Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - 2010 Draft

2010 Draft - Day Three

It is the third and final day of the draft. Rounds 31 through 50 are today although not every team will continue to pick through round 50. In general teams will be looking to fill short-season rosters today and maybe pick some players who they will watch between now and August 15th to see if they want to sign them.

Minor league camp for the short season teams starts this weekend with the season starting later next week so there is not much time for the teams to get organized. With the Jays selecting so many high school players this year some may not sign, some might sign late and the Jays might follow some to see how much money they are worth. For more on player intentions see down below.

Here are the picks so far:

Round	Overall	Player	Position	School	State
1	11	Deck McGuire	RHP	Georgia Tech	Ga.
1s	34	Aaron Sanchez	RHP	Barstow (Calif.) HS	Calif.
1s	38	Noah Syndergaard	LHP	Legacy HS, Mansfield, Texas	Texas
1s	41	Asher Wojciechowski	RHP	The Citadel	S.C.
2	61	Griffin Murphy	LHP	Redlands (Calif.) East Valley HS	Calif.
2	69	Kellen Sweeney	3B	Jefferson HS, Cedar Rapids, Iowa	Iowa
2	80	Justin Nicolino	RHP	University HS, Orlando	Fla.
3	93	Christopher Hawkins	3B	North Gwinnett HS, Suwanee, Ga.	Ga.
3s	113	Marcus Knecht	OF	Connors State (Okla.) JC	Okla,
4	126	Sam Dyson	RHP	South Carolina	S.C.
5	156	Dickie Joe Thon	SS	Academia Perpetio Socorro, San Juan, P.R.
6	186	Sean Nolin	LHP	San Jacinto (Texas) JC	Texas
7	216	Mitchell Taylor	LHP	Spring (Texas) HS	Texas
8	246	Logan Ehlers	LHP	Nebraska City (Neb.) HS	Neb.
9	276	Brandon Mims	SS	Smith HS, Carrollton, Texas	Texas
10	306	Tyler Shreve	RHP	Phelps County HS, Redlands, Calif.	Calif.
11	336	Shane Opitz	SS	Heritage HS, Centennial, Colo.	Colo.
12	366	Omar Cotto	OF	Bonneville School, San Juan, P.R.	P.R.
13	396	Tyler Painton	LHP	Centennial HS, Bakersfield, Calif.	Calif.
14	426	Dayton Marze	RHP	Louisiana-Lafayette	La.
15	456	Zak Adams	LHP	Flower Mound (Texas) HS	Texas
16	486	Dalton Pompey	OF	Fraser SS, Mississauga, Ont.
17	516	Myles Jaye	RHP	Starrs Mill HS, Fayetteville, Ga.	Ga.
18	546	Kris Bryant	3B	Bonanza HS, Las Vegas	Nev.
19	576	Travis Garrett	RHP	Cypress (Calif.) JC	Calif.
20	606	Art Charles	LHP	Bakersfield (Calif.) JC	Calif.
21	636	Chris Marlowe	RHP	Navarro (Texas) JC	Texas
22	666	Aaron Westlake	OF	Vanderbilt	Tenn.
23	696	Angel Gomez	OF	Maria Cruz Buitrago HS, San Lorenzo
24	726	Ronald Melendez	OF	Cowley County (Kan.) CC	Kan.
25	756	Brando Tessar	RHP	Chaminade HS, West Hills, Calif.	Calif.
26	786	Jay Johnson	LHP	Texas Tech	Texas
27	816	Eric Arce	C	Lakeland (Fla.) HS	Fla.
28	846	Adaric Kelly	RHP	Trinity Christian Academy, Lake Worth, Fla.	Fla.
29	876	Jonathan Jones	OF	Long Beach State	Calif.
30	906	Steve McQuail	2B	Canisius	N.Y.

The picks can also be broken down as follows:

RHP 12

LHP 9

OF 7

3B 3

SS 3

C 1

2B 1

Obviously that is a lot of pitchers. Most of the outfielders were picked later, the shortstops and third basemen came earlier.

Another view:

College: 8

Junior College: 6

High School: 22

That is a lot of high school players for a Blue Jay draft.

