American League MLB draft evals

Here are my breakdowns of each American League team's draft class, again focusing on the players most likely to have some kind of big league role or impact. I don't grade drafts, but the three I liked best, based on players I've scouted and what I've heard from scouts I trust, are Toronto's, Oakland's and Cleveland's. The number in parentheses refers to the round in which the player was selected. The round "1A" refers to the sandwich round.

Baltimore Orioles
Summary: This is a very solid draft up top with Kevin Gausman (1), who for me was neck and neck with Mark Appel for the title of best college pitcher in the draft, and Branden Kline (2), a sometime closer at UVa who has the pitches and delivery to start in pro ball. Adrian Marin (3) is a 70 runner who will stay at shortstop and has good bat speed, with power his major weakness. Christian Walker (4) is a disciplined, power-hitting first baseman who murders left-handed pitching and at least has value as a bench bat. Colin Poche (5) is a projectable lefty but a bit of a lottery ticket. Lex Rutledge (6) and Matt Price (7) are both future relievers. You might know Price from the past two College World Series; he is a competitor who has nothing plus but does throw four pitches for strikes. Torsten Boss (8) works the count well with a little pull power, but I don't think he will stay in the infield and won't hit enough for an outfield corner.

Boston Red Sox

To see the full analysis of every class in the 2012 MLB draft, plus get access to all of Insider's MLB draft coverage, you must be an ESPN Insider.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email
• Subscribe

Keith Law

ESPN Insider

• Follow
• Archive

• Senior baseball analyst for Insider
• Was special asst. to Blue Jays GM
• Wrote for Baseball Prospectus