2014 MLB Draft Compilation Board #2

by: Ben Embry

Amateur baseball seasons are starting to get under way, and all of the big draft scouts/writers that I follow have updated their prospect rankings recently.  Between now and June 5, we can expect a lot of changes.  There will be some pop up guys, like Jonathan Gray from last year, and movement up and down the rankings for a lot of guys.  Some prospects predicted to be first round talents could easily fall multiple rounds based on how they look this Spring.  But right now, we're only two weeks into the season and there really hasn't been much opportunity for that to happen, so this is kind of like a jumping off point.

This compilaton board is a little thing I like to do to stay up on who the big names are in the draft pool. What I do is take rankings from 6 different sources that I trust the most on the subject of draft prospects and I compile them into one board.  And honestly, it is very difficult to find a lot of information on the MLB Draft on the internet, at least compared to the more popular NFL and NBA Drafts.  The MLB Draft is more niche-y, so if anything I'd like to consider what I do a service to those other MLB draftniks out there who are looking for some good information.

My previous board can be found here.  Here's the second board for the 2014 draft:

Rnk	Name	Pos	School
1	Carlos Rodon	SP	NC State
2	Jeff Hoffman	SP	E Carolina
3	Alex Jackson	C	H.S.
4	Tyler Kolek	SP	H.S.
5	Tyler Beede	SP	Vandy
6	Trea Turner	SS	NC State
7	Derek Fisher	OF	Virginia
8	Nick Gordon	SS	H.S.
9	Jacob Gatewood	SS	H.S.
10	Brady Aiken	SP	H.S.
11	Grant Holmes	SP	H.S.
12	Max Pentecost	C	Kensaw St
13	Braxton Davidson	1B	H.S.
14	Luis Ortiz	SP	H.S.
15	Sean Newcomb	SP	Hartford
16	Touki Toussaint	SP	H.S.
17	Brandon Finnegan	SP	TCU
18	Kyler Schwarber	C	Indiana
19	Erick Fedde	SP	UNLV
20	Michael Gettys	SP/OF	H.S.
21	Luke Weaver	SP	Florida St
22	Alex Verdugo	SP/OF	H.S.
23	Sean Reid-Foley	SP	H.S.
24	Aaron Nola	SP	LSU
25	Kodi Medeiros	SP	H.S.
26	Brad Zimmer	OF	San Fran
27	Michael Cederoth	SP	SD State
28	Mac Marshall	SP	H.S.
29	Scott Blewett	SP	H.S.
30	Cobi Johnson	SP	H.S.
31	Justus Sheffield	SP	H.S.
32	Nick Burdi	RP	Louisville
33	Michael Conforto	OF	Oregon St
34	Kyle Freeland	SP	Evansville
35	Derek Hill	OF	H.S.
36	Matt Chapman	3B	CS Fuller.
37	Michael Chavis	3B	H.S.
38	Dylan Cease	SP	H.S.
39	Ti'quan Forbes	SS	H.S.
40	Forrest Wall	2B	H.S.
41	Jackson Reetz	C	H.S.
42	J.D. Davis	SP/1B	CS Fuller.
43	Monte' Harrison	OF	H.S.
44	Dylan Davis	SP/OF	Oregon St
45	Keaton McKinney	SP	H.S.
46	Jake Godfrey	SP	H.S.
47	Marcus Wilson	OF	H.S.
48	Sean Bouchard	3B	H.S.
49	Greg Deichmann	3B	H.S.
50	Taylor Sparks	3B	UC Irvine
51	Jeren Kendall	OF	H.S.
52	Alex Blandino	3B	Stanford
53	Matt Imhof	SP	Cal Poly
54	Jordan Brink	SP	Fresno St
55	Chris Ellis	SP	Ole Miss
56	Michael Kopech	SP	H.S.
57	Josh Morgan	3B	H.S.
58	Cameron Varga	SP	H.S.
59	Jack Flaherty	SS	H.S.
60	Chase Vallot	C	H.S.
61	Austin Davis	SP	CS Baker.
62	Stone Garrett	OF	H.S.
63	Spencer Turnbull	SP	Alabama
64	Turner Larkins	SP	H.S.
65	Chad Sobotka	SP	SC Upstate
66	Spencer Adams	SP	H.S.
67	Lane Thomas	OF	H.S.
68	Kel Johnson	OF	H.S.
69	Tate Blackman	2B	H.S.
70	Luke Bonfield	SP/OF	H.S.
71	Andrew Suarez	SP	Miami (FL)
72	Grayson Greiner	C	South Car
73	Joey Gatto	SP	H.S.
74	Milton Ramos	SS	H.S.
75	Travis Jones	OF	H.S.
76	Dillon Peters	SP	Texas
77	Jake Cosart	SP	JUCO
78	Scott Heineman	OF	Oregon
79	Evan Skoug	C	H.S.
80	Foster Griffin	SP	H.S.
81	Chris Oliver	SP	Arkansas
82	Zach Shannon	SP/OF	H.S.
83	Carl Chester	OF	H.S.
84	Austin Byler	3B	Nevada
85	Karsten Whitson	SP	Florida
86	Lukas Schiraldi	SP	Texas
87	Joey Pankake	3B	S Carolina
88	Casey Gillaspie	1B	Wichita St
89	Brandon Downes	OF	Virginia
90	Devon Fisher	C	H.S.
91	Gareth Morgan	OF	H.S.
92	Adam Haseley	SP/OF	H.S.
93	Sam Coonrod	SP	So Illinois
94	Keith Weisenberg	SP	H.S.
95	JJ Schwarz	C	H.S.
96	Grant Hockin	SP	H.S.
97	Brett Austin	C	NC State
98	Justin Bellinger	1B	H.S.
99	Blake Bivens	SP	H.S.
100	Riley Ferrell	RP	TCU

