Draft!!

The draft is two days away, and it's time to get excited (about the first round and a half, at least). I don't claim to be a draft expert by any stretch of the imagination; I just don't have the time to drive around the country watching high school baseball games with a radar gun. I would direct you to Baseball America for all your draft-related needs.

The first round and supplemental first round will be televised on ESPN2, starting at 2 PM on Thursday. The draft order is as follows:

1.	Tampa Bay Devil Rays
2.	Kansas City Royals
3.	Chicago Cubs
4.	Pittsburgh Pirates
5.	Baltimore Orioles
6.	Washington Nationals
7.	Milwaukee Brewers
8.	Colorado Rockies
9.	Arizona Diamondbacks
10.	San Francisco Giants
11.	Seattle Mariners
12.	Florida Marlins
13.	Cleveland Indians
14.	Atlanta Braves
15.	Cincinnati Reds
16.	Toronto Blue Jays
17.	Texas Rangers
18.	St. Louis Cardinals
19.	Philadelphia Phillies
20.	Los Angeles Dodgers
21.	Toronto Blue Jays
22.	San Francisco Giants
23.	San Diego Padres
24.	Texas Rangers
25.	Chicago White Sox
26.	Oakland Athletics
27.	Detroit Tigers
28.	Minnesota Twins
29.	San Francisco Giants
30.	New York Yankees

The Giants have six picks in the first and supplemental first rounds combined, which is good, because their system is essentially awful, especially with the recent graduation of Tim Lincecum to the big leagues. Hopefully for San Fran, their scouting department can draft as well as they did in 2006, when they snagged him. Their top two prospects heading into 2007, Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez, are both in the bigs, making their number one prospect a 16 year old third baseman named Angel Villalona, according the Baseball America Prospect Handbook. He qualifies as high-ceiling talent, but he, along with the farm system as a whole, has a ways to go.

San Diego also has six picks in those rounds. They also don't have a very good farm system, checking in at #29 overall by BA heading into 2007. Kevin Kouzmanoff was their #4 prospect. Ugh.

Texas has five picks in the first and supplemental first rounds. They could use an infusion of pitching into their system, after dealing John Danks to the White Sox and the relative flameouts of the other two members of their formerly vaunted "DVD" trio, Edinson Volquez and Thomas Diamond. They aren't busts in the pure sense of the word, but neither of them have lived up to the hype they have received in the past. Evan Chan has more on that at the Dallas Morning News.

David Price is the consensus #1 pick to the Devil Rays. He pitched the 9th and 10th innings of College World Series Regional Final last night against Michigan, giving up a game-winning HR for his first loss of the season. He went 11-1, 2.63 with 194 SO in 133 IP for Vanderbilt, who was the #1 ranked team in the nation heading into the CWS. He's pretty good.

In my tragically unqualified opinion, I like Matt Wieters, C, Georgia Tech. He responded strongly to accusations that he couldn't stick at catcher in the bigs, and all scouting reports I've read on him have him staying there, where his bat plays extremely well. Wieters hit .380/.480/.592 for GA Tech this year, rebounding after a slow start, which was likely a result of pitchers throwing around him, according to John Sickels. I think position players are much easier to project, as the attrition rate for amateur pitchers is staggering. I'm not saying I would take Wieters first, but I do think it's something to at least consider. Joe Mauers and Brian McCanns are extremely rare in this day and age.