After seeing five players drafted for the Posse in the first two rounds of the MLB draft yesterday, the remaining five players were taken between the 8th and 20th rounds.
As expected, the first two players to go early in day 2 were outfielders Isaac Galloway and Devin Shepherd. Galloway was taken in the 8th round by the Florida Marlins, were he could become their centerfielder of the future if he is to sign. Posse management believe Florida will take a serious run at signing him above slot as they could really use a Galloway type of player in the organization, one which is outfielder thin in the minors. Three rounds later saw the St. Louis Cardinals select Devin Shepherd. Posse management are also very happy with this direction for Shepherd as St. Louis has a history of getting prospects to over achieve. In the case of Shepherd, he just needs a solid foundation to start realizing his natural abilities. St. Louis will provide him this.
In the 12th round the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Daniel Webb. Though I expect Webb to head to Kentucky, the Cardinals did not take many "tough to sign" players so they may be willing to spend some "saved" cash on Webb. Unfortunately the Diamondbacks are not well known for going above slot.
The opposite can be said about the Texas Rangers. They like to select high school players and are more than willing to go above slot. The Rangers grabbed Harold Martinez in the 19th round and may be willing to pay for him to sign, but they also have a few other "difficult" signings higher up. I believe Martinez was just draft as insurance if they are unable to sign some of their earlier draft picks. Most likely he will be heading to Miami, but if he signs I am very happy as Texas has needs on that side of the diamond.
The last player to be drafted was probably the most talented of the group, Alex Meyer. Meyer is thought to be an impossible signing but if anyone can do it, it would be the team that drafted him. In the 20th round, the Boston Red Sox picked up Meyer and they are willing to go above slot more than any other team. They were tough on slot in 2005 (and they still went over) and the lost out on multiple guys that went in the first round this year. Last year they went well over slot on a few guys, including $700K to a 23rd round pick. It will take more then that to get Meyer and with other tough signs like Casey Kelly, Derrik Gibson, Pete Hissey, Ryan Westmoreland and Ryan Lavarnway as top 5 round picks they probably just drafted Meyer as insurance. Let's cross our fingers, but expect that he is heading to Kentucky.
BTW...a little prediction. Kentucky will be ranked by Baseball America as the #1 recruiting class for the upcoming season. Top prospects Alex Meyer, Daniel Webb, Zach Cox and Andy Burns are all Kentucky recruits and they all were drafted after the 11th round.
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