Draft Day 2007 is Here!

Click here or see below for last night’s daily prospect report. Not a great night for Mr. Rasmus.

Azruavatar will be running the show today as you know by now. I’ll be at work, but when I’m able I’ll probably chime in with some thoughts. I’m totally geeked up about today, I can’t wait to see who the Cardinals pick. Derrick Goold had an interesting article this morning at the P-D where he shares about the little system called STOUT that the Cardinals use to evaluate talent.

“Version 2.0,” Luhnow said. It’s a blend of scouting and statistics that Luhnow and his staff have taken to calling The STOUT System. That’s a nickname conjured by senior quantitative analyst Sig Medjal. The “ST” is for stat and “OUT” is from scout.
“It’s a very thoughtful combination of the stats and the scout’s opinion coming together,” Luhnow said. “The STOUT System includes makeup assessment, physical projection, hustle, athleticism. It takes all of that. Mechanics. Scout’s opinion on future defensive positions. The type of defender that player will be at the various positions. Base-running skills.”

I’m sure many of you have read Sam Walker’s book Fantasyland, sounds like ZOLODEX and Nando’s Hunchmaster had a baby and named it STOUT. I wonder if the Cardinals are taking the player’s horoscope into account? (Sig is Walker’s “stat guy” in the book, as many of you may remember.) Goold also mentions some names the Cardinals are looking at.

The program also helps to equalize statistics from all levels of draft-eligible competition. One of the players on the Cardinals’ radar is Beau Mills, among several highly touted third base prospects. He hit an NAIA record 38 home runs and batted .458 for Lewis-Clark State, in Idaho. But the competition level leads to questions about how his numbers compare to, say, a third baseman who played in the Southeastern Conference.

The Cardinals have a way to calculate that. But it’s not just numbers. The same day the general managers from San Francisco and San Diego saw Mills play, Luhnow was there. He recalls the ferocity with which ground balls were chopped at Mills and that Lewis-Clark players’ box in the offseason. Toughness becomes a plus.

I have to say, I’d be pretty thrilled with Mills if he’s on the board at #18. The article also mentions the Cardinals would be interested in Wieters should he plummet due to $ reasons and Brackman, who despite not having an impressive college record and has had injury issues could still be of interest because of his projectability.

The thing I notice about all these names is they are college players. The article states that with the number of good prep pitchers the Cards still could take one. For precedent, they did take Tyler Herron in the first round in ’05, albeit it was in the supplemental round.

lboros has the links to where all the action will be found. And here’s a link to MLB.com’s draft tracker. Is it 1, yet?

Quick update:

Jon Mayo has his final mock at MLB.com, and I like this one

St. Louis Cardinals: Kevin Ahrens, 3B, Memorial HS (TX)
Long considered to be going to the Reds at No. 15, it now seems like Ahrens will be available here. The Cardinals seem not to be a college-only team right now and might want to show that by taking the high school bat in this spot. He plays shortstop in high school and isn’t bad there, but the consensus is that he should move to third where he should profile better both offensively and defensively.

Interestingly, he has Porcello falling from #2 all the way to #30 with the Yankees, who are likely the only team to open up their wallets and pay his insane demands.

Jim Callis has his 11th hour mock, one I’m not crazy about:

18. Cardinals. St. Louis has kept its intentions closer to the vest than any club. The Cardinals like college players with a strong track record of performance, and they haven’t shied away from Boras clients in the past. That makes Wieters an obvious choice if he gets this far, and Florida first baseman Matt LaPorta fits the profile if Wieters isn’t around. Porcello is another Boras client who would be a steal this low, but it’s uncertain the Cardinals would shell out big money for a high school pitcher. Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) third baseman/first baseman Beau Mills has some advantages over LaPorta: He hits lefthanded, has a chance to play third base and may not cost as much. St. Louis also has looked at college arms such as UC Riverside righthander James Simmons, Cal State Fullerton righty Wes Roemer, San Francisco lefty Aaron Poreda and Hagadone.

Projected Pick: Matt LaPorta, 1b, Florida.

I’m getting tired of hearing LaPorta tied to the Cardinals. Unless he can play something outside of first, I don’t get it.

This guy is a moron.