John Lott has a day two summary including pointing out that the Jays tenth round pick, Tyler shreve, is facing an assault charge for hitting his baseball coach.

Bob Elliott covers the Canadian angle with a story on Marcus Knecht.

The Jays now have to sign these players. First round pick Deck McGuire has been MIA as his team was knocked out of the playdowns on Monday night. Look for him to show up today or tomorrow. The big issue is how quickly will the Jays be able to sign him. Last season Chad jenkins didn;t sign until the August 15th deadline and so didn't pitch in 2009. Some of the Jays coaches think that was a mistake on his part.

Dickie Thon isn't happy with how the Jays handled discussions with his son. However the story makes it clear that they have a dollar amount in mind so there is a chance for the Jays to meet that price or for both sides to compromise. But he won't be signing anytime soon I would guess.

Justin Nicolino is ready to sign. "I'm going pro now," Nicolino said. "The opportunity is there and I feel great about it, but I won't be satisfied until I make it to The Show. That's my goal now."

Aaron Sanchez is ready to play, once he graduated high school that is. 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. On top of his new professional baseball obligations Sanchez will also be graduating from Barstow High School on June 24.

Posted by Gerry on Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 11:05 AM EDT.

2010 Draft - Day Three | 51 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

Forkball - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 11:14 AM EDT (#216711) #

Dickie Thon isn't happy with how the Jays handled discussions with his son.

Kind of interesting. They were going to take him in the supplemental round, but didn't because of money. Sounds like taking him in the 5th round is a bit of a flier, but guessing that he'll come off of his amount (if not, why waste the pick?).

Supplemental players get about $1 million, right? He must be asking for a significant amount over that if I were to guess.

But I think what this says is that the Jays will go over slot for players later in the draft as clearly they would know Thon isn't signing for 5th round money.

sam - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 11:24 AM EDT (#216713) #

I hope he signs because he's a talent, but his dad sounds like a douche. The Jays were clearly the only team to believe in his son's talent to take him that high and he trashes the organization that just drafted his son. Ah well.

Greg - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 11:33 AM EDT (#216714) #

That's good news on Nicolino isn't it?
I had heard he was a first round talent that fell because he was going to college. Or perhaps I am very mistaken.

Mike Green - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 11:46 AM EDT (#216717) #

Excellent coverage, Gerry. It seems to me that there are more questions about whether key players will sign with the Jays than in most previous years. A repeat of 2009 would not be good.

Denoit - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 11:54 AM EDT (#216720) #

I like all the high school picks as long as they can get them signed. There is a chance some of these younger guys taken in the later rounds could turn into really good players. Obviously most of them wont work out, but if they can land an All-Star player past the 5th round then its worth it.

John Northey - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:08 PM EDT (#216728) #

Thon in the 5th round - what is it with the Jays and that round? Dave Stieb, Pat Hentgen, Mike Young, Mike Timlin, and Marc Rzepczynski are all 5th round picks for the Jays in the past. Once every 6 years they find a gem in that slot, which is quite good imo. By the 5th round over 120 players have been picked so finding a solid major leaguer is quite the thing, yet the Jays have found a few all-stars.

Gets me curious about other teams.

Yankees: B.J. Surhoff, Jim Barr (100 game winner), Greg Gagne, Todd Stottlemyre (later signed here), LaMarr Hoyt, Willie Upshaw, J.T. Snow. Pretty good haul.

Red Sox: Dwight Evans, Amos Otis (both in the 60's), John Valentin, Mike Smithson. Great peak with Evans, but not a ton of guys.

Orioles: Jim Johnson with a 3.2 WAR is as good as it gets

Tampa Bay: Aubrey Huff

Hmm... Jays and Yankees did well, Red Sox found 1 near HOF'er, while Baltimore & Tampa haven't done a lot.

