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My Padres Draft – John Sickles’ Mock Draft

John Sickles had his annual Mock Draft today on his website.

I was the “Scouting Director” for the Padres and had the following 3-round draft (links are to each round):

#3 – Aaron Crow, RHP, Fort Worth Cats
Supplemental round – No Padre picks
#52 – Nick Franklin, SS, Lake Brantley HS (FL)
#83 – Robbie Erlin, LHP, Scotts Valley HS (CA)

Aaron Crow (I previously had this report on Crow):

Crow is listed at 6’3” but that is reportedly an exaggeration. He was considered the top collegiate right-handed pitcher in the 2008 draft and Washington drafted him 9th overall but failed to sign him so he is pitching in the indy leagues and is back in this draft.

He features a 92+ mph fastball that can touch 96 and last year he showed the ability to keep that velocity late into the games.

In my opinion, Crow is the best combination of velocity, stuff, and polish (by anyone not named Strasburg) in the draft. Tanner Scheppers has more velocity, Alex White may have more stuff, and Mike Leake could have more polish but none of those
three pitchers can say they are above-average in all three.

Already 22 years old, Crow should not require a great amount of development in the minors and has a solid chance of being the first player from this draft to reach the majors.

Nick Franklin:

Nick is an athletic shortstop from the same high school that produced Jason Veritek, Ricky and Jemile Weeks, and Felipe Lopez. Appropriately, Franklin is most often compared to Lopez. He doesn’t project to hit for much (if any) home run power but he should hit fair amount of doubles, steal some bases, and play above-average shortstop.

Robbie Erlin:

Erlin is a short (5’11”) left-handed pitcher who throws an 89-92 FB and a hammer-curve. Scouts say that if he was taller he would be discussed as a first-round talent. I actually have him rated #34 overall (as you can see here) but thought (correctly it turned out) that I could get him in the 3rd round.

Additionally:

The new draft format is such that rounds 1-3 will be on Tuesday. Because of this format teams are expected to make calls to players that are unexpectedly dropping such as: catcher, Luke Bailey, and possibly Missouri RHP, Kyle Gibson. I would seriously consider one of these two (assuming they are not picked in the first three rounds – in Sickles’ mock draft both were taken but I think this is unlikely).

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Edit (Sunday, June 7, 2009):

John Sickles had this to say in his draft reviews:

COMMENT: The Padres are usually college-oriented. Crow is a logical pick at number three overall if they don’t feel they can afford Donavan Tate. Franklin is a tools guy with a good glove and offensive potential, though there are some questions about his power. Erlin is a short lefty at 5-11, but has a lively fastball/curveball combination and a lot of people think he is underrated. Although I don’t think the Padres draft will actually look like this, given their past track record, on its own terms this is a good trio of talent.