Magicgames II » BLOODLINES"The Royals hold the second-overall

pick for this June’s draft Alan Trammell Jersey , and will make their earliest selection since they took Mike Moustakas second in the 2007 draft. The pick has a chance to greatly improve a farm system devoid of much high-upside talent. There is much amateur baseball to be played between now and June, so draft positions can change greatly (Brady Singer was considered to be the top selection at this time last year), but Baseball America has already released its first 2019 Mock Draft. With the first selection, they have the Orioles taking Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman. The switch-hitting junior hit .408/.505/.628 with nine home runs in 67 games for the Beavers last year. With the second overall pick, they have the Royals taking Texas high school infielder Bobby Witt, Jr. So let’s learn more about the young prep star.The name should be familiar to some long-time baseball fans. His dad, Bobby Witt, Sr., was the third overall pick by the Rangers in 1985 out of the University of Oklahoma, and went on to win 142 games in a 16-year career with the Rangers, Athletics, Marlins, Cardinals, Devil Rays, Indians, and Diamondbacks. The younger Witt is a shortstop, described by Baseball America as a five-tool talent with plus skills both offensively and defensively.MLB Pipeline also ranks Witt as the second-best prospect in the draft http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , although they also note the same concern about his whiffs. But Witt is young, and could make improvement, and they write he “shows good barrel control and some willingness to use the entire field, so he could hit for average if he modifies his aggressive approach.” Even if he never becomes a high-average hitter, his power is very impressive for an infielder at the high school level. He won the High School Home Run Derby at Nationals Park last July during All-Star week. He does not have a huge frame, standing at just over six-feet tall, but has a nice fluid swing and barrels up well, reminding me a bit of Carlos Correa. He has topped over 100 mph in his exit velocity and the ball does seem to jump off his bat. He does seem to drift onto his front foot a bit, but has the strength to make that work, hitting a home run one-handed at the home run derby in Washington.MLB Pipeline has his speed as 60 grade and suggests he could be a 20 home run/20 stolen base threat as a big leaguer. He ran a 60-yard dash in 6.4 seconds in St. Petersburg last year, one of the fastest players at the workout.His defense is described by 2080 Baseball as being “fundamentally sound” with solid arm strength. In fact, he has been clocked with a fastball in the low 90s on the mound. Witt has grown up around the game of baseball, an experience that seemed to help the maturation of the young star across the parking lot. He is described as a good student with good make up and mental toughness.Witt will turn 19 just after the draft, so he is not particularly young for his class and he is committed to Oklahoma. The Orioles recenlty hired his uncle, Doug Witt, as a scout.Baseball America has talked to scouts who think the overall depth of the 2019 draft is not looking great so far. But Rutschman and Witt seem to stand heads and tails above the class, at least initially. Luckily Lance Parrish Jersey , the Royals will have a chance to grab one of them. Welp."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Diamondbacks Farm TeamsGameday ThreadsDiamondbacks NewsDiamondbacks Game ReportsFang FoodDiamondbacks 2, Cubs 10: Bear-ly believeableNew,20commentsWelp.ESTShareTweetShareShareDiamondbacks 2, Cubs 10: Bear-ly believeableMatt Kartozian-USA TODAY SportsRecord 4-2-1. Change on 2018: +1.5. 5-inning record: 4-1-2.Safe to say, this afternoon’s contest at Salt River Fields, in front of a sold-out crowd, will have been considerably better appreciated by the wintering Chicago snowbirds, than the hometown fans. Arizona’s offense was kept off the board until a Kevin Cron home-run in the ninth inning, while the pitching and defense weren’t up to much at all. Our pitchers allowed 10 runs on 12 hits and five walks. Three of those runs were unearned, thanks to a trio of errors by Cron at the hot corner, so his ending of the shutout was hardly sufficient compensation. For the first televised game of the year on Fox Sports Arizona... Well, I won’t blame you if you found something else to do, long before the end.Robbie Ray was the starting pitcher for the Diamondbacks, and had a fairly Ray-esque outing for his spring debut. A one-out walk in the first was followed by a wild pitch, and the runner came around to score on an RBI single. But Ray stranded a man who had reached third with one out, and followed up with a scoreless second inning, around a one-out single. He finished the second off by retiring former Diamondback Evan Marzilli; a lead-off single in the third was erased by a caught stealing http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-jimenez-jersey , and one out later, Ray’s day was done. His final line was one run over 2.2 innings of work, on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. That was definitely one of the day’s better pitching performances by Arizona. The bulk of the damage was done against two men who are expected to be part of the Opening Day bullpen. Greg Holland made his D-backs debut and failed to impressed, having to be bailed out without getting through the fourth inning. With one out, he allowed a single, a walk and then a three-run home-run to Mark Zagunis. He did strikeout the last batter he faced. T.J. McFarland also couldn’t get through the five-run seventh, allowing three hits and four runs in 0.2 innings. In his defense, he wasn’t helped by Cron’s first error, or by Sam Lewis allowing a three-run shot that allowed both runners he inherited to score. As a result, two of the four runs charged to McFarland were unearned.Taylor Widener did throw a pair of scoreless innings, despite issuing back-to-back four-pitch walks with one out in the fifth. An Addison Russell double-play with the bases loaded were all that allowed Widener to escape unscathed. Jimmie Sherfy gave up a run on two hits in the eighth, and Stefan Crichton worked a scoreless ninth around errors #2 and #3 by Cron. It was a good day for our catchers at the plate, Alex Avila and Daulton Varsho evenly splitting a 4-for-4 game. But the D-backs didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position until Varsho’s RBI double with one out in the ninth, scoring SS Jazz Chisholm.Not the start to March we wanted. Here’s to better tomorrow, when the Dodgers are the opponents for the first time this year. Matt Andriese is the scheduled starter at Salt River Fields on Saturday afternoon.