The 4th has been a dead zone for the Jays (no player with even 2 WAR). What about the east beasts?
Yankees: Stan Bahnsen, Jim Beattie, Eric Plunk
Red Sox: Jeff Bagwell, Jonathan Papelbon
Orioles: ... well, they did take Jesse Jefferson here (cue the screams from Jay fans who suffered that early 80's bullpen).
Devil Rays: David Bush (didn't sign, later did here)

Red Sox have found 2 amazing gems, but other than a few for the Yanks nothign much here. Funny that the 4th is so much weaker than the 5th round.

John Northey - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:09 PM EDT (#216729) #

Hrm, Jefferson was a starter, not a closer here - dang memory going.

Marc Hulet - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:19 PM EDT (#216730) #

Mr. Thon needs to realize that baseball is a business and it's pretty standard practice for teams to check in with players throughout a draft to gauge signability. He should instead look at it from the perspective that the organization obviously has a lot of interest in his son.

metafour - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:31 PM EDT (#216731) #

Andy Seiler says that it will probably take $1.25 mil to $1.5 mil to sign Thon.

Thon Sr. is angry because the kids in Peurto Rico are at such a disadvantage to the kids in the Dominican, Venezuela, etc. who can get millions on the free-agent market. The kids in PR often dont have the opportunity to go to big American schools so a lot of them are forced to sign fairly minimal contracts.

Sano - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:35 PM EDT (#216732) #

Thon Senior sounds like a bit of a douche to be honest. It's pretty clear that he's pressuring his son to not sign and hope for something better in the coming years.

That being said, hearing that the Jays were calling repeatedly to see if the price was going down in later rounds does not impress me very much. Reminds me of a nervous teenager who calls his crush but always hangs up before she picks up.

PeterG - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:42 PM EDT (#216733) #

I imagine that if Thon won't sign, the money will go to Bryant instead. Although signing both is always possible, I will be very surprised if at least one of the two is not signed.

John Northey - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:55 PM EDT (#216734) #

Of course we are just getting one side of the story here. Did the Jays really call multiple times to Thon or did they call just once, while the draft was going, to confirm his bonus demands and adjust accordingly?

As to this Houston business, I know if I had a kid who was a prospect Houston would not be high on my list as they are a bottom feeder lately and while you might get to the majors quicker you won't necessarily get good training along the way.

In truth, Thon Jr might want to go to Toronto to get away from any legacy of his father and forge his own. If the Jays believe he is the real thing then $1.25 to $1.5 shouldn't be a problem. If they feel his odds of reaching are low though then lowball and pressure (no one else wanted you pre-5th round, do you really think things will be better in a few years) to see if he gives in when August hits.

Rich - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:55 PM EDT (#216735) #

"Thon Sr. is angry because the kids in Peurto Rico are at such a disadvantage to the kids in the Dominican, Venezuela, etc. who can get millions on the free-agent market."

Then the Thons should have moved to the Dominican for a few years. If he doesn't like the system, fine, but it ain't the Blue Jays' fault. I don't see how the situation will be any different in 3 years if his kid goes to Rice - in fact - he'll have less leverage then.

Rich - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:58 PM EDT (#216736) #

Who's to say the Astros even want the kid anyway? They had dozens of picks they could have used to take him if they loved him as much as Thon Sr may have wished; yet they didn't even take a late flier on him, hoping he'd give them a hometown discount. I liked Thon as a player and felt terrible for his injury but he is making an idiot of himself.

mathesond - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 01:59 PM EDT (#216737) #

Hrm, Jefferson was a starter, not a closer here - dang memory going.

If memory serves me correctly, Jefferson was the winning pitcher in one of Ron Guidry's 3 losses during his 25-3 season (1978?)

Impossibles - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 02:06 PM EDT (#216738) #

My wife teaches with an aunt of the Deglan kid from Langley, it was really interesting to hear that teams were calling him (his parents i guess) and asking him if he'll sign for $X money, and if he said no they would pick another player. Its a really complicated process, I always thought scouts would get an idea of what they were looking for, the team would draft the BPA, then the negotiations would start then. Very interesting to hear how it actually happens. Turns out the kid didn't get picked a couple slots before because they were $100k apart, which seems foolish considering the annual player costs these teams deal with.

Forkball - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 02:10 PM EDT (#216739) #

Of course we are just getting one side of the story here. Did the Jays really call multiple times to Thon or did they call just once, while the draft was going, to confirm his bonus demands and adjust accordingly?

