Red Sox draft - day 1

Major League baseball began its "First Year Player Draft" yesterday, and the Red Sox, as previously noted, had 6 of the first 57 picks. They ended up making 21 picks in the 18 rounds that occured on day 1.

Day 1 Red Sox draft

Rd	Pick	Player	School	Pos	B/T	Ht	Wt	DOB	Class	Age
1	23	Jacoby Ellsbury	Oregon St U	CF	L/L	6'1"	185	9/11/1983	4YR	21
COMMENT: Medium frame. Live, lean, athletic build. Pure athletic. Leadoff CF profile w/ impact speed both ways. Contact hitter w/ a level, compact swing. Uses the whole field. Gap to gap power.
1	26	Craig Hansen	St Johns U	RHP	R/R	6'6"	210	11/15/1983	4YR	21
COMMENT: Body tapers down from high, extra-wide, slant shoulders. Low elbow in delivery causes deception. Aggressive approach, challenges. Two power pitches. Explosive FB life, 93-94 mph. Sliders 85 mph. Legit weapon vs. RHH. Throws strikes. Comes right at you.
1a	42	Clay Buchholz	Angelina Col	RF	L/R	6'3"	190	8/14/1984	JR	20
COMMENT: Tall, lean, athletic body. Long arms. Slender hips. Similar to Gil Meche. Above avg velocity FB, quick, loose arm. Hard, sluvry-slider w/ 3/4 depth. Slower 3/4 break CB. Throws straight change-up. Aggressive approach. Attacks hitters and challenges w/ FB.
1a	45	Jed Lowrie	Stanford U	2B	S/R	6'0"	180	4/17/1984	4YR	21
COMMENT: Body is athletic, lean and slender. Confident switch-hitter w/ a good eye. Sound approach. Aggressive in the zone. Hits to all fields. Smooth actions on defense, makes plays in the hole. Accurate, average arm.
1a	47	Michael Bowden	Waubonsie Valley HS	RHP	R/R	6'3"	215	9/9/1986	HS	18
COMMENT: Large, big boned frame. Broad shoulders. Long arms. Similar to Roger Clemens. Plus FB velocity, occasional heavy w/ small sink & tail. Sharp, late bite, 12-6 CB. Around plate w/ four pitches. Good presence. Power arm & body w/ three projectable plus pitches.
2	57	Jonathan Egan	Cross Creek HS	C	R/R	6'4"	210	10/12/1986	HS	18
COMMENT: Same body type as fmr ex-ML Eddie Taubensee. Serious raw power, especially the opposite way. Flashes short stroke, generates bat speed w/ overall brute strength. Aptitude as receiver behind plate.
4	138	William Blue	Morro Bay HS	RHP	R/R	6'2"	215	4/5/1987	HS	18
5	168	Reid Engel	Lewis-Palmer HS	CF	L/R	6'2"	175	5/7/1987	HS	18
6	198	Jeffrey Corsaletti	U Florida	CF	L/R	6'0"	190	2/22/1983	4YR	22
COMMENT: Medium, well proportioned build. Similar to Mark Kotsay. Short compact stroke. Power alley type. Has the desire and know-how for game.
7	228	Yahmed Yema	Florida International U	RF	L/L	6'0"	195	9/3/1984	4YR	20
COMMENT: Medium build. Athletic. Strength throughout frame. Round shoulders. Similar to Johnny Damon. Generates bat speed through the zone. Gap-to-gap, line-drive hitter. Runs well 1st to 3rd. Soft hands. Good glove actions. Arm strength w/ carry on throws. Hard worker.
8	258	James Zink	Everett CC	RHP	R/R	6'2"	195	5/6/1985	JR	20
COMMENT: Tall frame. Well proportioned. Loose, supple, athletic build. Built like Ryan Dempster. Loose, quick arm from deceptive, crossfire delivery. Good extension in follow through. Sustains avg FB velocity w/ late two-seam tail. Works fast. Fiery competitor. Lean, athletic RHP w/ loose arm.
9	288	Mark Wagner	UC Irvine	C	R/R	6'1"	205	6/11/1984	4YR	20
COMMENT: Strong, compact. Durable physique. Line drive hitter w/ a short, quick, compact swing. Good bat control. Sets up well behind the plate. Sure hands. Makes throws w/ compact arm action and quick release.
10	318	Kevin Guyette	U Arizona	RHP	R/R	6'4"	215	12/3/1982	4YR	22
11	348	Ismael Casillas	Benedictine Col	RHP	R/R	6'3"	0	12/8/1982	4YR	22
COMMENT: Tall, strong frame. Broad shoulders. FB arm side run, occasional sink, most 88-90. Aggressive, not afraid to pitch inside. Good feel for change-up, sinks, fades. Throws strikes. Competes. Good makeup.
12	378	Kyle Fernandes	Massasoit CC	LHP	L/L	6'0"	185	9/12/1985	JR	19
13	408	Jay Johnson	Xavier U	CF	R/R	6'2"	205	12/19/1982	4YR	22
14	438	Pedro Alvarez	Horace Mann School	SS	L/R	6'2"	205	2/6/1987	HS	18
COMMENT: Good growth potential. Similar to Bobby Bonilla. Quick power stroke to all fields. Ball jumps off bat. Easy infield actions. Loose, strong throws. Solid hands and instincts. Loves to play.
15	468	Patrick Thomas	Jeffersonville HS	RHP	R/R	6'3"	190	9/29/1986		18
16	498	Matthew Mercurio	Florida Southern Col	3B	R/R	6'2"	180	11/26/1982	4YR	22
COMMENT: Versatile infielder. Similar to Rich Aurillia. Makes consistent contact w/ good bat speed, drives the ball to the gaps. Accurate arm. A real gamer, will do whatever is best for the team.
17	528	Dominic Ramos	Texas St U	SS	R/R	5'10"	175	3/10/1983	4YR	22
18	558	Nick Criaris	St Peters Prep School	C	L/R	6'2"	220	6/16/1987	HS	17

(All comments are from the MLB.com draftTracker, which they've done a good job hiding, but not quite good enough, and isn't as good as it was the past couple of years because it won't let you sort by drafting team. The draftCaster applet's pretty good, and will let you sort that way, but it's a flash player applet, and you can't grab the data, so it's altogether more of a hassle to gather everthing than it was in the past...)

I'll do a re-cap tomorrow, when they're all done, and run some comparisons (ages, positions, school levels) to the past couple of years, but there is one interesting note for today.

On October 25, 1986, the Boston Red Sox took a 2-run lead into the bottom of the 10th inning at Shea Stadium, in game 6 of the 1986 World Series. As we all know, they did not win it. Yesterday, when they selected William Blue out of Morro Bay HS in the 4th round, he became the first ever Red Sox draft pick who'd not yet been born when the ball went through Bill Buckner's legs...