Professional Tailgating: A Waste of Money, So Far

After the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft, I sang the praises of the Washington Nationals for shelling out $1.8 million signing bonus for Massachusetts high school lefthander Jack McGeary (above). Last night I got a first hand view of the kid, that I thought would be one of the foundations of the franchise for years to come and boy do we need a new foundation.

McGeary pitched against the Lakewood BlueClaws last night and struggles, just like he has been doing all season. Last night McGeary went four and a third innings giving up six hits, three earned runs and walking two batters, while only striking out one.

The numbers seemed ok for a young pitcher who is just getting back to being a full time player, but the one thing that really bothered me is that he did not seem to have that electric stuff that everyone raved about when he was coming out of high school.

His curve ball was when he could locate it, which was an issue all night. His fastball did not go above 90 mph, which is also concerning. His command was not great at all. Watching him last night you never felt like he was in control of any of his pitches. It's still early in his career and there is still time to improve, so as a Nationals fan all I can do is stay patient.

Congrats on 300 Randy

Randy Johnson won his 300 game yesterday against the Nationals. For all of his achievements Johnson might have the best stat of all time, 1 killed bird in spring training. So on the day after he won his 300 game, OTWT honors him by showing the former Expo hitting a bird with a pitch. Congrats Randy.

Professional Tailgating: Manny being Manny

The Only Time Will Tell Tailgating crew was at it again this weekend as they head to Citizens Bank Park for Philly debut of Manny Ramirez in Dodger blue, Saturday. Lets just say that planes were lower then our seats.

Nothing beats getting to the ballpark two hours before the game even starts.
There is still something weird about seeing Manny in Dodger blue, Manny taking batting practice before the game .

At least, Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump rookie of the year pick pitched, Clayton Kershaw and he did not pitch well at well

The gang sat so high, that balloons were flying over us.

Who doesn't love a mock Baseball Draft??

Out of all of drafts, the Major League Baseball Draft might be the toughest to predict. Sometimes players drop because of the signing bonuses they want, while other times Scott Boras scares some teams away.

So with that spelled out, Only Time Will Tell is going to sticks its neck out there and try to predict the first round of the draft that will be held June 6. For the last couple of weeks the Only Time Will Tell Scouting Department has been reviewing scouting reports and watching the conference baseball tournaments to create his mock draft.

FIRST ROUND
1. Tampa Bay Rays (pictured above): Tim Beckham, SS, Griffin (Ga) High School
2. Pittsburgh Pirates: Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Vanderbilt
3. Kansas City Royals: Brian Matusz, P, San Diego
4. Baltimore Orioles: Aaron Crow, P, Missouri
5. San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey, C, Florida State
6. Florida Marlins: Yonder Alonso, 1B, Miami
7. Cincinnati Reds: Gordon Beckman, SS, Georgia
8. Chicago White Sox: Kyle Skipworth, C, Patriot High School (Rubidoux, Cal.)
9. Washington Nationals: Justin Smoak (pictured above), 1B, South Carolina.
10. Houston Astros: Eric Hosmer, 1B, Plantation High School, (Fla.)
11. Texas Rangers: Christain Fredrich, LHP, Eastern Kentucky
12. Oakland Athletics: Brett Wallace, 3B, Arizona State.
13. St. Louis Cardinals: Tim Melville, P, Holt High School (Wentzville, Mo.)
14. Minnesota Twins: Brett Lawrie, OF, Brookswood Secondary School (Langley BC)
15. Los Angeles Dodgers: Shooter Hunt, RHP, Tulane
16. Milwaukee Brewers: Joshua Fields, RHP, Georgia
17. Toronto Blue Jays: Andrew Cashner, RHP, Texas Christian
18. New York Mets (Glavine/Braves): Casey Kelly, SS, Sarasota (Fla.)
19. Chicago Cubs:Jason Castro, C, Stanford
20. Seattle Mariners:Aaron Hicks, OF/RHP, Long Beach Wilson (Ca.)
21. Detroit Tigers: Reese Havens, SS, South Carolina.
22. New York Mets: Gerrit Cole, RHP, Orange Lutheran HS (Ca.)
23. San Diego Padres: Ethan Martin, RHP/3B, Stephens County HS (Ga.)
24. Philadelphia Phillies:Daniel Sclereth, LHP, Arizona.
25. Colorado Rockies:Brett DeVall, LHP, Niceville HS (Fla.)
26. Arizona Diamondbacks: Ike Davis, OF, Arizona State.
27. Minnesota Twins (Hunter/Angels): Jemile Weeks, 2B, Miami.
28. New York Yankees: Alex Meyer, RHP, Greensburg HS (Ind.)
29. Cleveland Indians: Ryan Perry, RHP, Arizona.
30. Boston Red Sox:Anthony Hewitt,SS,Salisbury School (Conn.)

