3rd & 4th Round Picks

Yesterday, I posted items on the Giants, Twins and A’s picks in Rounds 1 and 2 of the Draft.  Here are their respective 3rd and 4th round picks.

Giants

3rd (86th pick) Chris Dominguez, 3B University of Louisville.

An excellent 3rd round pick.  Dominguez was a junior last year, and was drafted in the 5th round of the ‘08 draft by the Rockies.  He chose to go back to school for his senior year.

His OPS numbers for his three years as a starter in college are .855, 1.114 and 1.139, so it’s clear he’s a good hitter, at least at the college level.  His only down-side is that he is already 22 years old.

4th (117th pick) Jason Stoffel, RHP University of Arizona.

Here are his numbers from his three years as Arizona’s top relief pitcher:

Year   W  L  ERA  IP     Hits BB K’s Saves

2007  5  0  1.87 43.1  41    13 55    5

2008  4  2  3.00  48    34    15  79  13

2009  2  1  4.67   54   44     25  55  11

His huge drop-off in numbers from his sophmore to junior years is a bad sign.  He pitched in a lot games (73 games over the last two years) and a lot of innings for a college reliever, and it may have taken something out of his arm.  If his arm is sound and he can recapture his 2008 effectiveness, he has a lot of up-side.

Twins

3rd (101st pick) Ben Tootle, RHP Jacksonville State U.

Here are his numbers the last two seasons:

Year   W  L  ERA  IP   Hits BB K’s

2008 10 2  3.87 86    87   29 79

2009   5 4  4.56  51.1 35   35 58

According to his school’s website, Tootle pitched well in the Cape Cod League (a wood bat league for top amatuer players) last summer, posting a 1.97 ERA in 22 appearances.  He appeares to have had some arm problems in ‘09.  Looks like he’s got stuff, but he also looks like a project.

4th (132nd pick), Derek McCallum, 2B University of Minnesota.

He took a huge step up in offensive performance in 2009.  Here are his college OPS numbers: .823, .750 and 1.225.  The difference between his sophmore and junior seasons is so extreme that one has to wonder if his 2009 was just a fluke.  That’s certainly why he wasn’t selected higher than the 132nd pick.

Still, young players sometimes get better in a hurry, and he’s certainly a great pick for the 132nd pick of the draft.  Any middle infielder with a year like his 2009 is worth taking if he’s still around after the 3rd round.

Note that the Twins first four picks in the Draft were college pitchers and their first five picks were college players.  However, the Twins are not adverse to taking high school position players in the early rounds, having taken Joe Mauer with the first pick of the 2001 draft and Justin Morneau in the 3rd round in 1999.  Still, the Twins like those college pitchers.

A’s

3rd (92nd pick) Justin Marks, LHP University of Louisville.

Here are his numbers for his three college seasons:

Year   W  L  ERA  IP       Hits BB K’s

2007  9  2  2.67 104.2  71  38 87

2008  9  2  2.37  91        72  39 89

2009 11 3  3.77 105     86   35 129

After almost identical seasons in ‘07 and ‘08, his ERA shot up more than a run in ‘09.  However, I still think he is an excellent selection.  His strikeouts to innings pitched and strikeouts to walks ratios improved dramatically this last year, which suggests that the increase in ERA doesn’t mean much.

Surprising that a college pitcher with Marks’ numbers would fall all the way to the 92nd pick.  He’s now Louisville’s all-time career leader in wins, strikouts, ERA and starts.

4th (123rd pick), Max Stassi C, HS Yuba City.  One doesn’t normally think of Yuba City, California as a hot-bed of baseball talent, but good players can come from anywhere.  Besides, Max Stassi sounds like a great name for a major league catcher.  Baseball America likes him too.