys like Pastornicky and Sobolewski are blocked by Jackson and Ahrens.

The Jays appear to have good success in developing pitchers.  If this is an organizational strength then picking pitchers makes sense.

In any event the Jays are hopefully taking the best available through round 5.  Then you can look to fill out the rosters.

J is for Jays i guess.

I was hoping for at least one offensive player in the first few rounds - a more balanced approach like 2007.  Jays would seem to have an astonishing group of talented pitchers now.  It will be interesting to see how things play out...

"Wow, it's over!!! I'm a Blue Jay. I held strong to my number. I had to fall to get it. Thanks for all the support"

From this tweet, it sounds like the Jays are going over slot and have agreed a price for Jake#3.

 If they drafted him thinking he'll take a discount they'll see him pitch again at Kentucky next year.

I think by "discount" he meant discount for a Boras client - which is still above slot.  Unreasonable as opposed to outlandish.

I wonder if this new risk taking in the draft extends to Latin America. Traditionally, the Jays were a powerhouse LA recruiter under Beeston, mainly in the Dominican Republic.

I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that Paddy has been given the green light to look at A+ signings this July.

An article from a couple a weeks ago on Baseball America said that the Jays are one of the teams that seem more agressive in Latin America than in previous years.

Barry University boasts one of the league’s best prospects in third baseman Yan Gomes (PGX#316), a transfer from the University of Tennessee.  He’s hitting .406-18-80 with a .482 OBP in 187 at-bats.  I made the trip to see him on Friday night (April 24th, 2009) against the University of Tampa.

From my eyes, I estimated Gomes to be 6-0, 190.  He’s solidly built with a little thickness in the hips.  Gomes has broad but sloped shoulders that look the part of a professional hitter.

During batting practice, Gomes stood in an open crouch and took a light load, keeping his hands low throughout.  He generated 40/50 bat-speed, 55 line-drive power, and 45 raw power.  There is a little bit of extra length to his swing (compared to an average MLB hitter).  He showed the ability to turn on an inside fastball and also to flick outside pitches the other way.

For the game, Gomes would go 2-4 with two singles in Barry’s 7-5 defeat of Tampa.  In order, Gomes flew out to right field slowing his bat to hit a curveball; hit a hard opposite field single to right on an outside fastball; a groundball single through the hole at short; a flyout to center field.  Gomes didn’t take many pitches in his four appearances.

Defensively, Gomes made four plays without any problem.  He handled a hard one-hopper and made the forceout at third on the first one.

I think Gomes has the tools to become an average third baseman but I can see where he may struggle at the get-go.  He doesn’t have a very good ready position; Gomes is upright and his glove is also up.  He has a tendency to hop with the pitch, which makes his first step slow.

I remember a scouting director telling me that getting rid of the pre-pitch hop made all the difference in the world for Robin Ventura.  The Chicago White Sox 1st-round pick out of Oklahoma State in 1988, Ventura was a tremendous pure hitting prospect whom most scouts graded out as a poor defender.  They believed he would have to move across the infield and work hard to become even adequate at first base.

Strangely enough, Ventura would go on to win five gold gloves at third base in the big leagues.  This former scouting director told me the White Sox corrected the hop early in the minors and his first step improved remarkably.

(Also oddly enough, Ventura would go on to a career batting average of “only” .267.  Most scouts envisioned a bad-defense, high-average, “not much power” guy and he turned into a 294 homerun slugger with five gold gloves.)

I won’t predict that kind of path for Gomes, but I do think he has solid-average hands and the quick transfers to become a major league average defender at the hot corner.  His range is below-average now, but with the said improvements I can see it becoming average.

While I didn’t get any good running times on Gomes (both singles were turns where he didn’t run them out), it was clear from watching his stride that he’s well below-average.  I would say he’s a 35 runner.

The Brazilian-born Gomes played at several Perfect Game events (while attending Miami Southridge High School) and our scouts were always impressed with him as a hitter, especially at the 2005 Perfect Game National Showcase.  Gomes was a catcher at the time and had a best pop-time of 1.83 seconds.  I wonder if he can still catch, if that would be an option at least for utility purposes in pro ball.  Gomes also ran a laser-timed 6.92 60 yard-dash at the 2005 National, but that speed has diminished since in the last four years.

Gomes isn’t going to be a high draft, but first ten rounds is reasonable.  He has a chance to hit and play several positions.  In addition to third base and maybe catcher, Gomes is potentially a first and second baseman.

I reread the comment and I think your interpretation is correct. However, it still sounds like a very solid pick.

The draft for day 2 is done and the Jays may not take many players on day 3.  The Jays 32 picks so far can be broken down as follows:

Pitchers - 19 (LHP - 5; RHP - 14)

C - 2

1B - 1

2B - 1

SS - 4

3B - 1

OF - 4

Date of births for the draftees are:

1985 - 1

1986 - 6

1987 - 10

1988 - 5

1989 - 2

1990 - 2

1991 - 6

The 1990 and 1991 picks are generally high school players whereas the 1985 to 1988 picks are college juniors and seniors.

Lexomatic- you didn't read my comment carefully enough. I said the overall draft was pitching heavy this year and was disappointed about that. I also said I wasn't against the Jays'  picks.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2009/drafttracker.jsp?p=0&s=100&sc=pick_number&so=ascending&st=number&ft=TM&fv=tor

Here are all the Jays picks. The video comes in handy during the dark days of the offseason to build a little excitement.

I think projectability for pitchers has a lot to do with body size.  If an 18 year old pitcher is 6'3" and 220 solid pounds the feeling is that his body has developed to most of its potential and future growth will be in smaller increments.   But if you have a kid who is 6'3" and 180 pounds a scout might look at him and say if he can add 20-30 pounds of muscle he can add 4-5 mph to his fastball.  If he can grow another inch or two he can get more speed and more angle on his deliveries.  That's why the scouts do the job they do, they need to understand different body types and what to expect of a kid over the next 3-4 years of body development.  If you read about the old time scouts they would meet the family, see the size of the parents and older siblings, and try to use that as a guide to how you would expect this prospect to develop physically.  I asume today's scouts do something similar.

Remember there are a lot of pitchers, with Steven Strasburg as example #1, who were not drafted out of high school.  Brad Mills was another who didn't even get a scholarship offer.  Some kids develop later than others and you have to trust that the scouting department know what they are doing. 

Slight correction -- Josh Outman pitched twice against the Jays this year (for the A's) but did not pick up the win in those games.

Sano, most of the high schoolers would go to the Gulf Coast League and the JuCo's and Collegians will go to Auburn.  That said, we only have one Dominican team this year, which may mean a lot of teenagers in extended spring training.  It may bump some guys up to Auburn.

Auburn's season starts on June 20.