Farm Fresh Royals -- draft rds 21-30

I kinda got sidetracked on the draft recap...so 10 days after my last post and a couple weeks after the draft, we continue. Nothing like timeliness...

21st rounder OF Marvin "Chanse" Cooper is signed and in Idaho Falls after his junior season at Belhaven College in Mississippi. He hit .331 with 40 SB this season for Belhaven, so he's another athletic centerfielder. We'll see if he can hit in the pros, unlike Derrick Robinson or Patrick Norris thus far. He turned 21 in March.

22nd rounder lefty Ryan Dennick came out of Tennessee Tech and is already signed and in rookie ball. He turned 22 in January. He started this last college season as the Tech closer before moving into the rotation and finishing 4-2 with a 3.75 ERA in 72 IP. His BB/K ratio was 33/58, so not quite 2-1. He was 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA in his 5 starts with a .189 OAV, including good starts versus CWS qualifier Southern Miss and Clemson. He pitched at 2 other colleges other than Tech. Could be a good middle-round pick.

23rd rounder righty Scott Kelley was a senior out of Penn State and is also signed and assigned. He turns 23 in October. Despite a fastball in the 90s, Kelley posted a 5.43 ERA this season for the Nittany Lions. He was an outfielder/part-time pitcher his junior year after being a full-time outfielder as a sophomore and full-time pitcher as a freshman at PSU. He struck out 42 in 59 2/3 IP this season, but also walked 33 with a .325 OAV. Maybe the Royals took him thinking if he can't get anybody out they can move him to the outfield and give him a shot there. He hit 4 HR as a junior and slugged .443. We'll see how he handles rookie ball.

24th rounder righty Zach Jones was drafted out of Santa Teresa HS in San Jose, California. He turns 19 in December and hasn't signed. No report of him headed to any college. A San Jose Mercury News item from May said San Jose State was interested, but haven't seen that he had committed anywhere. He finished this season 14-0 on the mound with an ERA under 1. It would be a nice sign, if it happens.

25th rounder righty Richard Folmer was a senior at Stephen F. Austin U in Texas and has signed and is in rookie ball. He turns 23 in November. He was the Lumberjacks' all-time leader in saves with 21 and appearances with 96. He struck out 37 with 21 BB in 33 IP with a .162 OAV, including a .143 mark against righties. He had a 3.27 ERA and 12 saves this season. Seems like it should be a good pick for the round.

26th rounder 1B Matt Frazer came out of Nitro HS in West Virginia. He stands 6-4 and bats left and just turned 18 in May. He is committed to WVU and sounded open to signing. He hit .443 with 11 HR his senior season at Nitro. On second thought, maybe he wasn't so open. Our first definite NO thus far.

27th rounder OF Gabe MacDougall came out of Division II champ Lynn U in Florida and is already signed and assigned. He turned 22 in April. He finished his Lynn career as the all-time leader in HR and slugging percentage. He batted .341 in his Lynn career. He hit more than 20 HR and 20 doubles in 2008. This season he only hit .302 with 21 2B and 10 HR but did post a .429 OBP. He was 9/9 in SB and walked 34 times with 48 K in 225 AB. Another seemingly good pick for the round.

28th rounder 1B Eric Peterson marked the Royals' third HS 1B draftee this year, as he is out of Liberty HS in Washington. He also bats left and turns 18 in October. He is a U of Washington commit. We're getting to the point in the draft where the high school guys just figure a couple years of college will boost their round enough it's not worth it to sign, unless they just hate school and are wanting to give pro ball a go. He hit a school-record 12 HR this season, and one of the links I glanced at had somebody declaring him a "once in a generation type player". Wow. Surely the Royals have shot him a bonus figure by now, so it occurs to me he may be a Husky rather than a Royal or Chukar.

29th rounder OF Nick Zaharion was drafted out of South Fork HS in Texas, bats right and turns 19 in November. Zaharion also was being looked at as a catcher, and was committed to St. Petersburg JuCo. He sounded open to the idea of signing. Rumors were running that Rice U was after him around draft time but I never saw them substantiated. You'd think the Royals might be able to get him away from a juco, but on the other hand going to juco gives him more flexibility for redraft in the future. As with Peterson, the longer it is after drafting him, the more likely I'd think he's headed for juco.

30th rounder righty Josh Worrell is the son of former Cards closer Todd and signed out of Indiana Wesleyan U. He posted a 3.32 ERA with a 7-6 record and 55 BB/77 K in 78 2/3 IP as a starter this season. As noted in the RotF reports, he's signed and in rookie ball. He had a 1.04 ERA over his last 67 IP this season, which is remarkable. He also allowed only a .194 OAV. Basically he had 3 bad starts to start the season and then was lockdown from there versus NAIA competition.



Hopefully more to come...