COMP ROUND A
31. Minnesota Twins (Hunter/Angels):Zach Collier, LF, Chino Hills HS (Cal.)
32. Milwaukee Brewers (Cordero/Reds): Connor Gillaspie, 3B, Wichita State
33. New York Mets (Glavine/Braves): Tanner Scheppers,RHP, Fresno State
34. Philadelphia Phillies (Rowand/Giants): Kyle Russell, OF, Texas
35. Milwaukee Brewers (Linebrink/White Sox): Brett Hunter, RHP, Pepperdine
36. Kansas City Royals (Riske/Brewers): James Darnell, 3B/OF, South Carolina
37. San Francisco Giants (Feliz/Phillies):Jody Mercer, SS, Oklahoma State
38. Houston Astros (Miller/Rays):Ross Seaton, RHP, Second Baptist HS (Tex.)
39. St. Louis Cardinals (Percival/Rays): Jake Odorizzi, RHP, Highland HS (Ill.)
40. Atlanta Braves (Mahay/Royals): Xavier Avery, OF, Cedar Grove HS (Ga.)
41. Chicago Cubs (Kendall/Brewers): Dustin Hood, OF, Episcopal HS, (Ala.)
42. San Diego Padres )(Brocail/Astros): Tim Murphy, LHP, UCLA
43. Arizona Diamondbacks (Hernandez/Twins): Kyle Lobstein, LHP, Coconion HS (Ari.)
44. New York Yankees (Vizcaino/Rockies): Tyler Sample, RHP, Mullen HS (Col.)
45. Boston Red Sox (Gagne/Brewers):Jordan Danks, OF, Texas
46. San Diego Padres (Cameron/Brewers):David Cooper, 1B, California

The draft matters even in baseball

People talk all of the time how the Major League Baseball Draft has the least affect of any draft in sports but that is not the case just look at the team that is playing the best ball in the NL: the Arizona Diamondbacks.

During the last five drafts the Diamondbacks have shown how to build your team through the draft. After winning the World Series in 2001 the front office decided to rebuild and they did it through the draft.

A look at the key players shows the success the scouting staff had between 2003 and 2006.

• 2003: Connor Jackson and Carlos Carlos Quentin, who was later traded.
• 2004: Stephen Drew and Mark Reynolds. As well as two other players that were traded for veteran pitchers.
• 2005: Justin Upton (pictured above) and Micah Owings.
• 2006. Max Scherzer.
  

During the period the team spent $25.7 million dollars on signing bonous for all of their picks. Sure it seems like a lot but in the end it looks like it was money well spent.

Getting Old is Never Easy

You know you are getting old when you start to see children of players that you watched play get drafted and during this year's Major League Baseball Draft that is going to be so true. Among the prospects that are catching the eye of cross checking scouts all over the country include the son of a former All Star Game starter and the son of a player that was once called "Nails''.

• Jack Armstrong, P, Jupiter High School: The son of the former Reds pitcher is a favorite of scouting staffs for his outstanding fastball and pitching make up.
• Cutter Dykstra, SS, Westlake (pictured above): Plays the game just like his father does. Toughness and speed makes everyone think of his dad.
• Ike Davis, IF, Arizona State: The son of former Yankees relief pitcher Ron Davis combines with Brett Walllace to the give the Sun Devils one of the most feared duos in the country.
• Kyle Long, 1B, St. Anne's Belfield High School: Howie's other son is one of the top players in the state of Virginia. Know in his home state for his tape measure home runs.
• Casey Kelly, SS, Sarasota High School: The son of former major leaguer Pat, has got baseball scouts wondering. Kelly has signed with Tennessee to play quarterback. So any team that draft him will have to buy out his commitment.

So come mid-June, I will again start to feel old, when I see those named called during the draft.

The Joys of Player Development

One of the best things about baseball is watching players develop and last night was no different as the D'Backs introduced uber prospect Max Scherzer to their rotation.

Scherzer was drafted in 2006 in the 1st round as the 11th overall pick. He began playing in the organization last year in Single-A. He was promoted to Double-A after three impressive starts for the Oaks. After a good start to the season in Tucson he was called up to the Diamondbacks on in late April.

The game did start well for the former Mizzou product as he gave up a double to the first batter and hit a batter in his first inning as starter against the Phillies. During his first inning of work in the rotation his velocity ranged from 96 to 100. Max struggled in his first inning giving up a run. On the night he only lasted four innings giving up seven hits and two earned runs, while throwing 92 pitches, 58 for strikes. The key will be seeing how he bounces back from the outing in his next start.

If he can develop, Scherzer can be the third stud in a rotation with Harden and Webb. He would also make Joe Wolf's Vertical Jump rethink his rookie of the year pick. So where is exactly is Clayton Kershaw at the moment.