2014 Draft Links: TTF's Initial Top 50

Dan Kirby at through the fences released his initial 2014 top 50 draft prospects.  In no surprise, Carlos Rodon is number one.  Rodon's NC State team Trea Turner comes in at number two.  Jeff Hoffman, who topped Kiley McDaniel's list, is ranked down at number five.

My own two cents is that any list this early, particulary from someone who is not a scout, should be taken with huge grain of salt.  Nevertheless, Kirby's list is worth a look just to get a sense of who is getting first round buzz.

2014 Draft Links: McDaniel's Top 30 College Prospects and podcast

Fox's Kiley McDaniel recently put up his top 30 college prospects for the 2014 draft ($).  In a bit of a surprise he has ECU's Jeff Hoffman rated ahead of Carlos Rodon.

In his podcast this week, McDaniel says that it's a tossup between Rodon and Hoffman for the current number 1 spot, but that he favors Hoffman because of his projectability.  He describes Hoffman as 6'4 with a mid-90s fastball that can touch 98, a potential plus curve, and an average changeup.

2014 Draft Links: Garrioch's Initial Draft Rankings

Matt Garrioch, of Minorleagueball.com, put up his initial 2014 draft rankings.  Rodon leads the pack at #1, with Jeff Hoffman and Tyler Kolek coming in at #2 and #3, respectively.  Garrioch is less bullish on HS hitters Alex Jackson and Jacob Gatewood, ranking them, respectively, at #8 and #10.

2014 Draft Links: Carlos Rodon

Last Tuesday, rising college junior Carlos Rodon and Team USA faced off against Team Cuba's B team in North Carolina.  Rodon, who been hyped up since his freshman year as a potential number overall #1 draft pick, had been plagued by inconsistent stuff and results as a sophomore.  While his overall sophomore line was good, some scouts questioned whether he belonged at the top of the draft.  Rodon went a long way putting those questions to rest with a dominant performance against Cuba in front of an army of scouts.  The reports were glowing.

Baseball America's John Manuel reports that his NC State coach says it was the best Rodon has ever thrown:

Tuesday, they did it behind Rodon, who was in such command that N.C. State coach Elliott Avent, who was in attendance, said it was likely the best Rodon ever had thrown. The lefthander hit 96 mph on the stadium radar gun and sat at 93-95 mph with his fastball, commanding it more than usual. He also had excellent command of his power slider, which regularly hit 87, and his 89-90 mph cutter. Rodon added a changeup that Avent said was the best he’s ever thrown.

“I had David Price in 2006 (with Team USA), and David and Carlos have some similarities,” Schlossnagle said. “The bodies are different, but both guys were really fastball-slider guys. David had maybe a little bit better fastball command at a similar stage (of development), but he didn’t have that overhand power breaking ball like Carlos has. And tonight Carlos’ changeup was better than what David threw at that time. (Mississippi coach) Mike Bianco and Carlos have worked on that this summer and you saw tonight, Carlos really threw some nice changeups.”

Keith Law was succinct on twitter:

Here's my scouting report on Carlos Rodon: he's pretty $%&!#*^ good

The Astros are 3.5 games behind (ahead?) of the 29th place Marlins going into tonight's action.  How good would Appel and Rodon look heading the Astros rotation for the rest of the decade?