I find it interesting that Taillon has Canadian citizenship, his parents were born in Ontario and are both  U. of T grads. Perhaps the WBC in 2013? 

Looks to me like Bryce Harper has "the good face".

Not when he's wearing all that black goop. He looks like a bizarre video game character.

The Jays have been very quiet.  I wouldn't be surprised if they surprised everyone here.

Not sure that this is a true signability pick - Deck McGuire was ranked 7th by Baseball America and MLB Bonus Baby and ranked 9th by PNR Scouting.  And 13th by Keith Law/ESPN.

Perhaps surprised as there was at least one article out there today that had Andrew Tinnish suggesting the Jays will target high school players.  Well, at least not in the first round!

http://www.mlbbonusbaby.com/2010/6/7/1506194/1-11-toronto-blue-jays-deck

McGuire has a big frame and a pitchers body and it sounds like he has a decent fastball with the oppoerunity to add a few mph to it.  The Jays have a good track record of improving or adding breaking ball pitches.  They might work on a cutter or a change up and if he has the fastball as a base he could be a different guy when he hits the majors.

I hope he signs before August 15.

I had sort of forgotten about McGuire, given all the talk of 70-80 level tools. I like the different reports on his slider (some have it as plus) and his change-up (which others say is his best pitch), as well as his command.

I know I shouldn't be questioning the standard terminology of professional baseball scouts, but I don't really understand how it can be useful to say that someone "projects as a No. 3 type pitcher."  What does that even mean?  There's obviously a massive difference between the No. 3 pitcher on a team like Tampa or Toronto, and a No. 3 pitcher on a team with a poor rotation.   On a pitching staff like Tampa's, a No. 3 pitcher would be the ace of almost any other rotation.  And it's obviously quite possible for a "projected as No. 3 type pitcher" to become the ace of a staff.  Ricky Romero was projected as a No. 3 type pitcher, and he's now racking up ace-type numbers with 2 complete games, 86 strikeouts vs 33 walks, and an ERA of 3.06.   To say that someone "projects as a No. 3 type pitcher" smacks of pseudo-scientific pretentiousness that's more misleading than useful.  It implies that you can be precise in predicting a pitcher's career trajectory, when history shows that it's pretty much a crapshoot.....

There must be a reason McGuire was ranked in the top 10 of the various publications.  Scouting reports state that he doesnt have a huge ceiling but has a much higher floor than most players.  It also appears his fastball has lost a couple MPH in velocity from a year or two ago and if it returns he could be a #2 starter.

I am not overly excited with this pick but not sure I would have been overly thrilled with 2B-3B Cox (limited power potential), OF J.Sale (limited to corner) or LHP Chris Sale (might be relegated to bullpen).  All these guys have question marks.

As others have suggested - the Jays know better than I, and, I will wait to hold "judgement" until the end of the night.  Looking forward to the next 3 picks!

Per John Lott the Jays had a lot of looks at McGuire.

I'll scan the entirety of the draft later this week for the most interesting names. Point them out to me if you see something that rings a bell, HON-wise!

I actually read Josh Sale is nowhere near as advanced a hitter as Travis Snider was coming out of high school.

Update: BA had updated their top 50 today and McGuire was actually 9th moving down 2 spots.

Quite a few good players remaing and the Jays pick in 7.  OF Austin Wilson, OF Bryce Brentz, 3B Nick Castellanos, RHP Aaron Sanchez, RHP Stetson Allie, C-SS-RHP Justin O'Connor, RHP Anthony Renaudo, LHP James Paxton...

Seiler's review of Syndergaard is very promising - as Mylegacy has alluded too.  He projected him as high as the supplemental round.  We have to remember that that pick was not protected, so for the Jays to find someone signable with as much upside as the kid seems to have, it's a good pick...maybe their best.  I'd love it if AJ Cole slipped down to our second rounder.

Think the Jays like the pitchers over the hitters in this draft?

This draft seems reminiscent of the 1993 Jays draft when we had 8 picks in the 1st 3 rds (9 this time) including

1st rd & 3s (just as today) - Jays drafted Chris Carpenter(HS,#15),outfielder Matt Farner(HS,37),pitcher Jeremy

Lee(HS,40) and pitcher Mark Lukasiewicz (Juco,41) -of the 8 selections,only Carpenter had a ML career (alas

much of it  with st. Louis) -  I hope we have better luck this time.

Of  todays picks, I'm ok with the 3 supplemental picks, Deck would make JP proud , perhaps the

Jays will be able to tweak his delivery & make him a quality pitcher. Can't have too much pitching 

Noah Syndergaard

"I can't wait," he said, "to be a Blue Jay."

