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Draft prospect weekend recap. College Arms: Carlos Rodon-8 innings, 5 H, 3 ER, 9k, 2 BB. Stuff wasn't his best to start the game but ended strong. Sean Newcomb-5 innings, 3 hits, 0 ER, 9 K, 3 BB. Sat at 91-93 but hit 95. Breaking ball showed average+ potential. Jeff Hoffman- 6.2 innings, 5 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 3 BB. BA's scouting report: http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/virginias-downtown-downes/ Also scouting quotes on Hoffman from Jim Callis: "About 60 percent of his pitches were really good, but 40 percent weren't," the director said. "The 40 percent that weren't got hit. Certain guys, when they're throwing 95-98 mph, they make a mistake and it gets fouled back or hit weakly. It seemed like when he missed at 95-96, they squared it up." "He flashed a 65-70 fastball, the changeup was really good and the curveball was good," the director said. "The changeup was outstanding, the best I've ever seen it. He threw a curveball and a slider. The slider was bad, but the curveball at times was pretty good, and others times it was a little spinner." Tyler Beede- 6 innings, 1 H, 1 ER, 11K, 1 BB. Showed best control of his career and 3 potential plus pitches. Aaron Nola: 7 innings, 0 H, 0 ER, 8 K, 1 BB. Two different scouts takes on Nola: Reported by Jim Callis: "He's the same as he was last year," a national crosschecker said. "He pitches in the 90-92 range with advanced polish, pitches to both sides of the plate and gets a lot of bad contact. His breaking ball keeps guys honest and I think his changeup will be better in pro ball because he'll use it more often. "I have a hard time imagining there's a better pitcher out there with a better combination of polish and stuff. I think he'll be a fast mover who gets to the big leagues quick." Reported by Chris Crawford: "The only reason he's not considered a lock to start is because of that [low arm] slot," an NL East scout said. "You just don't see a lot of starters work from that low, left- or right-handed. It's not a question of his stuff, he could be a solid No. 4; maybe a No. 3 based on his arsenal. "It's just going to take one team to think he's a starter to see him go early on day one. He's always shown he can throw strikes, but if he can show the kind of command he did (Friday)? He's certainly got a shot." Callis quotes here (includes other prospect notes): http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140225&content_id=68310540&notebook_id=68310544&vkey=notebook_mlb&c_id=mlb Chris Crawford's insider quotes here (includes other prospect notes): http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/

Sorry draft fans I forgot to push forward all the college player updates but I promise I will get them done tomorrow. For now draft nerds enjoy Chris Crawford's top 25 draft prospect board: http://mlbdraftinsider.com/the-board/

It is more accurate to say Klaw isn't the kindest. Every fan feels klaw hates his or her team. For the Twins the last two years he has given our system plenty of love.

You are way more optimistic about his stuff than I. Unless his change up magically becomes a 70+ pitch I just don't see it. Also, I could careless how fast he can get to the bigs. Wimmers and Danny Hultzen were both guys pegged to be safe quick to the bigs arms. An injury and mechanical issues have wiped away any value that is given because of "quick to the majors" status. I do agree though that it is hard to believe weaver above Nola.

If the Twins took Nola at #5 I would be pretty upset. While he is a fine pitcher, a player selected in the top 5 needs at least one premium tool. Nola has #3 pitcher written all over him.

Here is BaseballAmericas game report on Rodon from last night: http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/game-report-carlos-rodon-improves-but-not-as-much-as-hed-like/

He has three pitches that are 60 to 65 but no 70+ pitch. No "out" pitch. Most aces have at least one 70 pitch and many have 2.

Keith Law was at East Carolina's game last night to see Hoffman and here is what he saw: "Hoffman came out throwing gas, 94-96 mph in the first inning and holding 96 for several innings, eventually slipping to more 92-94 by the sixth and seventh. The pitch is straight, however, and Virginia hitters were on it all game -- a few cheated to get around on the pitch, but most of their hitters were at least able to make solid contact to foul it off even if they couldn't pull it. His changeup was an above-average offering on Friday, mostly 85-to-88 with one at 90 in the first inning, some too firm, others with that string-pulling illusion that you associate with a good straight change. He showed confidence in the pitch, doubling up on it and throwing it to right-handed hitters. His curveball was fringy, 77-80 mph early and 73-74 mph by the end of his outing, with spike-like break when he finished it -- maybe one of every four curveballs he threw -- with little feel for where it was going." He goes on to mention that if his command doesn't pick up several college arms could pass him. He also mentions a few other players in the insider article: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/post?id=1279

Tweet from Jerry Crasnick: Heard today that #twins offered Matt Garza a 3 yr, $42 million deal before he signed with #brewers. We all knew they were following Garza closely but it is interesting to hear they offered him a contract.

I tend to agree with you on Pentecost. While I'm definitely a fan of his I believe a top 5 pick NEEDS to have at least one elite tool IMO.