The Yankees currently have the 47th pick, with a slot of about $1.03 million.  That's actually about 10 spots better than I was thinking they would have.  In theory, they should wind up with 2 guys off this list.  In the 40-50 range, you see a lot of high school kids, which I don't think would be a bad way to go.  Based on what talent they have in the system, a HS OF would work.  HS pitchers are never a bad way to go.  I'd advocate for some college pitching, but generally the pickings get slim in that area after the first round, (if not sooner).  They can afford to stay away from advanced catchers and outfielders, and young infielders based on what they did last year and what they're working on in the international free agent class, (although it never hurts to get a good young SS if they're available).

I'm a big fan of Dylan Cease for New York right now.  He really impressed me in the Under Armour game last Summer, particularly in his strike out of 2015 stud Daz Cameron.  Baseball America said he has an athletic delivery and "produces easy velocity, with a fastball up to 97 mph" and they recently ranked his fastball as one of the best in high school.  He's currently ranked 38th, so it wouldn't be a big stretch to see him end up with the Yankees.  I think that would be a really good value for a team picking halfway into the second round, although $1 million may not be big enough to lure him away from his Vanderbilt commitment.

I should say I find it a little self defeating to have these specific guys you want your team to draft, because the chances are very slim when you draft where NY always drafts.  Last year is a prime example; I had hoped all Spring that Ryne Stanek would be available when the Yankees drafted at 26 even though no one predicted he'd last that long.  Somehow he did and yet NY took Jagielo instead.  I'll refrain from saying whether I think that was a mistake, but it was a little bit of a gut punch for me.  Still, what fun is it if you can't dream, know what I mean?

I want to make sure I give credit where credit's due, that being the six writers/publications I use to assemble my board.  Some are subscription based, some are free.  I encourage everyone to check them all out.  They are:

Big League Futures (Kevin Gallo, Matt Grabusky)

Baseball America (various writers)

ESPN (Keith Law)

MLB.com (Jim Callis, Jon Mayo)

Scouting Baseball (Kiley McDaniel)

MLB Draft Insider (Chris Crawford)

My next board will be available at the end of April.  At that point I'll have enough info to do a deep dive on some of the top prospects and some guys that are being predicted for New York.  You can expect a lot of changes and the board should get to at least 125 maybe 150 at that point; I actually have 109 names now but I don't like odd numbers like that so I cut it off at 100.  The last board, which will be available within a week prior to the draft, will expand to 250.

Email me or hit me up on twitter with any questions: info@thebronxempire.com or @thebronxempire.  Have a good day!