I’d probably rate them:

Miller, best velocity, good curveball, delivery should work for changeup;
Matzek, longest track record, solid array of pitches;
Wheeler, good life on the fastball, jerky delivery;
Turner, solid all round.

I’m not really qualified to distinguish among them, and I think we all trust Dick Tidrow and Co. when it comes to pitching. But that’s how I’d order them for now.

The key question is how this group fits in with the overall prospect line up. I think Stras and Ackley are clearly ahead of the high schoolers.

I’d probably put Crow ahead of the high schoolers, too, given his combination of stuff and polish. I could go either way on Scheppers, as I think he might be a Rich Harden good-stuff-frequent-injuries kind of guy.

Then you’ve got the super-polished college ace Kyle Gibson, who’s probably a big leaguer but not an ace at that level.

I’d probably stick Miller and Matzek behind Crow, but ahead of the others, based on what I’ve read.

P.S. I’m not feeling it with Donovan Tate. I usually like risky high-upside picks, but I’m not sure this guy can hit college pitching, much less professionals.

I like Wheeler just a tick over Matzek, but I’d be very happy with either. I don’t trust Ackley, and I agree with Dan about Kyle Gibson. I’m inclined to put Crow in that same category, but that’s more of an intuition than based on any demonstrable fact. I hope the Giants stay far, far away from Tate. I don’t yet know enough about Miller to have an opinion.

Actually, I wish we could trade down to around #15 or so, and draft Rich Poythress there. Assuming we got something useful out of the trade itself, I think that might work out better. This draft is really a crapshoot – more so that usual, it seems – after Strasburg. Might be a good year to lie low. Too bad you can’t do that in baseball.

Miller, Purke, Maztek and Wheeler are NOT Boras clients.

He sounds pretty solid. I like guys that have a couple different strong pitches they can go to.

I also value control above everything. heres what MLB says about their control.

Wheeler-His command is in and out. His fastball command was better than with his curve. Inconsistency with delivery causes the disruption in command.

Matzek- It wasn’t pinpoint, but overall it was good. He left a few balls up in the zone. He tried to throw one curve for a strike and the harder curve to chase and was above-average with that

Miller- Biggest flaw is that he doesn’t show consistent command and control, though some saw him more as a high strike zone pitcher.

Turner- Has average high school command, with a slight head jerk that impacts his consistency.

Purke- He has good command and moves the ball around the zone well.

Crowe- He had good command and was generally around the plate. His fastball command was better as he was inconsistent in spotting his secondary pitches

Scheppers-Considering the long layoff from pitching in a live situation, his command was pretty good. An improved and smoother delivery clearly helped.

So they review Matzek, Purke, Crow and Scheppers as the best controllers. Inconsistency is a key word.

I would rather have Aaron Crow than these guys (I would still be happy with any of them though)

But I put Matzek just a little bit over Wheeler.

I just want the Giants to draft a pitcher with control problems or a CF who GIDPs on the first pitch as much as possible and rarely walks.

Purke has zero votes??? I figured he would come in second…

This seems incredibly relevant!

I voted for Miller this time, I like that he has the best fastball plus he’s a RHP, we are getting overloaded with lefties in the rotation.

The way it’s looking Green might fall to us in Round Two, much like how Crawford fell to us in Round Four, he was a Top 10 choice pre-season and fell horribly last year.

Thought I would throw out this thought for commentary here as well (posted this on other thread): how good is the draft next season? I’m not too impressed with the group of players this season; if this were last season, we could have picked up a Smoak or the other Beckham.

My thought would be to select a Boras client and stick to slot for him, which would pretty much guarantee that he won’t sign with us. He won’t know anything is up because he doesn’t negotiate until the last day anyhow, ignoring all the team’s tries for communication. Then the Giants just send him slot and say it’s non-negotiable. That would be that.

That would give us the pick after the #6 pick (actual pick depends on how many teams ahead of us don’t sign their draftee, but odds are #7 overall), which would give us two picks in next year’s first round draft, probably in the first 15-20 picks. Of course, if the depth is worse next season, then this don’t work, but I thought it would be interesting as a thought exercise.

Why isn’t Rich Poythress given more attention from draftniks?

I was reading something on him – http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/on-campus/2009/267933.html – and he sounds pretty good. Is it just that he’s not Top 10 good, but more back of first round good? Or has he cooled off since that article?

Jes’ wondering…