Top News:
Joe McDonald / ESPN:
Sox feel good about first 3 picks — Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and Co. came away feeling very good about the club's three picks during the first day of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. — Boston selected second baseman Kolbrin Vitek (20th overall) …
RELATED:
Ian Browne / MLB.com:
Red Sox tab Vitek with first pick in Draft — CLEVELAND — The Red Sox went for an intriguing bat with the 20th overall pick in Monday night's First-Year Player Draft, grabbing Ball State second baseman Kolbrin Vitek. — While Vitek is widely regarded for his offense, it is unclear if second base will be the position he winds up at.
Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
Red Sox, Dice-K handle Indians, 4-1 — Game over: Red Sox 4, Indians 1 — Matsuzaka went eight innings before Bard pitched the ninth and allowed a homer by Kearns. — Draft update: Vitek has agreed to a contract — Just spoke to Kolbrin Vitek, who visited the Red Sox over the weekend …
Scott Lauber / Boston Herald:
Recap: Red Sox 4, Indians 1 — Victor Martinez leads rout of Tribe in homecoming — THE BIG PICTURE — CLEVELAND - If Red Sox [team stats] catcher Victor Martinez was the homecoming king here last night, shortstop Marco Scutaro was a member of his court.
Jim Callis / Baseball America:
Mock First Round Update — My latest projections for the first round of tonight's draft: — 1. Nationals. Bryce Harper, c, JC of Southern Nevada — 2. Pirates. Jameson Taillon, rhp, The Woodlands (Texas) HS — 3. Orioles. Manny Machado, ss, Brito Miami Private HS — 4. Royals.
Discussion:
JSOnline
Adam Kilgore / Nationals Journal:
Nationals pick Bryce Harper — The Nationals have selected catcher/outfielder Bryce Harper, a 17-year-old power-hitting prodigy, with the first overall choice in baseball's first-year player draft. Nationals executives, sitting around a table, watched Commissioner Bud Selig announce the pick on television.
Discussion:
MASNsports.com, Orioles Insider, Federal Baseball, Mr. Irrelevant … and The Nationals Enquirer
RELATED:
Roch Kubatko / Baseball America:
Orioles Stray From Pitching-First Plan With Machado — Baltimore Takes Prep Shortstop No. 3 Overall — BALTIMORE Part of the Orioles' rebuilding plan centers on the philosophy of growing the arms and buying the bats. However, they drifted away from their pitching-first philosophy in the 2010 amateur draft.
Discussion:
Camden Chat
Ben Goessling / MASNsports.com:
Nationals make Harper the No. 1 pick - The Goessling Game
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
John Manuel / Baseball America:
Yankees End First Round With Stunner, Cito Culver — Once again, this wasn't a consensus first-rounder. Need more proof? Cito Culver ranked No. 168 on our board, but Culver had athleticism, plus tools to play shortstop and good infield actions, and the Yankees popped him at No. 32.
Discussion:
The LoHud Yankees Blog, Pinstripe Alley, NoMaas.org, Sliding Into Home and The iYankees Blog
John Manuel / Baseball America:
Biggest Shocker So Far: Hayden Simpson to Chicago Cubs — We were on Hayden Simpson in the preseason. But no one was on him at No. 17 overall. — Simpson, our No. 191 prospect on our Top 200, was our preseason Division II pitcher of the year, and he was the pitcher of the year at Division II.
J.J. Cooper / Baseball America:
Best Available Talent Heading Into Day Two — Here's a look at the top remaining players on our updated Top 50 draft prospects list that we posted on Monday. — 15. Stetson Allie, rhp, St. Edward HS, Lakewood, Ohio — 20. Brandon Workman, rhp, Texas 23. Brett Eibner, rhp/of, Arkansas 25. A.J. Cole, rhp, Oviedo (Fla.) HS
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Kevin Goldstein / Baseball Prospectus:
Final Mock Draft: Mock Away — 1. Washington Nationals: Move along, nothing to see here. — Pick: Bryce Harper, C/OF, College of Southern Nevada — 2. Pittsburgh Pirates: The needle seems to have move a bit towards James Taillon over Manny Machado. The Pirates think Taillon is the better talent …
RELATED:
Anthony DiComo / MLB.com:
Mets draft workhorse with their first pick — Club selects Carolina righty Harvey seventh overall — NEW YORK — In the game that everyone still talks about, Matt Harvey took the mound feeling ill. — “Playing on the road at Clemson is a very tough place to play,” he said weeks later.
Associated Press:
Adrian Gonzalez hits pair of homers as Padres down slumping Phillies — PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The way the Philadelphia Phillies are hitting, their pitchers need to be perfect or close to it. — Adrian Gonzalez's (FSY) first of two solo homers broke up Cole Hamels' (FSY) …
Mike DiGiovanna / Los Angeles Times:
Angels are feeling chipper about their top draft pick — Angels use the first of their three first-round selections, No. 18 overall, on Kaleb Cowart, a highly regarded third baseman/pitcher who says he patterns his game after Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones.
Discussion:
Halos Heaven
Jim Armstrong / Denver Post:
Hammel delivers another strong start in Rockies' win — One of these weeks, Jorge De La Rosa figures to return from the disabled list, at which point the Rockies would have to drop a pitcher from their starting rotation. — Obviously, that's a call to Jim Tracy's office that Jason Hammel doesn't want to get.
Discussion:
Purple Row
