Posse make Blackburn their second first round selection

The Posse entered the MDBL draft with four first round draft selections. Earlier on they took high school senior Kyle Skipworth as a high ceiling catching prospect that will one day fill the void left by Jorge Posada. With the second selection they went for something that was more immediate, Nick Blackburn. Blackburn is a starting pitcher that is expected to jump into the major league rotation next year. "Yes, we are probably going to need some starting pitching help next year due to Randy Johnson's injury concerns. Right now we have Carlos Zambrano, Adam Wainwright, Fausto Carmona, Mike Mussina, Brad Penny and Randy Johnson. Adding some youth to that mix quickly was very important to us.", stated GM Shawn Luddington.



Blackburn was the 56th ranked prospect by Baseball America in their latest numbers. He is not the typical top of the rotation starter that the Posse Management likes to target, but he will be in the majors quickly. He is a very similar player to Chris Volstad, another Posse prospect that is knocking on the major league door. Blackburn has an above average fastball that tops out in the low 90's, but has good downward life which induces alot of ground balls. Blackburn also has a strong group of secondary pitches, including a plus slider and a solid cutter. "What makes Blackburn inticing is his ability to keep the ball down and throw strikes. He will not walk a ton of batters which means he will be a pretty consistent player, and he will induce many double plays. Another thing we like about him is his ability to get left handers out, typically that is something tough to find in a right handed pitcher.", claimed GM Luddington. With the good comes the bad. Blackburn does not throw overly hard so he will tend to be hit quite a bit, and he has had a checkered injury past with two knee surgeries.