The 2008 MLB draft was held on Thursday. As expected, Tim Beckham went first overall to the Tampa Bay Rays. Pedro Alvarez went second to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Here is the complete baseball draft results for the first round:
1. Tampa Bay Rays Tim Beckham SS
2. Pittsburgh Pirates Pedro Alvarez 3B
3. Kansas City Royals Eric Hosmer 1B
4. Baltimore Orioles Brian Matusz LHP
5. San Francisco Giants Buster Posey C
6. Florida Marlins Kyle Skipworth C
7. Cincinnati Reds Yonder Alonso 1B
8. Chicago White Sox Gordon Beckham SS
9. Washington Nationals Aaron Crow RHP
10. Houston Astros Jason Castro C
11. Texas Rangers Justin Smoak …read more

While the 2008 MLB Draft is considered to be a deep draft, the top prospects don’t have scouts blown away. In fact, the top ten picks in this year’s baseball mock draft aren’t overly impressive. Eventually, a few stars will emerge from the top of this draft but right now the cream of the crop isn’t overly enticing.
Here’s is our 2008 MLB mock draft:
1) Tampa Bay Rays – Tim Beckham
2) Pittsburgh Pirates – Buster Posey
3) Kansas City Royals – Eric Hosmer
4) Baltimore Orioles – Justin Smoak
5) San Francisco Giants – Pedro Alvarez
6) Florida Marlins – Yonder Alonso
7) Cincinnati …read more

University of San Diego left-hander Josh Romanski
Photo credit: Geoff Young
I finally got to see some baseball this weekend. Friday night I watched University of San Diego left-hander Brian Matusz struggle with his command as crosstown rival San Diego State University came out on top, 11-2. Matusz is projected to go early in the first round of the 2008 draft, but he didn’t have it working in the season opener.
USD left fielder Kevin Muno executed a straight steal of home in the third inning, which was pretty cool. First time I’d seen that in person.
Then on Saturday I caught the first …read more

   Photo by Mayr, some rights reserved
I know it’s only February, but some of us live for the draft. Maybe not as much as in football or basketball, but last year’s TV coverage was a good first step in getting folks more involved. (Yeah, the coverage could have been better, but at least there was something.)
Jim Callis at Baseball America did a draft preview chat that will help familiarize us all with some of the names to watch for in ‘08. Here are a few highlights.
On the quality of this year’s crop:
Scouting directors are enthused about this year’s draft, probably as …read more