Baseball is the prime focus of many young Latin Americans from an early age and this year it really showed as the top three picks in the draft hailed from Latin American countries.  Without further ado, here is some analysis on the Top 5 Picks...

1. Chicago Cubs – SP Gabriel Gutierrez (7-8-7, 9 End, 94 MPH, 65% GB)

Drafting in a very unfamiliar position the Cubs looked into foreign land to find nineteen year old Gabriel Gutierrez.  He really jumped out at them over some summer camps last year as a junk baller who could get the ball to move around a lot and really make hitters look foolish.  The Cubs thought they had a find that they could take later in the draft and hope to mold him into a complete pitcher because as recently as last year, he wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a big prospect for the future.  However, that all changed at this year’s new International iMLB Draft Combine where Gutierrez was clocked at 94 MPH in a bullpen session.  Former international scout and new Cubs GM Aaron Ferguson explained, “We were puzzled when we saw Gabriel at the draft throwing so hard.  We’ve seen him pitch on numerous occasions but never saw him throw anything over the low 80s.  In fact, we’ve never seen him throw a fastball in a game.  Even without the heat, we thought we could snag him in the middle rounds and he’d be a fast riser through our system given his advanced movement.  The fact that he’s now being clocked in the mid 90’s, we think he could have ace material down the road.  It’s a high risk play since he’s never actually thrown a fastball in a game that we’ve seen, but if he can throw 94, we think we can get it to work.  He’s got a great personality, he works hard, gets along with his teammates and really wants to win every time he takes the mound.  We’re confident he can help us build a consistent winner that he’ll be happy to be a part of.”

Our Take – With his current development, Gutierrez projects as an above average number 2 starter that could flourish into an ace if he can develop a plus fastball.  Why in the world hasn’t this kid been taught to unleash the 94 MPH heat in a game?

2. Chicago White Sox – SP Jose Saldana (8-7-6, 6 End, 98 MPH, 62% GB)

To follow up their Chi-town counterparts, the White Sox snagged 21-year old pitcher Jose Saldana out of Puerto Rico.  Saldana is a little bit more developed that some of the other pitchers in the draft but he’s also a little bit older than most.  Jose’s teammates in Puerto Rico rave about his ability to bring a team together and relate to any type of personality he encounters.  He’s also really intelligent which translates him being a really good clubhouse guy that you’d like to build around.  On the field, he does lack some things that you’d want out of a #2 overall pick but has some room for growth.  The main problem we’ve seen with Saldana is that he can struggle with his control at times and he can rely on his stuff too much to get people out.  Speaking of his stuff, he has three plus pitches including the fastball, changeup and cutter.  Truly a power pitcher, Saldana would be well served to learn a breaking pitch to give hitters something extra to worry about.   An unnamed iMLB Executive says, “There are some other guys out there with more upside, but Saldana seems to be a pretty safe bet to develop into a middle of the rotation starter.  He’ll likely develop quicker than a lot of the other guys in the draft, and what the White Sox need right now is pitching.  This pick fits their needs perfectly.”

Our Take – He’s a power pitcher on the mound and can get close to triple digits on the radar gun.  He could one day be a borderline ace with the right tutoring.  However, unless he can improve his control we’ll project him as a below average number two or a good number three starter.

3. Houston Astros – SP Javier Perez (7-7-8, 3 End, 94 MPH, 59% GB)

Again, an iMLB club goes with a Latin American starting pitcher.  Perez has a pretty good arsenal of pitches, but like Gutierrez, he doesn’t throw a fastball in games.  And also, like Perez, he’s been clocked at 94 MPH in bullpen sessions.  He does throw a plus cutter and changeup to go along with an average splitter and forkball.  But let me ask you this, his best pitch is a Changeup, but wouldn’t that changeup be even better if he started mixing in some heat?  I think that’s what you’ll eventually see happen with this kid, and given his high intelligence (8) and work ethic (10); I don’t think it’s out of the question to expect him to develop a decent fastball to compliment his changeup.  In addition, that should also give up a ratings boost in stuff which would project him out as a possible ace starting pitcher.  That’s until you look at his endurance (3) which is a really poor.  It’s a good thing he has great control or I wouldn’t expect him to make it to the 6^th inning except on a rare occasion.  The good control coupled with his intelligence leads to efficiency on the mound so the Astros should be able to count on him for 5-6 good innings per start.  The always opinionated John Kruk sneered, “Don’t get me wrong, Perez looks pretty good for the first couple innings until you wear him down.  The problem is, the Astros will have to turn to their bullpen to get the last 10 or 12 outs of the game.  They haven’t showed me that their pen will be able to do this.  It’s ranked 15^th in the NL right now and they need to shore it up if they want Perez to be the difference maker they envision.  But back to Perez, he’s great, I’m just not sold on the Astros being the best destination for him.”

