Draft Recap (Shadow)

The picks (first 20 rounds):

1: Justin Smoak, 1B, South Carolina
2: Tyler Ladendorf, SS, Howard College
3: Roger Kieschnick, OF, Texas Tech
4: Scott Gorgen, RHSP, UC-Irvine
5: Daniel Webb, RHSP, High School
6: Alex Buchholz, SS, Delaware
7: Jordan Danks, OF, Texas
8: Robert Bundy, RHSP, High School
9: Trevor Holder, RHSP, Georgia
10: DJ Mitchell, RHSP, Clemson
11: Dominic De La Osa, 2B, Vanderbilt
12: Kyle Day, C, Michigan St
13: Corey Thomas, 3B, High School
14: Nathan Recknagel, 1B, Michigan
15: Derrick Saito, LHRP, Coll.
16: Michael Palazzone, RHSP, High School
17: James Mallard, 1B, High School
18: Keith Landers, LHSP, High School
19: Jarret Martin, LHSP, High School
20: Zach Cox, 3B, High School

Pitchers: 9; 4 College, 5 High School; 6 RH, 3 LH
Even without Matusz, I think this crop of pitchers is better than the O's picks. Webb actually could have been picked much later, but then I would say to just move everyone else up a round to make sure that I got them (even though they might not be ranked quite that way). The three college starters are all solid pitchers, with Gorgen potentially being a very good value pick in the fourth round. Signing all of these guys would be difficult, but I absolutely think that it would be worth it. Even if only a couple of them ever amounted to anything, it would still be a good investment.

Hitters: 11; 8 College, 3 High School; 1 C, 3 1B, 1 2B, 2 3B, 2 SS, 2 OF
Way more upside here than in the O's draft. This would add a ton of power to the system, as well as address the problems the team has had finding a first-baseman and DH. Getting two guys who may actually have shots at being starting shortstops on a major league team is a big-time plus. The amount of power that the O's left on the board is actually pretty shocking to me.

I may be a bit biased, but I'd give this draft an A- (really, an A, but I wanted to be modest). I think that the average quality of guys I picked on day two is about as high as the average quality of guys the O's picked on day one.