Other draft picks
posted in draft |Detroit continued its craving for college players.
At pick 50, the Tigers took IF Ronnie Borquin of Oklahoma State. The MLB.com scouting report said he has power but has disappointed as of lately. He also lacks defense and may end up moving to first base. Ohio State’s athletic department staff had an announcement, fortunately.
The Big Ten Player of the Year and a Louisville Slugger TPX Third-Team All-American was the 50th overall pick and the sixth pick of the second round. Bourquin led the league with a .416 batting average, .612 slugging percentage, .492 on-base percentage, 91 hits, 66 RBI and 134 total bases. He came within one hit of tying the school record set by Steve Carvati in 2004. Bourquin had a hit in all but 11 of the 58 games he played and reached base in all but seven games.
He was named to Third Team All America.
He was the first Big 10 player drafted this year and Ohio State’s highest pick since Nick Swisher in the first round of 2002. Swish is now a slugger for the Oakland A’s. Which leads us to …
At pick 82, Detroit selected OF Brennan Boesch of the Berkeley Bears.
Boesch, a first-team preseason All-American, finished the 2006 campaign batting .313 with 11 doubles, 10 home runs (seventh in the Pac-10) and a team-leading 42 RBI. He ended the year hitting safely in 19 of the team’s final 20 games, including three game-winning RBI. For his career, Boesch has a .327 average with 37 doubles, three triples, 21 home runs and 90 RBI.
At 112, Detroit took IF Ryan Strieby of U of Kentucky. Strieby was the SEC’s Player of the Year.
Strieby, the SEC’s leader in doubles (20), total bases (150), slugging percentage (.718), on-base percentage (.474) and RBIs (75), was named the SEC’s Player of the Year yesterday by a vote of the league’s coaches. His 19 homers were third, just three off the pace.
Not surprisingly, Cohen, who guided the Wildcats’ worst-to-first turnaround, was named Coach of the Year. (Louisville Courier Journal)
I’m getting a feeling this draft strategy sounds like Billy Beane would have followed back during his Moneyball era of college players and high OBP.
Pick 142: 2B, Scott Sizemore of Virginia Commonwealth — From MLB.com’s player comments on the draft tracker: “His junior season has been a far cry from his outstanding sophomore year when he hit .364-12-56 and continued it in the Cape League. A stocky 2B in the Marcus Giles mold, he can run fairly well and plays hard.” 2006 stats: .378 OBP, .515 SLG, 7 HR, 15 doubles, 7 triples, 44 RBI, 14 SB in 18 atempts.
Pick 172: C, Jordan Newton of Western Kentucky University — Again from MLB.com: “He’s had an excellent career offensively in college, showing power and surprising speed. Defensively, he’s average at best and could move to the outfield as a pro.”
It’s interesting to note how the quality of team Web sites has gone down as the rounds continue!
He earned Second Team All-Sun Belt.
A career .337 hitter, Newton enters the tournament ranked fourth in school history in career runs scored (172), 10th in doubles (45), sixth in home runs (32), second in triples (11) and fifth in RBI (144).
I get the feeling continuing this pick by pick much longer will get out of hand. But if anyone interesting arises I’ll look into it.