I'm a huge fan of Crawford. I just wish he would write more articles like this for his own site mlbdraftinsider.com.

Christopher Crawford released an ESPN insider article called Five biggest draft storylines. Here are his 5: 1.Just how good is Carlos Rodon? Is he a better prospect than Strasburg? 2. Who's number 3? Rodon and Hoffman are considered by most the top two prospects in the draft but who is number 3? Kolek? Jackson? Gatewood? 3. Where are the college bats? With more and more elite bats signing out of high school will there ever be a strong college position player draft? He suggests teams might reach and mentions the Twins might go for Turner. 4. Which prep pitcher might step up? From a scout: "It's a deep group," an NL East scout said. "You've got guys like Tyler Kolek, who have the imposing size and fastball, but you wonder about the projection and if the secondary offerings are good enough to make him a legit ace. Then you look at a guy like Grant Holmes [Conway, S.C.] who might be the most advanced-arm in the class with three plus pitches, but doesn't have that knockout tool. "And then there's the lefties like Justus Sheffield [Tullahoma, Tenn.] and Brady Aiken[san Diego, Calif.] who don't have the stuff of the guys we just talked about, but could be better prospects just because of their feel for pitching and quality secondary stuff." 5. How good is the state of Florida? Names several players who are potential top 25 draft prospects including Nick Gordon and Forrest Wall. Two guys BA had this article about 2 days ago: http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/prime-prospect-pair-forrest-wall-vs-nick-gordon/ For Crawford's full insider article here is the link: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/post?id=1269

From BA's top 100 chat (which is currently still going on) Would you rather have Correa, McCullers Jr., and Ruiz or Buxton? Ben Badler: I love Correa, but Buxton, easily. Byron Buxton (Minnesota): What is my ceiling and what is my floor? Am I bound to be an Upton or a Griffey Jr. ? Ben Badler: The ceiling is a potential Hall of Famer. That takes great health and longevity to get there, but it's five legitimate plus or better tools, 80 speed and potential 80 bat and glove at a premium position with an advanced approach for his age. What's incredible about Buxton is just how few holes there are in his game. With someone like Bogaerts, you can nitpick and say that he's not going to be great defensively at shortstop, Sano has swing-and-miss concerns, Lindor has question marks on the power, even though they all could be stars. WIth Buxton, he just doesn't have many holes to even nitpick about. As long as he stays healthy, I would be stunned if he doesn't turn into a superstar. How many SP in the top 100 have true #1 potential? Are there any out of the top 100 that are just too raw? Ben Badler: I see about eight or nine guys who have that potential where you can see them as a No. 1 starter without having to squint too hard, guys like Archie Bradley, Taijuan Walker, Robert Stephenson, Jonathan Gray. And I wouldn't include Julio Urias or Kohl Stewart in that group yet, but there's enough uncertainty around their projections right now that we could be looking at them as potential No. 1s in a year. The Twins are number 3 by organization according to the book, but only 4 guys in the top 100. How does that work out, all the others in the top 5 have 6 0r 7 guys. Matt Eddy: For me it boils down to the impact potential of the Twins' very best prospects. Buxton is the best talent in the game, a potential MVP in the making, while Sano has as much power as anybody in professional baseball. Meyer has an interesting blend of stuff and performance, while Kohl Stewart ranked as the top prep arm for the 2013 draft. When you factor in the relative safety of position prospects, the Twins look even better with Nos. 1 and 6 overall. Did the drug suspension knock Eddie Rosario off the list or was he not in there to begin with? Matt Eddy: Rosario fell just outside the Top 100. I think he was on half the ballots, but not particularly high on the other half. Here is a link to the full chat: http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/?1392846892

Thanks for the interview Seth. This is one I have been waiting on. I'm a huge fan of this kid and can definitely see him being the steal of the draft. I almost fell of my chair because I was so excited when the Twins drafted him.

First, their prospect special was a waste of time. John Hart talked WAY too much. He spent freaking 5 minutes on Tanaka who has been talked to death already. John Hart is MLB Networks version of ESPN's Jim Bowden. After following BA for many years I do have to say this list was awful. I'm not just saying that as a Twins fan. Im saying this as a BA fan. A ton of red Sox love. Heck, 4 white Sox made the list and most experts have them as a bottom 3 farm system. I could keep going but these things are all opinions anyways. Since Jim Callis left the quality of all non-college related coverage seems to have gone down.

Turner was in tier 3 but he notes that he could be the first position player taken because of his bankable speed. He worries about Turners power and unorthodox swing. He notes that Kennesaw State's Max Pentecost might be the best college position player because he is a true catcher with ability at the plate.