And is that out of the ordinary or just normal operating procedure for lots of teams?

(no one else wanted you pre-5th round, do you really think things will be better in a few years)

I suspect other teams didn't take him earlier for the same reasons the Jays didn't. They knew his price and didn't want to pay it.

I think I'd have a hard time turning any 6-figure signing bonus down.

John Northey - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 02:52 PM EDT (#216742) #

That is the big issue for these kids. If you sign quickly then you have a quicker route to the majors as teams can only keep you in the minors so long before you become eligible for the rule 5 draft, then so long before you are a free agent (6 years total for minor league free agent, or 6 years in the majors).

The big thing I'd go for is being put on the ML roster as there are only so many times you can be sent down before the team loses their rights to you. That jumps the odds of getting mega bucks and speeds the teams timetable on getting you to the majors. Perhaps negotiate that you are on it in a year no matter what if immediately can't be had, or something like that.

Remember, signing out of high school makes the clock tick a lot earlier. That explains this years top pick doing anything possible to get drafted a year earlier than he'd be otherwise.

sam - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 04:06 PM EDT (#216748) #

Congratulations to Ricky Romero's younger brother who was just drafted by the Jays

Jdog - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 04:24 PM EDT (#216750) #

Any draft interviews with A.A or Tinnish out there yet? Im interested to hear there thoughts but can't find anything yet.

All the young kids sound good on paper but Im going to be watching 12th rounder Omar Cotto he sounds intriguing, lets hope most of these HS kids sign

Doom Service - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 04:27 PM EDT (#216752) #

Guidry's three losses were to Mike Flanagan, Mike Torrez and Blue Jay Mike Willis, not Jefferson. I'm ashamed to remember this, but it's been a long time since there was a trivia thread.

Back to draft notes...

Marc Hulet - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 04:54 PM EDT (#216755) #

As mentioned above, Gabe Romero, Ricky's brother, was taken in the 47th round...

92-93 - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 06:11 PM EDT (#216762) #

For all the pitch count experts out there - all 3 of the Jays early college SP picks were "abused" at some point over the season. McGuire threw 127 pitches once, Woj threw 126 twice and 138 once, and in 3 straight starts Dyson threw 129, 125, and 123. The guy the Mets took 7th overall, Matt Harvey, had games of 130, 124, 126, 135, and the cherry on the top, 156.

Mylegacy - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 08:11 PM EDT (#216768) #

Blue Jays content from Andy Seiler's Draft Chat:

Q: (This Q. was not about the Jays but about the Draft as a whole)
Could you name one pick which really stood out to you as being excellent?

A: Other than Chris Sale the one was the Blue Jays getting Asher Wojiechowski so late in the day. They got a potential #2 starter or closer.

Q: Which 5 teams had the best drafts?

A: Rays, Red Sox, Angels, Blue Jays and Pirates.

Q: Which Blue Jays draftees are tough signs? Of the tough signs which (if any) do you think they have the best shot at getting?

A: Thon is a tough sign. as is Taylor, Ehlers, Adams, Bryant, Marlowe etc. I thing they can get two of Taylor, Ehlers and Adams, one of Thon or Bryant. Marlowe is likely gone unless something else falls through.

Q: Can the Jays sign so many HS players? Especially those taken after the 5th round?

A: Expect Cotto to sign and 3 of Adams, Taylor and Ehlers, Mims will sign, probably Opitz too. Painton and the rest are up in the air.

Q: Why did Kris Bryant fall so far? I know some think he might not be able to hit for average but with so few power bats I thought he'd do much higher?

A: Signability. Once he got past a certain early pick number teams no longer see him as a viable pick, but rater as a crippling pick to their budget.

Q: Given the Jays offensive holes in their system why not draft a high upside bat?

A: They've identified the draft has the yields for finding pitching. Trades for pitching often don't work out.

Q: Any chance Jay's picks: Melvin Garcia, David Whitehead, Chad Green and Nicholas Vanter Tuig don't go to school?

