Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Tigers Take Miller with Top Pick

Last year, Cameron Maybin, the consensus #2 player in the draft, slipped to the Tigers at #10 due to signability issues. This year, the Tigers were able to draft Andrew Miller, the consensus #1 pick at #6 for a similar reason. Hopefully, he'll be an easier signing than Maybin and Justin Verlander but, with Scott Boras representing him, I would not count on it. Miller, a Gainesville, Florida native, pitched for the No. Carolina Tarheels. He is 21 years old and is 6-7 210 pounds. The scouting reports on him all indicate that he has a smooth delivery, a great fastball and an outstanding slider. If things go right, he could be in the majors as early as 2007. Here are a couple of scouting reports:

Baseball America:
At 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, Miller has an ideal frame with a clean delivery and easy arm action. His fastball registers consistently in the 93-95 mph range and can touch the upper 90s. Miller also has a major league offering with a mid-80s slider with a sharp bite.

Oakland Clubhouse:
He has everything going for him: Blazing fastball that sits at 94 mph and can touch the high 90s, and a ridiculous slider that appears to start behind a left-handed hitter’s knees before it breaks out over the plate. I’ve seen a few that actually end up on the outside corner that are still clocked in the mid-80s. That’s the definition of ‘nasty’.

Also, Detroit Tigers Weblog lists all 18 of today's draft picks. The rest of the draft will be completed tomorrow. Over at Mack Avenue Tigers, there is an assortment of quotes and links detailing today's picks. Finally, for a long informed discussion of the draft, check out the draft thread at Motown Sports. You can expect that Motown thread to continue for several weeks and, if past years are any indication, it will be one of the most detailed informed draft discussions anywhere on the internet.

3 comments:

  1. He's not signed yet of course but I'm not too worried about that. Things are finally looking good for the Tigers. This is not the same organization it was a few years ago.

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  2. I don't think Maybin was the consensus #2 player last year. Justin Upton was far and away #1, but Alex Gordon was most people's #2 I believe. Maybin was the consensus #2 high school talent and in a group of players just behind the top 2 including Ryan Zimmerman and some others I'm forgetting. Definitely top 5, but I don't think #2.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robert, I think you are right that I overstated Maybin's ranking last year.
    I think he was considered #2 at one point but at draft time Gordon was ahead of him. It was still a great pick of course.

    ReplyDelete

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