Rays Draft 3 on First Day of MLB Draft

The Tampa Bay Rays added three new young men to their organization last night. The Rays had to first round picks and one compensatory pick.

Meet Josh Sale (17th overall)

Sale is coming out of Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle. Baseball America tabs him as the 10th overall prospect in the draft and projects him as .280 hitter with 30 home run potential.
Sale who throws left handed and hits right is 6’1,’’ 205 pounds. In his senior year in high school he hit .460 with 13 home runs. He is projected as a corner outfielder with an above average arm. The only knock on him is his speed, where he rated below average.

Meet Justin O’ Conner (31st overall)

The Rays picked this draft pick as in light of not signing last years 30th overall Lavonn Washington. O’ Connor went to Cowan HS in Muncie, Indiana. He is projected as a catcher, but is very raw behind the plate because he only started catching last summer. He can also play shortstop and third base, but look to see the rays to keep him at catcher due to the lack of depth in the organization.
O’ Connor is an Arkansas commitment, but seems ready to get here professional career underway. “This is like a dream come true to me. Right now, I’m going to play professional baseball. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do. In his Senior year of high O’ Connor hit .470 with eight home runs.

Meet Drew Vettleson (42nd overall)

With their second compensatory pick of the draft that they received for losing Greg Zaun to free agency they drafted Drew Vettleson. He like Sale is from Washington he played at Central Kitsap High School in Silverdale.
Vettleson is know as being a switch pitcher, but don’t expect him to take the mound for the Rays. He is tabbed as a better outfield prospect with good power potential. Like Sale he projects as a corner outfielder with receiving below average grades in speed.
The next step for the Rays will be getting these three young men signed to contracts. They all are committed to major universities already, but they all seem like they want to start their professional careers and forgo college.
With all three young men coming straight out of high do not expect them playing in Tropicana field for sometime. When taking high school prospects sometimes its hard to judge at such a young age their development, but tend to have a higher ceiling than many college players.

Tampa Buccaneers Offseason

The Super Bowl is now over with a fellow NFC South team bringing home the Lombardi Trophy the NFL off-season is upon us. An uncapped year is looking more likely by the day. Recently Mark Dominik said, the Bucs will not be active in free agency and will continue to build through the draft.

That sounds good on paper, but when you come to the realization over the past decade the Draft Picks have been extremely sub par and can point directly to the past 3-13 season. These High Draft picks include Michael Clayton, Sabby Piscitelli, Gaines Adams, and my personal favorite Dexter Jackson.

The Bucs are going into the draft with many needs to fill mainly Defensive Tackle, Safety, Wide Receiver, Defensive End, and Linebacker. The top two draft picks look like it will be Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy which really hurts the Bucs. The wild card could be if the Rams decide to reach and take a QB at the number two spot and we can steal one of the prized DT's!

That leaves us to the obvious choice of Eric Berry at the 3rd selection, to team with Tanard Jackson which creates a very dynamic duo of play makers. Eric Berry is compared by many to Ed Reed and a player like that I believe you cannot pass up. Also, if you take into account the atrocious season by Sabby Piscitelli it becomes a no brainer.

We have two second round picks and if available I would love to see the Buccaneers pick up WR/RB Dexter McCluster. He would bring a dynamic to the offense the team has not seen since the first stint of Warrick Dunn. It would give Josh Freemen to have that check down guy and have a player who can bring explosiveness to this offense.

With the Bucs having ten draft picks in this years draft and not going to be active in free agency it is imperative for at least seven of these players make a huge impact on the 2010 team. It would be a tremendous help if we can hit on another Sammie Stroughter type player in the seventh round.

With so many holes to fill and having the lowest attendance since the Sam Wyche era this maybe the most important off-season for the Bucs ever. Raheem Morris put all his trust in Josh Freemen and at times he showed he could be a franchise QB and at other times he looked lost. Only time will tell what the Morris era will look like in Buccaneers history.