A" They'll all go to school. Vander Tuig was a potential 1st rounder before an injurty last year.

And the last Jays question was: Could any of the Jays picks particularily McGuire, Wojo or Dyson be on the fast track for the majors?

A: McGuire definitely. If they want Wojo and Dyson to be starters they'll need development time. Dyson will need less than Wojo.

PS His Draft Book (e-mail) and related updates to purchasers is truly a real steal.

Chris DH - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 09:56 PM EDT (#216770) #

Obviously we really wont know the quality of the Jays picks for years to come but some initial reactions:

Baseball America comments on twitter:

Baseball America comments:

In my opinion (Conor Glassey), the top 5 teams with the best #mlbdraft so far (after Day 2) are: Red Sox, Rays, Blue Jays, Pirates and Phillies

Tor #mlbdraft Day 2: Premium athletes Knecht (3rd supp) & Thon (5th) jump out, also nice haul of LHP starting w/Murphy (2nd) <Jim Callis>

Andy Seiler from MLB Bonus Baby:

25 #bluejays profiles in the 2010 #mlbdraftnotebook. Love their draft.

greenfrog - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 10:41 PM EDT (#216772) #

Nice to get some affirmation re the Jays draft, but I agree with Gerry's comment that it's basically impossible at this stage to tell how well a particular team drafted. It's interesting, though. The Jays' 2007 draft was initially highly rated before its stock plummeted when prospects Jackson, Ahrens and Eiland fell off the map. But it's looking better these days, as the following players have held their own or exceeded expectations: Cecil, Arencibia, Tolisano, Magnuson, Farina, Mills, Rzep, McDade, Emaus, Mastroianni, Boone. That's a pretty impressive haul. Plus, we now have D'Arnaud (who was picked just ahead of Cecil) in the fold. I would be pretty happy if '10 is as good to the Jays as '07 was.

Thomas - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 10:58 PM EDT (#216774) #

I know it's just one man's opinion, but I love the fact that three of the best five drafts were in the AL East.

jerjapan - Wednesday, June 09 2010 @ 11:37 PM EDT (#216776) #

That's actually two different guys saying that 3 of the top 5 drafts were Boston, Toronto and Tampa ...

Even as it seems we are starting to nail this developing young talent approach, Boston and Tamp have been doing this for a while.

Sister - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 10:46 AM EDT (#216790) #

For what its worth, Sickles also likes the Jays draft (and Boston's draft).

Law liked Toronto's Day 2 drafting, but was not particularly impressed with 3 of our first 4 picks.

Mike Green - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 11:12 AM EDT (#216792) #

Sickels commented:

"Very pitching heavy, with a nice mixture, two college arms (McGuire, Wojciechowski) who should move fast and two high schoolers (Sanchez, Syndergaard) who will need more time but have great upside. Extra letters for uniform names might be a budget hassle."

If Cox's name was Grabarkewitz, maybe that would have changed things...

Sister - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 12:05 PM EDT (#216796) #

I was also referring to Sickle's comment on Tuesday night:

"I got two hours of sleep last night and am at my last legs here. I will have more commentary tomorrow. Love the Red Sox draft. I think the Blue Jays have done well too.

In the meantime, here is some fresh thread for you."

Impossibles - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 02:17 PM EDT (#216808) #

Did you guys catch this from Elliot?

Catcher Kellin Deglan, who went 22nd overall to the Texas Rangers, the seventh highest Canadian ever selected, wanted to play for his favourite team, the Jays, according to his agent Joshua Kusnick of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

�I spoke to the Jays on Sunday but, once the draft started, I couldn�t get them to call back, which was surprising,� Kusnick said from Vancouver. �Maybe we could have worked something out at the same price with one of their supplemental picks (34th, 38th and 41st).�

You would think a team with an excess of scouts would be able to return calls. AA is learning on the fly, and between this feedback and the quotes from Thon, that doesn't speak highly of the Jays front office on draft day.

