2010 MLB Draft: 50 Long Rounds Later, The Draft Is Complete

No sense in offering much analysis, as day three featured rounds 31-50, made up predominantly of unsignables, lottery long shots, and nepotism selections. Nevertheless, for the curious, the complete list of players selected on Wednesday can be found at the MLB Tracker. In addition, Baseball America’s John Manuel chimes in with a little bit of commentary on rounds 31-36 on the BA draft blog.

We will shortly have complete draft reviews from MLB Bonus Baby’s Andy Seiler and Minor League Ball’s John Sickels.

Written by Minor League Ball’s John Sickels.

Judging the first day of a draft with a simple “up/down” dichotomy can be misleading. Last year, for example, it looked strange for the Pirates to draft Tony Sanchez, but they turned around and used the money saved to pick higher-upside players in later rounds. With that in mind, here is my thumbnail take on the first day of the draft.

Arizona – Down

I like Loux as a prospect, but he has some injury risk and there were both safer and higher upside arms available at number six overall.

With the 32nd overall pick, and the last pick of the first round, the Yankees have selected:

Cito Culver, SS, Irondequoit HS (NY)

With the 31st overall pick, the Rays have selected:

Justin O’Conner, C, Cowan HS (IN)

With the 19th overall pick, the Astros have selected:

Mike Foltynewicz, RHP, Minooka HS (IL)

With the 18th overall pick, the Angels have selected:

Kaleb Cowart, 3B, Cook County HS (GA)

With the 16th overall pick, the Cubs have selected:

Hayden Simpson, RHP, Southern Arkansas University

With the 15th overall pick, the Rangers have selected:

Jake Skole, OF, Blessed Trinity High School (GA)

With the 14th overall pick, the Brewers have selected:

Dylan Covey, RHP, Maranatha HS (CA)

With the 11th overall pick, the Blue Jays have selected:

Deck McGuire, RHP, Georgia Tech

With the tenth overall pick, the A’s have selected:

Michael Choice, CF, UT-Arlington

With the ninth overall pick, the Padres have selected:

Karsten Whitson, RHP, Chipley HS (FL)

With the eighth overall pick, the Astros have selected:

Delino DeShields Jr., CF, Woodward Academy (GA)

And with the seventh overall pick, the Mets have selected:

Matt Harvey, RHP, North Carolina

With the sixth overall pick, the Diamondbacks have selected:

Barret Loux, RHP, Texas A&M

ESPN’s Keith Law just posted the final update of his mock draft, and there’s something interesting happening there at #4:

There was talk that Grandal and the Royals had been working out a pre-draft deal, but there’s no fire beneath the smoke, and now it’s looking like KC will choose to opt for the pick they feel they’re more likely to sign. Consider this the strongest indication yet that Grandal will fall.

At #1, of course, the Nationals are poised to select Bryce Harper. The only surprising bit is that the team apparently intends to move him away from behind the plate and into the outfield, but then, catching is dangerous and can wreak havoc on a guy’s timetable. Harper is known for his bat, and that is the tool the Nationals want to maximize.

At #2, the Pirates are choosing between high school shortstop Manny Machado and high school pitcher Jameson Taillon. Taillon is the top pitcher in the class and is said to already have three plus pitches, while Machado entered the year as the nation’s best high school player and has done nothing to diminish his stock. Most seem to believe the Pirates will go with Taillon.