Aaron Sanchez

“I was kind of expecting to go in the first round, but this is amazing. Getting picked by the Angels as a California kid would have been great, but everything happens for a reason. I just want to start playing.”

Sanchez will now have a busy month ahead of him. He said he will report to the Blue Jays camp in Dunedin, Fla. to sign his contract in the next two or three weeks, and he expects to start training by the end of the month.

Sanchez was my pick at #34 the whole way. I really like his upside and projectability. He's got the total package with power stuff, good command, and a good breaking ball.

The other three? Meh, it could be worse, but it could be better. I like the fact they're all tall and project to be workhorses. #38 being only 17 (92 born) is kind of crazy actually. I would have just rathered more position players.

To be honest however we thought we had a tonne of pitchign depth already, but we're still forced to run Brian Tallet out every 5 days. Just shows I guess you can never actually have enough.

I don't have a ton of issues with the players taken... there was simply talent on the board at the time of each pick that I liked better... my picks would have been

1. Josh Sale
2. Peter Tago
3. Seth Blair
4. Yordy Cabrera

I thought it was a little odd that the Jays selected 4 pitchers. But that being said, they must have felt strongly about these players, and they have been successful at developing pitchers. I don't think its right to sit here and say they should have selected someone else, when they have been scouting players and know alot more about these guys than us arm chair GM's. It's fine to have an opinion but to talk down on the guys they selected before they have even played a professional game doesn't make much sense to me. Just a gut feeling but I think today we may see some high upside over slot players that alot of people were hoping to see in the first round. I'm definatly looking forward to see these guy move through the system. If a few of these guys pan out the pitching could become quite a juggernaut.

I would prefer to never actually draft pitchers but unfortunately you need them.  Most people don't realize that the vast majority of early round pitchers don't even get to Casey Janssen's level.  I don't really have any opinion on these picks but get back to me in 5 years.

Another fine Polish boy was picked by the Jays though with a name the same last name as long time friends of my family.  The proper pronunciation of Wojciechowski is Voy-che-hov-ski.  I'm sure that's not what you'll hear though.

I think the Jays hit a home run in the supplemental round.  Both Sanchez and Wojo are big, high upside righthanders that were rated almost universally as top 30 talent. 

And the Syndergaard pick might have been even better.  Instead of the low ceiling but easy to sign college guy that we were expecting with the Paxton pick, we got a high ceiling prep arm who was pitching as well as anyone towards the end of the year (he's only 17) that was identified as a signable player.  Good work by the scouts there!

Maguire was probably who I wanted the least of all the top 15 prospects, but I acknowledge that he is probably as good as anyone else available and they had at least 12 different sets of eyes look at him.

I have no issues with the fact that they're all pitchers.  We can send them all to San Diego in a year for Adrian Gonzalez.

The proper pronunciation of Wojciechowski is Voy-che-hov-ski

is that "chay" or "cheh"?

BA: Best Available Talent Heading Into Day Two

www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=2405

15. Stetson Allie, rhp, St. Edward HS, Lakewood, Ohio
 20. Brandon Workman, rhp, Texas
 23. Brett Eibner, rhp/of, Arkansas
 25. A.J. Cole, rhp, Oviedo (Fla.) HS
 28. Austin Wilson, of, Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City, Calif.
 31. Ryan LaMarre, of, Michigan
 33. Chad Bettis, rhp, Texas Tech    
 35. Yordy Cabrera, ss/rhp, Lakeland (Fla.) HS   
 37. Jedd Gyorko, ss, West Virginia  
 38. Ryne Stanek, rhp, Blue Valley HS, Stilwell, Kan.
 45. A.J. Vanegas, rhp, Redwood Christian HS, San Lorenzo, Calif.
 46. Garin Cecchini, 3b, Barbe HS, Lake Charles, La.
 47. James Paxton, lhp, Grand Prairie (American Assoc.)
 48. Sammy Solis, lhp, San Diego
 50. Jesse Hahn, rhp, Virginia Tech

* I don't want to sound pessimestic, but other then Yordy Cabrera and Austin Wilson there's not too much high upside position players on this list. Could we draft even more arms today?

from Fangraphs:

11. Toronto Blue Jays – Deck McGuire | RHP | Georgia Tech

It’s not often for a pitcher to pair such size (6-foot-6, 220 pounds) with such pitchability, but McGuire is a rare breed. Capable of throwing four pitches in any count, he’ll go as high as scouts believe in pitches 2-4. We know his fastball will work at the next level, and while it’s not explosive, commanding 92 mph isn’t bad. He trusts his change up, and flashes a plus slider, so it will probably be his curveball that gets scrapped. (Bryan Smith)