Hodgie - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 02:37 PM EDT (#216809) #

How does that make any sense? Being picked 22 by the Rangers precluded the Jays from having an opportunity to select him with their compensatory picks. What is the insinnuation, that had the Jays returned his phone call Kusnick would have convinced the Rangers (and everyone else between 11 and 34) not to draft his client? Honestly, the comments attributed to Kusnick and Thon speak more to the media's willingness to print anything, no matter how non-sensical than it does to the capabilities of the Jays front office.

Mike Green - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 02:37 PM EDT (#216810) #

I wonder if that had to do with Deglan being a catcher, and the club's relative strength at the position. I get the impression that the club had little interest in Grandal for that reason.

I should be clear that if that was the case, I don't agree with the reasoning.

Mike Green - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 02:40 PM EDT (#216811) #

Hodgie, I presume that the agent has the possibility of letting the Jays know that he can be signed for X with the supplemental pick and to let other teams know that he can be signed for X + 500K say, if he is drafted prior to that. He won't do that unless he has a commitment from the Jays.

Hodgie - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 03:16 PM EDT (#216814) #

Mike, any idea if that is common practice among teams and agents? Perhaps I am just naive about the process, however I would have assumed that teams would take issue with what amounts to collusion between another team and a yet undrafted player.

Brent S - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 03:39 PM EDT (#216816) #

Here's the first signing: 42nd round RHP Drew Permison.

Mike Green - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 04:02 PM EDT (#216819) #

Agents sometimes indicate that their clients will require much above slot in an effort to get him pushed out of early in the 1st round. This was Boras' tactic with Purcello. it's easier to do that if you know that one club later on will pay X. We read of "signability concerns" prior to the draft, and I understand that this results from agents' discussions with the teams.It is well understood that the price will go down if the player is drafted later, at least to some degree. It is hard for Deglan's agent to convey "signability concerns" to other clubs if he does not know that the Jays are interested.

Denoit - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 04:09 PM EDT (#216820) #

I don't think taking a few quotes from players is a good idea to draw a conclusion about what went on behind the scenes on draft day. I don't care where a player is from, I just want them to draft the best player. If some Canadian wants to play for the Jays thats nice and all, but if he isn't the best player when your turn comes around they not picking him.

bill - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 06:13 PM EDT (#216828) #

Dan Barnes has siged. Charles is leaning toward signing. Chad Green is 50-50. Norris-Jones sounded pleased to drafted at all. Marlowe said "It's been a good day for me." Cotto is faster on the baseball field that Thon, and Thon is very fast.

Spicol - Thursday, June 10 2010 @ 07:06 PM EDT (#216829) #

If the Jays were pretty sure Deglan was going to be scooped up in the 1st, then calling him back on a day as busy as draft day would have been a massive waste of time. I wouldn't worry about stuff like that.

Mylegacy - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 01:36 AM EDT (#216840) #

Noah Syndergaard - #38th overall:

By MARK DENT / The Dallas Morning News
mdent@dallasnews.com

Six months ago, Noah Syndergaard was a 10th-round pick at best, a Mansfield Legacy pitcher clearly looking ahead to a future with Dallas Baptist. Two months ago, he began heating up and gaining attention, perhaps throwing his way into the fifth round.

Then came the playoffs and the velocity. On Monday night, Syndergaard became a high MLB draft pick, taken 38th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays.

"I almost fainted," he said.

So how did this happen? How did a local kid rise from relative unknown to sought-after prospect?

The answer was on the radar gun.

Last fall, when Syndergaard began doing evaluations for a scout here and there, his fastball topped out in the high 80s. Then a funny thing happened.

The digits on the gun kept creeping higher and higher. In early spring, he started hitting the 90s. And they kept increasing.

By the playoffs, Syndergaard, who stands 6-5 and had a 1.43 ERA with 85 strikeouts, was routinely throwing 91-93 mph and sometimes up to 96 mph, even in the late innings.

"As the games went on," he said, "I just kept getting better and better and my arm felt loose."

A small gathering of about 20 friends and relatives watched the draft at Syndergaard's home Monday. Afterward, he tried explaining the ride, the rise.

He talked of gaining more confidence. He talked of performing better when the scouts showed up. He talked of an improved work ethic.

In the end, it's not about how he arrived here; it's that he is here.

