ESPN MLB Draft 2007

The biggest surprise of the draft was having three Scott Boras clients -- Mike Moustakas, Matt Wieters and Matt LaPorta -- taken in the first seven picks, going to teams that, by and large, haven't gone for his clients in recent drafts. Kansas City took Luke Hochevar last year, but he didn't take an inordinate amount of money to sign at No. 1 overall, and he had a clear motivation to take any figure over what the Dodgers had offered in 2005. Milwaukee and Baltimore haven't been players for Boras' amateur clients in years, nor was either a team willing to go over slot in the first round. (Baltimore effectively forfeited its 2004 first-rounder when it took Wade Townsend and lowballed him with an offer 30 percent below slot.)

With three Boras clients going off the board early -- notably LaPorta, who wasn't projected that high on his raw ability -- several other players were pushed down to teams who weren't considering his clients. Those three picks plus Colorado's surprising selection of Casey Weathers at No. 8 meant that Matt Dominguez got to Florida, Beau Mills got to Cleveland, Jason Heyward got to Atlanta and Blake Beavan got to Texas at No. 17.

The best value selection was easily Rick Porcello, one of the five best prospects in this draft, taken by Detroit at No. 27. The Tigers have been very aggressive in the draft under Dave Dombrowski, going over slot in the past four first rounds, and if they can get Porcello signed, it'll be a steal given where they picked.

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