2014 MLB Draft Compilation Mock Draft #1

by: Ben Embry

It occurred to me last week that, with some thought, a compilation of all the various mock drafts I like to read could be done in the same fashion as the draft rankings.  You'll see below the first 34 picks of the draft.  Because some of the content is subscriber based, I won't share with you the details but there are links below if you want to possibly subscribe.  All these cites are churning out great draft content.

Here's the basic methodology: I take the most recent mock drafts from, what I believe, are all the big publications and I compile them.  Think of it as all of these guys getting in a room and coming to a consensus.  Here's how I think their mock would look:

Pick	Team	Name
1	Astros	Carlos Rodon
2	Marlins	Tyler Kolek
3	White Sox	Brady Aiken
4	Cubs	Alex Jackson
5	Twins	Nick Gordon
6	Mariners	Aaron Nola
7	Phillies	Bradley Zimmer
8	Rockies	Kyle Freeland
9	Blue Jays	Trea Turner
10	Mets	Sean Newcomb
11	Blue Jays	Touki Toussaint
12	Brewers	Michael Conforto
13	Padres	Max Pentecost
14	Giants	Grant Holmes
15	Angels	Kyle Schwarber
16	Diamondbacks	Brandon Finnegan
17	Royals	Derek Fisher
18	Nationals	Jeff Hoffman
19	Reds	Sean Reid-Foley
20	Rays	Tyler Beede
21	Indians	Casey Gillaspie
22	Dodgers	Derek Hill
23	Tigers	Erick Fedde
24	Pirates	Monte Harrison
25	Athletics	Ti'quan Forbes
26	Red Sox	Marcus Wilson
27	Cardinals	Foster Griffin
28	Royals	Kodi Medeiros
29	Reds	Forrest Wall
30	Rangers	Nick Howard
31	Indians	A.J. Reed
32	Braves	Spencer Adams
33	Red Sox	Alex Verdugo
34	Cardinals	Jacob Gatewood

The most common frequency of player-team matches was Nick Gordon to Minnesota at 5, (5/6 inputs called that), and Sean Reid-Foley to Cincinnati at 19, (4/6).  There were several that had 3 "agreements", if you will, which surprised me because I assumed much of the mocks were more guesses at this point.  Hoffman and Fedde, the two wild cards in the first round of this draft because of their elbow injuries, were predictably the ones with the most disagreement.  Hoffman ranged everywhere from 6 to 21 with only 2 inputs agreeing on where he could land at 18.  Fedde ranged from 15 to 34 with no two inputs agreeing.  Bradley Zimmer is probably the biggest wild card among healthy players; he ranged from 7 to 17.

Unfortunately, there are no Yankees picks to project because they do not have a first rounder.  And there will not be any because I don't believe any of these sites mock into the second round.  It's a bit of a downer for draft niks like me but that's the price you pay for being a Yankee fan I suppose.

I've tweeted previously that I like Nick Burdi, (closer for Louisville), and wouldn't mind seeing him fall to the Yankees. It does appear, if latest mocks are any indication, that there's a chance that could happen. Only 1 of the 6 mocks have him going in the top 27-34 picks, that being to Detroit at 23. In theory, if Detroit takes someone else, (I have them taking UNLV SP Erick Fedde), he could fall at least past 34. That's still not Yankee territory, but he can see it from there.  Other guys who could "fall" are HS 1B Braxton Davidson, Stanford 3B Alex Blandino, HS SS/3B Michael Chavis, HS SP Scott Blewett, HS SP Luis Ortiz, and HS OF Michael Gettys. Not sure how much sense Blandino would make given our minor league depth at 3B but any of the other guys I would be ecstatic about. Like I've tweeted before, someone WILL fall.

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:

Baseball America (various writers)

ESPN (Keith Law)

MLB.com (Jim Callis, Jon Mayo)

Scouting Baseball (Kiley McDaniel)

MLB Draft Insider (Chris Crawford)

Big League Futures (Kevin Gallo, Matt Grabusky)

I'll have a compilation ranking available at the end of May and will do at least one more comp mock.

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