Baseball Draft 2014: Table of Day 1 Results and Grades for Major League Teams

Day 1 of the 2014 MLB draft saw 74 prospective big-leaguers taken, leaving teams with plenty of upside and intrigue. With compensation and competitive-balance rounds thrown in, many organizations have infused their farm systems with some of the most exciting young talent in the game.

While not everyone selected on Thursday night will turn into a star, a few teams may have secured important building blocks to shape the next era of their team. The baseball draft is more difficult to predict than any other sport, so for now these grades and evaluations are based strictly on value.

With that, let's take a look at how each team fared through the first two rounds while also looking at a few of the most noteworthy teams from Day 1's action.

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School	Grade
1	Houston Astros	Brady Aiken	LHP	Cathedral Catholic HS	A
2	Miami Marlins	Tyler Kolek	RHP	Shepherd HS	B+
3	Chicago White Sox	Carlos Rodon	LHP	N.C. State	A
4	Chicago Cubs	Kyle Schwarber	C	Indiana	B
5	Minnesota Twins	Nick Gordon	SS	Olympia HS	B+
6	Seattle Mariners	Alex Jackson	C/OF	Rancho Bernardo HS	A
7	Philadelphia Phillies	Aaron Nola	RHP	LSU	A
8	Colorado Rockies	Kyle Freeland	LHP	Evansville	A-
9	Toronto Blue Jays	Jeff Hoffman	RHP	East Carolina	A-
10	New York Mets	Michael Conforto	OF	Oregon State	A
11	Toronto Blue Jays	Max Pentecost	C	Kennesaw State	A-
12	Milwaukee Brewers	Kodi Medeiros	LHP	Waiakea HS	B
13	San Diego Padres	Trea Turner	SS	N.C. State	B+
14	San Francisco Giants	Tyler Beede	RHP	Vanderbilt	B
15	Los Angeles Angels	Sean Newcomb	LHP	Hartford	B+
16	Arizona Diamondbacks	Touki Toussaint	RHP	Coral Springs Christian Academy	A-
17	Kansas City Royals	Brandon Finnegan	LHP	TCU	B+
18	Washington Nationals	Erick Fedde	RHP	UNLV	B
19	Cincinnati Reds	Nick Howard	RHP	Virginia	A-
20	Tampa Bay Rays	Casey Gillaspie	1B	Wichita State	A-
21	Cleveland Indians	Bradley Zimmer	OF	San Francisco	A-
22	Los Angeles Dodgers	Grant Holmes	RHP	Conway HS	B+
23	Detroit Tigers	Derek Hill	OF	Elk Grove HS	A
24	Pittsburgh Pirates	Cole Tucker	SS	Mountain Pointe HS	B-
25	Oakland Athletics	Matt Chapman	3B	Cal State Fullerton	B
26	Boston Red Sox	Michael Chavis	SS	Sprayberry HS	A-
27	St. Louis Cardinals	Luke Weaver	RHP	Florida State	B
28	Kansas City Royals	Foster Griffin	LHP	The First Academy	B
29	Cincinnati Reds	Alex Blandino	SS	Stanford	A
30	Texas Rangers	Luis Ortiz	RHP	Sanger HS	A-
31	Cleveland Indians	Justus Sheffield	LHP	Tullahoma HS	B
32	Atlanta Braves	Braxton Davidson	OF	T.C. Roberson HS	A
33	Boston Red Sox	Michael Kopech	RHP	Pleasant HS	B
34	St. Louis Cardinals	Jack Flaherty	RHP	Harvard-Westlake HS	B-
35	Colorado Rockies	Forrest Wall	2B	Orangewood Christian HS	A
36	Miami Marlins	Blake Anderson	C	West Lauderdale HS	B+
37	Houston Astros	Derek Fisher	OF	Virginia	A
38	Cleveland Indians	Mike Papi	OF	Virginia	A-
39	Pittsburgh Pirates	Connor Joe	OF	San Diego	C+
40	Kansas City Royals	Chase Vallot	C	St. Thomas More HS	A-
41	Milwaukee Brewers	Jacob Gatewood	SS	Clovis HS	B+

