Round 21 – Joshua Lucas, RHP
6′ 6″ 185lbs 11/05/1990
State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota, FL
Baseball America:
The Manatees could have a third player drafted in 6-foot-6, 185-pound righthander Josh Lucas, who is projectable and sits at 88 mph with his fastball.
Round 22 – Steven Ramos, OF
6′ 160lbs 7/4/1990
Ohlone College, CA
Round 23 – Dyllon Nuernberg, RHP
6′ 1″ 220lbs 5/28/1991
Western Nevada Community College, NV
Round 24 – Patrick Biserta, LF
6′ 185lbs 6/30/1989
Rutgers University, NJ
Baseball America:
[...] scouts question whether Biserta’s power will translate to wood bats, and he lacks athleticism.
A lifelong Yankees fan, Pat Biserta admits he didn’t know much about the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization before Tuesday, when he was selected in the 24th round of the Major League Baseball First-year Player Draft.
“I’m a Cardinals fan now,” said Biserta, a junior left fielder from Point Pleasant fresh off a breakout campaign for the Rutgers baseball team. “From the beginning I had a pretty good idea it was going to be St. Louis. We’ve been in contact more than any other team, so I had a good feeling it was going to be the Cardinals.”
College Splits: Pat Biserta Can Hit. Is He Draftable?
Round 25 – Richard Mendoza, RHP
6′ 1″ 170lbs 2/25/1992
Isabel Flores HS, Puerto Rico
MLB Draft Tracker: Video
Round 26 – Victor Sanchez, 1B
6′ 2″ 200lbs 12/30/1988
University of San Diego, CA
MLB Draft Tracker: Video
Baseball America:
Victor Sanchez looked like a potential first-rounder as a freshman, but injuries (particularly to his shoulder) and inconsistency have plagued him in the past two seasons. While he frequently plays DH or first base instead of third, Sanchez has power in his sweet swing, and a club may take a gamble on him as the Cubs did in 2007 in the 25th round.
Round 27 – Aidan Lucas, RHP
6′ 2″ 225lbs 4/21/1988
Denison University, IL
Round 28 – John (Taylor) Black, SS
6′ 2″ 180lbs 2/17/1989
University of Kentucky
Round 29 – Christopher Patterson, RHP
6′ 200lbs 3/29/1988
Appalachian State University, NC
Round 30 – Iden Nazario, LHP
6′ 192lbs 3/28/1989
Miami University, FL
Entries (RSS)
Biserta is like Memphis OF Shorey or PB’s Swauger: collegiate slow corner OF who can provide some punch to a minor league lineup.
Picks 21-23: The Cards continue to trend younger, toward little known high school and juco kids. They take longer to develop and some could command bonuses (versus college seniors). There will be washouts at low levels, but you hope to find some diamonds in the rough.
We seem to be taking a ton of lefty pitchers in this draft–looks like a throw it all at the wall and see what sticks. Iden Nazario walked over a batter per inning; and was actually worse in that department against lefties if you, like me, guessed that it may be a situational lefty-thing, where he pitches around right handed bats.
@Liam: Its hard to look at stats and get a gauge on much. You got to look at the whole picture and see if you can find some untapped potential. Maybe is mechanics, maybe injury has set someone back and maybe you just think his approach is bad. That late in the draft is just a crap shoot…you hope to find a few that progress in the system.
@JC: Just to make myself clear there, I wasn’t saying that Nazario’s a bum or anything. Just surprised that we’re taking a ton of lefties in a draft class reputed to be weak on left-handed pitching.
@Liam: I got ya. Keep in mind when the “powers” deem a class strong or weak and XYZ they are usually talking about the first 6-10 Rds worth of picks. Once you get past that you are really hunting deep for some diamond in the rough. There are a ton of guys that have a ton of question marks and most of those guys are organizational depth. So when I guy gets taken in the 30th Rd the team is usually seeing 1 little thing that intrigues them or maybe they had success in the past or in a summer league when scouts were present. Rarely can you get your hopes up with guys in the later rounds. If you noticed we took our first LHP in the 6th Rd and then again in the 8th, 9th and 11th Rd. Those 4 have a chance to be MLB guys. I wouldn’t have high hopes for any of the others personally whether RHP or LHP. You never know though.
Read an interview from the coach of the round 21 guy. He expects him to sign, says he has a big time arm throwing mid 90′s
@Liam: With big time college teams like Miami, a kid can get buried by all the depth of quality players and not get a chance to develop. This is why the Cards took a chance on Nazario.