34. Toronto Blue Jays – Aaron Sanchez | RHP | California HS

Sanchez is considered a bit of a project with a good, low-90s fastball and curveball, but he lacks a third pitch. He has a very long stride and almost launches himself off the rubber, which could be contributing to his control issues. He’s committed to the University of Oregon. (Marc Hulet)

41. Toronto Blue Jays – Asher Wojciechowski | RHP | The Citadel

Wojciechowski currently leads Division I in both innings pitched (125.2) and strikeouts (155), which is a bit of a double-edged sword: on the one hand, he’s a proven workhorse. On the other, he has a lot of mileage on his arm. The team that drafts him would be well advised to give him some well-earned rest, and begin refining his slider and changeup in the fall. Some are calling him a future reliever, because while the fastball already plays, it might only be his slider that ever becomes a usable secondary offering. (Bryan Smith)

guys I think I like from BA's list (warning: more prep arms):

15. Stetson Allie, rhp, St. Edward HS, Lakewood, Ohio
 25. A.J. Cole, rhp, Oviedo (Fla.) HS
 28. Austin Wilson, of, Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City, Calif.
 35. Yordy Cabrera, ss/rhp, Lakeland (Fla.) HS   
 37. Jedd Gyorko, ss, West Virginia  
 45. A.J. Vanegas, rhp, Redwood Christian HS, San Lorenzo, Calif.
 46. Garin Cecchini, 3b, Barbe HS, Lake Charles, La. 
 

not necessarily in that order....I think I like Cole/Wilson/Cabrera over the other four.

is that "chay" or "cheh"?

Cheh.

In response to “you actually need hitting too”, I think it’s anecdote time:

Let's say you have a sauce factory. The factory combines tomatoes and basil to make sauce and you hope to make the best sauce around. You have options...you can grow the tomatoes and basil yourself, you can grow one or the other or you can buy both. What do you do? You try to grow both initially but, as it turns out, your operation is awesome at growing basil and only average at growing tomatoes. The conditions are such and your basil growers are so good that your basil yield is better than almost anyone's. And the market for basil in the recent past has shown that you can demand pretty high prices for developed crop. So, you invest really heavily in basil operation, because that’s what you’re good at, and you use your basil profits to buy great, already picked tomatoes from the place across town, because that’s what they are good at producing. Now that you don’t have to worry about dividing up your growing resources between tomatoes and basil, your basil yield becomes even better and your factory is making more money overall because your sauce is better than ever. It’s a good thing you recognized what you were good at and had the smarts to focus on it.

As things stand today, the Jays organization as a whole is very good at developing pitchers. Playing to a strength is just good business.

I think there are problems with being too dogmatic to any particular draft strategy. At a certain point you need to trust your scouts, and take the best player of the board. Sale was not understood to have insane demands, so I can only assume that the Jays scouting staff liked Deck more, when taking into account the added risk that pitchers bring.

Having only read quick descriptions of Deck, I was initially disappointed in the selection. Especially after having read so much discussion hoping for certain players to drop – seeing them drop – and then having the Jays take a guy who had previously been described as a low ceiling fall back option that we may have been stuck with if the aforementioned players didn’t drop! However, after reading some more descriptive scouting reports, seeing where he was ranked by the various pundits, and reading further analysis today, I am happier with the selection and at least willing to give the kid a chance.

I was also hoping for an influx of a couple high end position players also. But I have never seen Sale or Castellanos play, and I cannot say for certain where their ceilings are. While I was intrigued by what I heard - I’m sure the jays have seen all of these players more than Law, Callis and many of the on-line scouting agencies put together.

I am looking forward to the up coming rounds.

<i>One of the lines about Ricciardi's unbalanced drafting (too heavy on pitchers) was that it would be easy to trade it for position talent.  That didn't work out so well.</i>

It hasn't? The only reason the Halladay trade is survivable is because the Jays have a glut of cheap, effective pitching on hand. This is what the pitching-heavy strategy allows you to do, trade away the arms when they begin to cost more than they are worth. It's not necessary or advisable to trade them before they are at max value.

In general I don't like or dislike picks, I assume the Jays scouting team knows what they are doing in an event that has a high "miss" rate.  So while everyone is entitled to their opinion I don't worry about labels such as good draft or bad draft because we don't know.