Not to be out done by Kiley McDaniel, Mr.Law over at ESPN released his own tiers of the first round prospects today. Let me tell you, while a lot of the names are the same they are not in the same order. McDaniel had 5 tiers Mr.Law leaves it at 4 saying that tier 5 would be too big. (Also, this is insider so I will only post the first two tiers. If you want to know where a specific player lands just ask). Tier 1: Rodon by himself. - He gives Rodon a 70 fastball and at least a 70 slider Tier 2: Jeff Hoffman, Tyler Kolek, Jacob Gatewood, Alex Jackson -Hoffman has one of the best fastballs in the draft. -He notes that Kolek threw last week and hit 100. He also showed improved secondary stuff. -Jackson appears to want to move off catcher Tier 3: 3 college pitchers, 3 college position players, and 3 HS arms - All 6 college players could move up with a strong spring. - The 3 HS arms are very good but without velocity spikes Law finds it hard to see them jump into the top 8. Tiers 4 - A lot of arms who could move up a tier with good springs - Position players have talent but most are missing truly elite tools Tier 5 (while he didn't have a tier 5 he mentioned what would be in it) - College starters who may project to be RPers - Power before hit bats - Raw toolsy HS bats Full article for insiders here: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/mlb-draft/post?id=1254

Gray always had plus stuff but had problems with conditioning which lead to poor mechanics. Over the summer he worked his butt off to get in shape and worked on his mechanics which lead to increase command he never had. Also his third pitch, his change up, became an average pitch. Having two tools go from below average to average makes a big difference. Manaea became a star playing fall baseball where his 55 grade fastball suddenly became a 65-70 grade fastball. Not many lefties can hit 97 so it opened some eyes. Manaea put together a few bad outings in a row and then got injured before the end of the college season. Also, just because he went in the supplemental round doesn't mean he didn't get paid like a top 10 pick. Heck, he had a higher signing bonus than the #6th pick. Just because these kids are playing college ball doesn't mean they are finished products. Most of them are still growing into their bodies and are still learning how to play the game. Just as we have 20 year old prospects in the minors make big steps forward we should expect the same for college players. As for spring training I have no idea why people pay attention to those numbers. Most players who start spring training with the team won't make it. Those who do are usually there to work on things before the season. All the time in interviews you see pitchers saying all they did was work on fastball location or hitters say they were out there just trying to pull the ball.

Kiley McDaniel just released his top 52 draft prospect list. It is well worth your time to check it out. I really like how he breaks it down in tiers (mostly because that's what I do when making my own list). http://sbb.scout.com/2/1376626.html

Badeball America released their Early Draft Preview: Best Tools today for both college and HS. For those of you on the Turner bandwagon he showed up 3 times; best athlete, best speed, and best defender. He also showed up twice under "other candidates" for; quickest to the majors and best infielder arm. Here are both the college and HS lists: College: http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/early-draft-preview-best-tools/ High School: http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/early-draft-preview-high-school-best-tools/

This is a great post about why draft BPA vs positional need.

It is actually far from comical. I don't understand why people always say this. Obviously if we had say the 25th pick compared to the 5th pick I might agree with you but we don't. The player we will pick is most likely to be a MLB.com top 25 talent player. Sure, some rise and some fall but a majority will stay the same. Perhaps in just a different order. The last two drafts we had people around here on the Buxton or Stewart bandwagon earlier than this.

Beede and Newcomb are two guys I will definitely be watching. Clint Longenecker mention to that Beede has, "altered his mechanics with his lower half. Beede’s landing on his front leg has softened and his ability to get over his front leg has improved and become less rigid than last summer." If Beede has finally found some command he might be gone before the Twins pick. I will definitely be following his mechanics this year.

While I'm a huge Turner fanboy I'm a long way from labelling him BPA at 5 if he is there. I want to see more offensive upside.

Other top college position players: Kennesaw states C Max Pentecost had an impressive start to the year against Middle Tennessee State. He went 8-13 with 3 2B, 2 RBIs and 2 BB. He also threw out 2 of 4 base runners. While none of his tools are plus all of them are average or above. Indiana C Kyle Schwarber did not have such a good start. He went 3-15 at the plate with only 1 extra base hit (2B). He walked once and struck out once. Here is what a scout had to say about the two catchers: "I know a lot of people like Schwarber, but if you're asking me to choose between the two I'd rather have [Pentecost]," an NL West scout told me after watching the Indiana series. "There's more power in Schwarber's bat by a considerable margin, but Pentecost has above-average tools across the board and I have far less questions about his glove. Schwarber is going to have to hit if he's going to have to convince us he's a 45 glove [on the 20-80 scouting scale] and a 60 bat if he's going to be a first-round pick, and I don't think he's either." Virgina's OF Derek Fisher went 3-7 with a walk, strikeout, 3B, and an RBI. Oregon State's two top prospects had good starts. OF Dylan Davis only went 4-12 but had 7 RBIs. He also had 3 strike outs, 2 walks, and one double. Davis' partner OF Michael Con for to went 5 for 10 and had 5 walks to no strike outs. He had 2 2B to help him fuel his week leading 8 RBI performance. For any other college names here is a link to BAs college draft prospects stat round up for week 1: http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/college-draft-prospects-stat-roundup-week-1-5/