Mark Appel's slide to Pirates highlights first round of MLB Draft
In perusing different mock drafts from around the Internet Monday morning, the name most likely to be seen in the No. 1 slot was Stanford's Mark Appel. Nearly everyone expected him to be the first name out of Bud Selig's mouth from the podium during Monday night's MLB Draft. Instead, it was Carlos Correa. Next up would surely be Appel, as the Twins' organization is desperate for pitching help. Nope, they went with dynamic outfielder Byron Buxton. Appel didn't go third or fourth, either.
The Twitter world was exploding with Appel talk. Why are teams passing on him (signability, due to his agent being Scott Boras and a new CBA limiting draft spending were likely the culprits)? How far would he fall until some ballclub finally took the plunge?
We're talking about a guy who hits high-90s on the radar gun with his fastball and sports two quality secondary pitches. He was 10-1 with a 2.27 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 15 starts, including five complete games this season for one of college baseball's top programs.
Picks five and six went off the board without Appel's name being uttered from Selig's lips. And then this happened, via Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein.
Crazy rumor of Boras trying to push Mark Appel all the way to Washington at 16.
— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) June 4, 2012
Remember, Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper and a few other Nationals players are Boras clients. But still, could this seriously happen?
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Wrong. The Pirates took the plunge. And at the eighth overall pick, they may have landed the best player in the draft. Time will tell on that one, because we've seen far too many draft-day busts and surprises to act like we know what will happen.
Still, Monday night can't help but feel like the Pirates' night, assuming they can ink Appel. There is potential for a Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon and Mark Appel triumvirate atop the rotation for years, with Andrew McCutchen leading the offense to boot.
“The exceptional leadership and direction provided by Joe DelliCarri and Greg Smith and the outstanding work done by our scouts has put us in a position to add a deep and talented pool of players to the Pirates organization,” general manager Neal Huntington said in a statement.
Well, that, a new CBA that limits draft spending, signability questions of a Scott Boras client and a little luck.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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