Just for fun I went back to look at the Batters Box commentary on the Jays 2007 draft.

Most of the commentary related to teams passing on Rick Porcello.  Outside of that some people didn't like the Cecil or Rzepczynski picks.  Pistol, to his credit, did like the Zep pick.  There was some question as to whether Arencibia could catch at the major league level.

Here is a Magnuson comment:

Magnuson is a huge money saving pick. He was a fifth year senior(!) and could have been signed for peanuts by any team before the draft if his team's playoffs had ended in time. He probably would have been available in the seventh round

And another comment:

Honestly, I'm not very impressed by this draft. It seems alittle like the same old. Ahrens is OK (would have preferred Beavan). I don't like the Cecil pick and our last pick of the supplemental round. I think that the Nationals made out like bandits. Very toolsy draft.

And another:

One of the lines about Ricciardi's unbalanced drafting (too heavy on pitchers) was that it would be easy to trade it for position talent. That didn't work out so well.

Lyle Overbay might disagree with you.

RHP is the strength of this draft.  We should have been prepared to take it.  MG is right that hitting is safer than pitching early in a draft and should be targeted, all things equal. 

Unfortunately, all things aren't equal.  Either the Jays felt that a) the RHP available was better than any hitter available at the position to negate the "safer" argument, or b) pitching is not safer than hitting early in the draft for the Jays specifically because they've had much more success at developing pitchers drafted early.

I agree, the draft is such a crap shoot - most experts & posters are saying that Boston & Tampa had a better

day 1 than the Jays - I disagree - I guess we'll see in 5-6 yrs. I remember how enthusiastic this board and Baseball

America was about JP's first draft & we all know how that turned out. If the scouts weren't enthused about the

position prospects, then I'm happy they didn't draft them.

There is a bit of a misconception there, Spicol.  If you look at the top end of the organization's drafts in the years 2002-06.

Unfortunately, this isn't really something that looking historically can answer, since the organization has gone through some upheaval and the scouting and coaching staff that existed as far back as 2002 is largely irrelevant now. If the organization has confidence in its current ability to choose and develop pitchers, and I think that the brass does feel that is a particular strength based on recent results, then that's the strength you play to. Just because Ricciardi didn't execute the plan as well as he could have, it doesn't mean it isn't an effective strategy.

No, the plan of drafting too many pitchers didn't work well.  The goal was to compete and to be able to trade pitching talent for gaps in talent on the field when needed to compete, not to survive impending free agency of the team's greatest star.

If we're talking about maximizing resources, it's two paths to the same end, isn't it?

Before the Jays game on Sunday, Jamie Campbell had Shi Davidi and Jordan Bastian in studio and he asked them about the best picks of the JP era.  They picked Shaun Marcum and Brett Cecil, neither a top 30 pick.

I saw that and thought the question wasn't defined well. If "best pick" is intended to mean best MLB performance to date out of the player, you'd answer it differently (probably Aaron Hill or Adam Lind) than "most astute recognition of value" (which is where a later pick probably makes sense).

budgell,

this would make the Jays the AL version of the Giants.... not sure i want that.

my thoughts on the draft are meh.

but i'm not sure what position players you'd pick instead.

 In any case, they hid their cards nicely (per AA's secrecy agenda)

Let's not get too crazy about these so called new tight-lipped policies the regime is supposed to have...Jeff Blair told Keith Law on 590 yesterday that he heard the Jays would likely select McGuire and Law replied that they weren't going the safe college route at #11...you just have to know who you should be listening to when it comes to different areas.

Where's metafour? He loves talking about the prospects before the draft, figured he'd be a key component in this thread. I was hoping he'd explain to me how Ranaudo lasted past the Blue Jays 2 supplemental picks, because he was convinced last week he wasn't getting out of the first round and even entertaining the possibility was a waste of his time.

Where's metafour? He loves talking about the prospects before the draft, figured he'd be a key component in this thread. I was hoping he'd explain to me how Ranaudo lasted past the Blue Jays 2 supplemental picks, because he was convinced last week he wasn't getting out of the first round and even entertaining the possibility was a waste of his time.

I think there are underlying medical concerns. Plus Ranaudo's been hammered: "He owns an 8.02 ERA with a 39/21 K/BB ratio in 42.2 innings this season, and opponents are hitting .301 off him." I believe he picked up towards the end of the year. However he is also represented by Scott Boras.

Those concerns all existed a few days ago when I suggested the Blue Jays might look at Ranaudo and was told it's an impossibility.

Asher Woj - Pollock or Yid?