Our Take – Right now, I’d have to project him out as an average number three or four starting pitcher.  If he adds the fastball, he could be a really good number three, I just wouldn’t count on him as more than that due to his stamina.  There’s also a chance of him turning into a plus-plus setup man or closer.

4. Boston Red Sox – SS Shane Dennis (6-10-8-7-5, 3 Defense, 7 Speed)

This seventeen year old from Montvale, NJ is the first player selected from the USA in this year’s draft and Dennis will be playing for a team he spent his whole childhood rooting against.  Montvale is just 10 miles outside of NYC and Dennis has been a Yankees fan his whole life.  His father, a groundskeeper for the Yankees for the past 27 years, was a single dad that sometimes had to bring his son along to work with him.  The Boss (George… Steinbrenner, not Costanza) often ragged on the senior Dennis about it until recently as Shane Dennis emerged as a top prospect for this year’s draft.  It’s no secret that Shane would have loved to fall to #11, where the Yankees pick, to potentially fall in line as the replacement for his childhood hero Derek Jeter but it just wasn’t meant to be.  Instead, the Red Sox will be getting a very raw talent that has showed he can handle the bat quite well.  He’s got a knack for finding the gaps and even driving it over the fence on a regular basis.  Quite possibly, one of the best power threats in this year’s draft, he also has a decent eye at the plate.  Dennis does not come without risks though, as he’s been prone to striking out a little bit too much and not hitting for average consistently.  It seems like it’s either an extra base hit or an out with Dennis.  However, he’s a fairly intelligent kid that works really hard on his game so it’s not unreasonable to believe that Dennis will figure out he doesn’t need to hit a homer every time he comes up, and eventually hit in the .270 range.  His high loyalty range is very interesting as he’s diehard Yanks fan and has been all along.  Is he really going to be loyal to the BoSox or are the Yankees always going to be on his radar?  When asked about the Red Sox taking Shane Dennis, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner responded, “Mr. Dennis can either keep his job or disown his son.”

Our Take – Not mentioned above, defense could play a huge rule on the value of this pick.  Though he played shortstop for his prep team, Dennis has a weak arm and should expect to be moved to second base.  He’ll never be good defensively but could be a huge asset to have at second if he hits to his potential.  If he can’t learn second base then he becomes a first baseman and his value is marginal at that spot.

5. Detroit Tigers – MR Steve Lyons (10-7-9, 10 End, 98 MPH, 63%)

This looks like Ben Roethlisberger looked in the 2009 draft.  You’ve got a guy that could be a very dominant reliever but he has the endurance to be a starting pitcher.  I’m going on the impression that he’s going to be used as a starting pitcher based on his draft position.  The 19-year old from Naugatuck, CT throws two excellent pitches: a 98 MPH Fastball and a slider that’s been said the be extremely deceptive.  That’s the start to a good arsenal but to be completely effective I think he’s going to need to learn another pitch.  Unlike some of the guys drafted ahead of him and Roethlisberger, Steve Lyons already has a fastball.  So he’ll have to work on something else, probably a changeup to compliment his blazing fastball.  He’ll probably take an artificial ratings hit right of the bat and see his stuff drop to 8 or 9 when his position is changed to starting pitcher.  However, if he learns another pitch, I’d imagine he’ll pick up a point or two and be back to 10-7-9 with three pitches.  In addition, he can go really deep into games and could throw more than five complete games each year.  This may be looked at as a high risk move but there has been one guy in each of the last two seasons that was drafted as a reliever, learned a new pitch and became an ace potential starter.  In 2009 it was Roethlisberger (#4 Overall by the Pirates) followed by Eduardo Corona (#26 Overall by the Dodgers) in 2010.  When asked about the best approach for developing a pitch Pirates GM Bobby Fuhrman responded, “We just changed Ben’s label to SP so he could get in that mindset, put him in the minor league rotation and let him pitch.  On the other hand, Corona has never pitched in a minor league game since his selection in the draft and still learned the pitch so there’s not really a “right” answer I guess.”

Our Take – Lyons either gains that third pitch which would give him the potential to be the steal of the draft, or he becomes one of the top closers in the iMLB.  Either way, it was a good selection at #5 overall as the Tigers are going to get a good pitcher no matter what.

Coming soon - Quick summary of picks 6-30 when they are completed.