2012 Draft: Stock Up, Stock Down: Catchers and First Basemen
04/18/2012
We already covered right and left-handed pitchers that are trending up and down; now it’s onto catchers and first basemen. Not any massive standouts here (as in those flying up to 1st or 2nd round status, but there are some here moving up the ranks. Just because one guy is trending up and one is moving down, it doesn’t necessarily mean the “stock down” player is the worse one.
College Catchers:
| Stock Up | Kevin Plawecki, Purdue: His pure hitting skills and plate discipline have never been in question, and Plawecki’s defense should be good enough to be successful post-college. It remains to be seen if he has enough in-game power to be more than a backup though. |
| Stock Down | Josh Elander, Texas Christian: Elander hasn’t quite built upon last year’s efforts through the spring and then summer play with Team USA. While he has underwhelmed, he’s still shown enough to be one of the top college catchers taken. |
College First Basemen:
| Stock Up | D.J Hicks, Central Florida: It’s not really all that great of a year for college hitters, much less those at first base. Hicks has some of the most legitimate in-game power among college first basemen. He’s also improved his plate discipline quite a bit this year. |
| Stock Down | Adam Brett Walker, Jacksonville: The 4-5 tool potential is still there, although not much improvement has been made on his 2011 effort. If anything, he’s posting worse numbers than last year. He should still go plenty high considering his potential in a weaker draft class. |
High School Catchers:
| Stock Up | Clint Coulter, Washington HS: The bat has a lot of teams paying attention. Like many prep backstops though, he’s not a lock to stay at the position. More steady defense through the end of the spring should help his case for a late 1st or supplemental 1st pick. |
| Stock Down | Stryker Trahan, Louisiana HS: Coming in to the year, he was looking like one of the more intriguing prep bats available after Byron Buxton. He hasn’t shown as much of the premium talent that was seen throughout last year. High value prep catchers are hard to get, but Trahan’s as good a bet as any for this year, even with a so-so spring. |
High School First Basemen:
| Stock Up | Matt Olson, Georgia HS: Lots and lots of power already, with even more room to grow and add strength. With very few prep first basemen worthy of a first or second round selection, his potential might make him the first one off the board. |
| Stock Down | Keon Barnum, Florida HS: There are plenty of questions about his approach and his swing. Not what you want to see from a guy who will be staying at first as a pro. There’s obviously power here, but if it doesn’t begin to show in games then his stock will be in question. |
Next Up: College and High School Shortstops, Second Basemen
Adam Brett Walker (.338 BA / .571 Slug% / .441 OB%). Has his stock dropped because he isn’t hitting over .400 again, like in 2011? His K’s are Down & 32/33 in stolen bases in college career. Why wouldn’t stock be rising?
His K rate has improved, but most reports out there have not exactly raved about his production this year. Plenty of tools and potential, so no reason he couldn’t go in the first. I thought we might see more in against good-but-not-great Atlantic Sun Conference teams.