Sveum Prepares for Lefty-Heavy ChiSox

Cubs manager Dale Sveum gives his thumbnail sketch on the top two college pitching and hitting prospects and pretty much nails the hard choices teams are going to face.

On the college front the top pitchers are Appel - Gray or Gray - Appel. The top college hitters are Bryant - Moran or Moran - Bryant. The top HS hitting prospects appear to be Frazier - Meadows or Meadows - Frazier.

The only real area up for speculation are HS pitching prospects where Indiana's Trey Ball may be the top prospect given that some like his athleticism enough to make him a two-way prospect. After Ball, it should be interesting to see where the run on HS pitchers leads.


from Bleacher Report:
Sveum Prepares for Lefty-Heavy ChiSox:

Looking way ahead: Sveum doesn’t get much input on which player the Cubs pick first in the annual First-Year Player Draft, scheduled this year for June 6, but he has studied several of the players the team appears to be most interested in. Among them are two pitchers, Stanford’s Mark Appel and Oklahoma’s Jonathan Gray of Oklahoma. 

“They’re pretty special arms,” Sveum said. “They’re two different guys. Appel is so advanced as far as his secondary pitches, and Gray can just power you away with easy life on the fastball. It looks like it’s showing 85 (miles per hour) and it’s 100. They’re both pretty good. I don’t know if one separates from the other one.” 

Sveum also has seen video of two third basemen -- San Diego’s Kris Bryant and North Carolina’s Colin Moran. 

“He is another polished-type hitter at that age already,” Sveum said about Moran. “He has a Robin Ventura-type swing and presence at the plate. He has really good plate discipline and not really the power numbers that Bryant can put up. Bryant is a big 6-foot-5, some kind of leverage at the plate. Two different hitters, one’s (Bryant) right, one’s left. It’s fun to watch them.”

'via Blog this'

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2013/order.jsp

First Round

• 1. Houston Astros
• 2. Chicago Cubs
• 3. Colorado Rockies
• 4. Minnesota Twins
• 5. Cleveland Indians
• 6. Miami Marlins
• 7. Boston Red Sox
• 8. Kansas City Royals
• 9. Pittsburgh Pirates (M. Appel - unsigned)
• 10. Toronto Blue Jays
• 11. New York Mets
• 12. Seattle Mariners
• 13. San Diego Padres
• 14. Pittsburgh Pirates
• 15. Arizona Diamondbacks
• 16. Philadelphia Phillies
• 17. Chicago White Sox
• 18. Los Angeles Dodgers
• 19. St. Louis Cardinals
• 20. Detroit Tigers
• 21. Tampa Bay Rays
• 22. Baltimore Orioles
• 23. Texas Rangers
• 24. Oakland Athletics
• 25. San Francisco Giants
• 26. New York Yankees
• 27. Cincinnati Reds
• 28. St. Louis Cardinals (K. Lohse)1
• 29. Tampa Bay Rays (B.J. Upton)2
• 30. Texas Rangers (J. Hamilton)3
• 31. Atlanta Braves (M. Bourn)4
• 32. New York Yankees (N. Swisher)5
• 33. New York Yankees (R. Soriano)6

1 Signed with the Brewers, who forfeited their first-round pick (No. 17 overall)
2 Signed with the Braves, who forfeited their first-round pick (No. 28 overall)
3 Signed with the Angels, who forfeited their first-round pick (No. 22 overall)
4 Signed with the Indians, who forfeited their Competitive Balance Round B pick (No. 69 overall)
5 Signed with the Indians, who forfeited their second-round pick (No. 43 overall)
6 Signed with the Nationals, who forfeited their first-round pick (No. 29 overall) 

Competitive Balance Round A

• 34. Kansas City Royals
• 35. Miami Marlins (from the Pirates)
• 36. Arizona Diamondbacks
• 37. Baltimore Orioles
• 38. Cincinnati Reds
• 39. Detroit Tigers (from the Marlins)