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

Sneeps - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 07:18 AM EDT (#216841) #

Syndergaard is signed, sealed, delivered.

Marc Hulet - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 08:35 AM EDT (#216843) #

Given that all three picks were unprotected (don't sign the player, don't get a comp pick next year), I'm sure the Jays had pre-draft agreements with Syndergaard, Sweeney, and Knecht. The announcers said last night that the Jays have a budget of $16 million for the '10 draft... this should help them get a lot of even the more difficult picks signed... that's a lot of money.

sam - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 10:28 AM EDT (#216847) #

Hey the Blue Jays website has a nice little feature on inside the draft room. Although it's only a couple minutes long you can see their excitement at drafting Aaron Sanchez, it appeared as though they were worried that the Astros may take him with their pick ahead of them at #33. In addition, there seemed to be some debate over the last compensation pick. The Jays asked for a timeout. I wonder if there was some internal debate on whether another player was going to be signable? Also, near the end of the clip they show our early picks on the draft board. You can see on the draft cards the name of the player, their birth date, the amount of times seen and when, and then the scout who'd seen them. I think the Jays must have a lot of faith in Eric McQueen. He was the scout who got Jenkins drafted last year and McGuire this year. Blake Crosby was the scout listed for Sanchez. Steve Miller for Syndergaard. And John Hendricks for Wojchiekowski.

A couple years back some red sox fans created a pretty comprehensive website of their minor leagues. One of the things it has is the scout who drafted and signed each propsect. Maybe this offseason Boxites can try to gather all the information we have on Blue Jays prospects and start to assemble it in a similar fashion. Thanks to Gerry and others we have great interviews, scouting reports, and video of our Blue Jay prospects. It would be nice maybe to assemble all this information in a more easy to access way (although the way it's organizaed now is great). I would certainly be willing to lend my services to help this process. I gather this is a forum for Blue Jays fans, but it would be nice to add some more to it. I'm a fan of both the red sox and brewers sites

http://www.soxprospects.com/org.htm

http://www.brewerfan.net/ViewHome.do

In all honesty, prior to stumbling across this website I was a pretty arrogant Blue Jay fan who thought he knew everything about the team and organization. In reading the posts and the insight offered I realized that I had only skimmed the surface of what being a Jays fan was about, and what being a baseball junkie was really about too. This wesbite has really stoked my interest in the organization and in baseball in general. As such, I find myself attending more Jays games and appreciating some of the smaller nuances of the game. Also, because I've now followed the website for a couple years, I've become attached to several minor leaguers. Following them through the system into the majors has been incredibly fun.

So thank you to all who make this website possible. I hope to go down to Auburn this summer with my camera and take some pictures. Although I'm not nearly qualified I'll try to provide scouting reports.

TamRa - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 10:57 AM EDT (#216852) #

Marc Hulet, before (I think) he hooked up with FanGraphs, had a real comprehensive database of every Jays prospect at that time (I want to say a couple hundred players?) and it was the gold standard, for me, that year.

I'm sure he doesn't have that kind of time anymore but he might be able to point to some sources and maybe his previous work would provide a nice template.

Matthew E - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 11:22 AM EDT (#216853) #

I would like to see Syndergaard and Trystan Magnusson pitch in the same game someday.

slitheringslider - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 11:35 AM EDT (#216856) #

I would like to see Syndergaard and Trystan Magnusson pitch in the same game someday.

With Marc Rzepczynski starting the game and Asher Wojciechowski closing the game out.

John Northey - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 11:47 AM EDT (#216857) #

It would be fun to see the newspaper column the next day, trying to fit all those names in a story (dead tree editions do have space limitations y'know).

Brent S - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 04:28 PM EDT (#216876) #

Syndergaard signs. Financial details were not disclosed.

Gerry - Friday, June 11 2010 @ 04:31 PM EDT (#216877) #

The Hardball Times has a draft numbers analysis up. The Jays selected more high school players than other team, 35 in total. The Red Sox were next at 33 but the average was 16.6.

The Jays also tied with the Pirates for the most pitchers selected.

2010 Draft - Day Three | 51 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.