Pick	Team	Player	Position	School	Grade
42	Houston Astros	A.J. Reed	1B	Kentucky	A
43	Miami Marlins	Justin Twine	SS	Falls City HS	B-
44	Chicago White Sox	Spencer Adams	RHP	White County HS	A-
45	Chicago Cubs	Jake Stinnett	RHP	Maryland	A-
46	Minnesota Twins	Nick Burdi	RHP	Louisville	A-
47	Philadelphia Phillies	Matt Imhof	LHP	Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo	B
48	Colorado Rockies	Ryan Castellani	RHP	Brophy Jesuit Prep School	B+
49	Toronto Blue Jays	Sean Reid-Foley	RHP	Sandalwood HS	A
50	Milwaukee Brewers	Monte Harrison	OF	Lee's Summit West HS	B+
51	San Diego Padres	Michael Gettys	OF	Gainesville HS	A-
52	San Francisco Giants	Aramis Garcia	C	Florida International	B+
53	Los Angeles Angels	Joe Gatto	RHP	St. Augustine Prep	C+
54	Arizona Diamondbacks	Cody Reed	LHP	Ardmore HS	A-
55	New York Yankees	Jacob Lindgren	LHP	Mississippi State	B
56	Kansas City Royals	Scott Blewett	RHP	Baker HS	B-
57	Washington Nationals	Andrew Suarez	LHP	Miami	B
58	Cincinnati Reds	Taylor Sparks	3B	UC Irvine	B-
59	Texas Rangers	Tiquan Forbes	SS	Columbia HS	A-
60	Tampa Bay Rays	Cameron Varga	RHP	Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy	B
61	Cleveland Indians	Grant Hockin	RHP	Damien HS	C+
62	Los Angeles Dodgers	Alex Verdugo	OF	Sahuaruo HS	B+
63	Detroit Tigers	Spencer Turnbull	RHP	Alabama	B
64	Pittsburgh Pirates	Mitch Keller	RHP	Xavier HS	A-
65	Oakland Athletics	Daniel Gossett	RHP	Clemson	B+
66	Atlanta Braves	Garrett Fulenchek	RHP	Howe HS	B+
67	Boston Red Sox	Sam Travis	1B	Indiana	B+
68	St. Louis Cardinals	Ronnie Williams	RHP	American Senior HS	B+
69	Arizona Diamondbacks	Marcus Wilson	OF	Junipero Serra HS	B
70	Arizona Diamondbacks	Isan Diaz	SS	Springfield Central HS	B-
71	St. Louis Cardinals	Andrew Morales	RHP	UC Irvine	B-
72	Tampa Bay Rays	Brent Honeywell	RHP	Walters State CC	B-
73	Pittsburgh Pirates	Trey Supak	RHP	La Grange HS	B
74	Seattle Mariners	Gareth Morgan	OF	Blyth Academy	B

Houston Astros

Holding the top overall pick for the third consecutive season, the Astros added one of the highest-upside arms in recent years in prep school lefty Brady Aiken. It was not entirely surprising to see the Astros opt for Aiken, who many scouts see as one of the surest things in the draft, per ESPN's Jayson Stark:

Indeed, despite the shaky reputation that dogs high school prospects (especially arms), Aiken is far from the typical type of prospect. As ESPN's Tim Keown relays, amateur scouts are more comfortable with Aiken not only because of his makeup but because he has already been on the radar for several years:

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'Teams have probably seen him 100 times,' said John Manuel, who has covered amateur baseball for Baseball America for 17 years. 'They've had national crosscheckers and area scouts and even international scouts on him. There's an extensive track record, more in line with a college player.'

"

Apart from the first overall pick, Houston also received excellent value with the next two picks, a pair of bats in Derek Fisher and A.J. Reed. Fisher, a prep school prospect, broke his hamate bone after a hot start to his season, but he returned to post a .281/.340/.415 slash line. Reed led all Division I hitters with 23 home runs while at Kentucky, and he could eventually join George Springer and Jonathan Singleton to form a powerful middle of the order in Houston.

Seattle Mariners

Alex Jackson falling to No. 6 was a dream scenario for the Mariners, who continue their perpetual search for power bats. Interestingly, Bud Selig announced the class' top prep bat as an outfielder rather than a catcher, a distinction that could move his ETA up a year or two if it sticks.

Regardless, while Seattle's farm system is chock-full of high-upside arms, the Mariners do not have much in the way of future power potential apart from Austin Wilson and D.J. Peterson. Therefore, according to the Seattle Times' Larry Stone, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik believes Jackson's right-handed upside is an invaluable commodity:

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Yeah, you’ve noticed. It’s difficult. It really is. Especially a right-handed bat. We’ve talked about that a lot. We’re talking about it now. It’s funny, I remember years ago it was left-handed bats, trying to find a really good left-handed hitter. Now it just seems it’s the right-handed bat that’s at a premium.

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Seattle's second-round pick is not as well-rounded or projectable a hitter as Jackson, but he offers even more power potential than the sixth overall pick, per Greg Johns of MLB.com:

Gareth Morgan has the profile to project as a right fielder at some point, so Jackson's versatility could come in handy if both picks work out. Morgan possesses one of the top power bats in the draft, so he represents excellent value in the competitive-balance stages of the second round.

Toronto Blue Jays

Arguably no team received better Day 1 value than the surprise AL East leaders, who continue the early summer's good vibes.

The Blue Jays' first selection, Jeff Hoffman, will need a year off due to Tommy John surgery. Using the ninth overall pick on such a prospect naturally carries risk, but as ESPN's Christopher Crawford opines (subscription required), Toronto may have received a top-four talent:

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If Hoffman were healthy, he would have been a lock for the top four, as some compared him to a poor man's Adam Wainwright. Taking a pitcher who won't be able to throw for your organization for close to a year is a risk, but the Blue Jays have been known to take chances such as this, as seen in the fact that they didn't sign two of their top three first-round picks. 

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Even if Hoffman does not pan out as expected, the Blue Jays backed up their top pick with two more high-upside prospects:

Max Pentecost is arguably the best pure catcher in this class, as his eye-popping .423/.483/.631 batting line carried Kennesaw State into the NCAA tournament. With above-average tools across the board, Pentecost has a good chance to develop into a major league regular at a scarce position.

At the beginning of the second round, the Jays received first-round talent in Sandalwood's Sean Reid-Foley. The tall righty was one of the most polished prep pitchers available, as his four-pitch arsenal and advanced feel suggest a high-floor prospect.

Hoffman and Reid-Foley could soon join Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman to form a quartet of intriguing rotation arms.