Who will the Reds take in the 2008 MLB Draft?

By
Doug Gray
Published: June 4, 2008Posted in: 2008 DraftTags:

Our Cincinnati Reds hold the #7 overall pick in tomorrows MLB Draft. I have profiled the top 15 players in the draft and the mock drafts are coming out in droves. Lets take a look at some mock drafts and see who thinks we will take:

Group blogging Mock Draft: Gordon Beckham – This is a draft that I picked for the Reds. I went with Beckham because he fits the Chris Buckley draft philosophy. He plays defense up the middle and has a polished bat.

Baseball Prospectus Mock Draft: Brett Lawrie – The Reds are lining up to throw the first real curveball of the first round. They have been heavily scouting the top group of college sluggers, as well as Gordon Beckham, while also dreaming of a scenario that would drop either Matusz or Crow to them. However, a surprising new name has entered the mix—the Reds were in hard on Canadian prepster Brett Lawrie after he went off with eight home runs in eight games against professionals in the Dominican, and they came back with reports encouraging enough to prompt a quickly-scheduled private workout on Tuesday afternoon. As one scouting director put it, “If there’s anyone who can improve his stock with a private workout, it’s Lawrie.” Assuming all went as expected, the surprises start at lucky number seven. If they decide to play it safe, Alonso is currently at the top of their board.

John Sickels Mock Draft – Aaron Crow – Sickels just says that the Reds will take the Best Player Available and he thinks it will be Crow.

Saberscouting.com Mock Draft (Frankie) – Aaron Crow – There were a lot of ways to go on this one. The Reds usually do their best to take the best player on the board though. Crow is that guy. He had some problems in the middle of his spring season but has bounced back nicely. They could look at Brett Lawrie for this spot also, but that is a real long shot.

Saberscouting.com Mock Draft (Kiley) – Brett Lawrie – As Frankie mentioned, there’s a late rumor going around that the spot Lawrie’s helium will park him is right here at #7. That idea seemed laughable about a month ago, but Lawrie wasn’t joking around when he took his impact bat and plus-plus power to spring training camps all over the south (and the Dominican) and hit homer after homer, many off of major league pitchers on rehab. One stretch had 8 jacks in 8 days, one had 5 bombs in a doubleheader, and all of it has been in front of a large group of a curious scouting community. There obviously a good chance Lawrie won’t go here (although he probably doesn’t get past the Twins at 14, and certainly not the Jays at 17) and in that case, the Reds have been on Gordon Beckham and Aaron Crow, who would both be fine choices.

Milb.com (Jonathon Mayo) – Yonder Alonso – The Reds could consider Smoak, but word all along has been that they prefer Alonso. If they want a middle infielder, there’s Georgia’s Gordon Beckham. High school bats being considered could include Skipworth and Canadian Brett Lawrie. For now, we’ll stick with the Miami first baseman.

Baseball America Rumors: Aaron Crow may be looking outside the top 10, but nothing that he did is the reason. The strength of the bats in the draft just seemed to have pushed him out of the top spots despite being the #2 pitcher on most boards.