Quick announcement: I’ll be on UCB Radio tonight at 9:30 to talk all things draft.

Here’s some quick snap shots of who the Cardinals took on Day 2

Round 4, Pick #129. Scott Bittle, RHP, Ole Miss – 2nd round draft pick of the Yankees last year. Yankees did not sign him due to medical issues with his shoulder. He missed some time this year to the same thing. He’s been mostly a reliever, throws the best cut fastball of any collegiate. Mostly a one pitch pitcher. With that one pitch , he’s posted some ridiculous strikeout numbers –255 in 155.2 innings pitched. Big question is the health of his shoulder, which has been a recurring issue. Senior with injury issues make him an easy sign.

Round 5, Pick #159. Ryan Jackson, SS, U. of Miami FL – All glove, no hit shortstop. Glove may be so good, that he doesn’t have to crack .250 to be valuable. Walk to strikeout ratio 1:1, so he’s shown at least a decent batting eye in college, leading to some reason to believe he might hit a little better than expected. I like this pick.

Round 6, Pick #189. Virgil Hill Jr., OF, Mission JC – Thoroughbred. Both his parents are former Olympians, his mother was a runner, father was a boxer. Dad’s nickname was “Quicksilver”. Hit .462 with ten homers and 27 steals. Video of him here.

Round 7, Pick # 219. Kyle Conley, OF, Washington – 16th round pick of the Dodgers last year. Tied for all time Husky record with 42 homers over his college career. Hit .303/.401/.635 in a tough ballpark for hitters. 6-4, 210 lbs. Pick, power hitting corner outfielder.

Round 8, Pick # 249. Jason Stidham, SS/2B, Florida St. Top notch college performer. Hit .363/.465/.650. Walked 44 times to 35 strikeouts. Has a “gamer” reputation. Bats lefty. Really struggled in the Cape this year, hit just .155 in 103 at-bats but was Co-Playoff MVP for the champion Harwich Mariners.

Round 9, Pick # 279. Nick McCully, RHP, Coastal Carolina. 91-94 MPH fastball, “bulldog” mentality says PGCrosschecker. 5-11, 195. ERA of 2.10, 64 K’s in 73 innings. Collected 8 saves as the team’s closer. Threw fog-shortened perfect game in the Cape. Pretty solid performance in the Cape, striking out 44 in 50 innings pitched and allowed 30 hits with a 1.98 ERA. 88-92 fastball, good slider, strike-thrower.

Round 10, Pick #309. Hector Hernandez, LHP, Puerto Rico Baseball Academy. 6-1, 200 lbs lefty with an 88-90 sinker and good curve. You can see video of him here.

Round 11, Pick #339. Alan Ahmady, 1B, Fresno State. Amazing batting eye just judging by the #’s, with twice as many walks than strikeouts (48/24). OBP .478. Was suspended from team and held out of the WAC Tourney. Not sure why.

Round 12, Pick #369. Patrick Daugherty, LHP, Pearl CC. His uncle is former big leaguer Jay Powell. 6-5, 210 with a fastball and a breaking ball.

Round 13, Pick #399. Matt Carpenter, 3B, Texas Christian – I have a good feeling about this pick. Redshirt senior, sort of reminds me of Freese in that regard, and in that he plays third. Hit .333/.470/.662 with 51 walks to 24 strikeouts. Walked in 19% of his plate appearances. Double-digit basestealer the past two seasons. Plays 3B comfortably. Adjusted for park and schedule, hit for .380 gross production average. (that’s very good) Will get knocked for being older, may have to move quick.

Round 14, Pick #429, Ross Smith, OF, Middle Georgia JC – Son of a Cardinal scout.

Round 15, Pick # 459, David Washington, 1B, University City High, CA. Big, strong kid with some power potential. Get a peak at him here on video. PGCrosschecker says “David Washington is a 2009 1B/OF with a 6’5”, 220 lb. frame from San Diego, CA who attends University City. Big XL frame, big physical player, projectable build, hands work at 1b, arm strength, moves well, good feet around bag, open stance, narrow stance, front foot hitter, glides to ball, bat speed, power potential, projects well.”

Pick 16, Pick #489, Daniel Bibona, LHP, UC Irvine. Generously listed at 6-0, 170, Bibona was one of the NCAA’s top pitchers and was named an All-American. He’s your typical soft-tossing lefty, who likes to mess with hitters with a mixture of an 85-87 fastball, a slider, curve and a slow, sinking changeup. UC Irvine must be the change-up school, Scott Gorgen throws a nasty one, too. This is an excellent pick in the 16th round. I like this quote on Bibona about himself “I love to analyze hitters, try to set them up, throw fastballs in, changeups away, and then change the pattern the next time. After one game I was telling (roommate Eric) Pettis that it was weird, but I felt like I could remember every pitch I threw.” Bibona struck out 108 in 106 with 26 walks allowed and 78 hits. He went 12-1 with a 2.63 ERA. (Love my use of useless stats on draft day) Conceivably he could go back to school for his senior year and hope he gets drafted a little higher next year.

Pick 17, #519, Jonathan Rodriguez, 3B, Manatee JC. Hit .360 average with a .463 OB% with 10 HR in 200 at-bats. Another J-Rod, just look.

Pick 18, #539, Anthony Garcia, C, San Juan Educational School (PR) – Catcher with a power swing. See here.

Pick 19, #569, Travis Tartamella, C, Cal. State Los Angeles – Hit .301/.364/.506. Video here. Bat looks a little slow to me, but I’m not a scout. Criminal Justice major, just thought I’d mention.

Pick 20, #599, Scott Schneider, RHP, St. Mary’s – 67 K’s to 21 BB in 75.1 IP.

Pick 21, #639, Trevor Rosenthal, RHP, Crowley County CC – These JUCO guys are hard to dig up info on. If I tell you he struck out a batter per inning, what would it mean to you?

Pick 22, #669, Joey Bergman, 2B, College of Charleston – Hit .452 (!) with 24 steals and an OBP of .551. Easy schedule, easy park, still not an easy task.

Pick 23, #699, Matt Adams, C, Slippery Rock. You thought Bergman’s numbers were ridonkulous? Adams hit .495/.566/.853 with 31 walks to 17 strikeouts. First team All-America Division II and Player of the Year. Lefty hitter, and a big-un 6-3, 245 pounds. BA says “A burly 6-foot-3, 245-pound slugger, Adams has a good swing and a mature offensive approach to go along with solid-average to plus power. He’s adequate at best defensively at first base, and he’s well-below-average behind the plate.”

That’s all I got for now. We’ll catch you up on the other semi-interesting picks from today and the picks yet to be made tomorrow. Hopefully there’s another Curt Smith or Sam Freeman to be found.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 7:45 pm and is filed under 2009 MLB Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.