1. Bryce Harper- C/3B/OF

2. Manny Machado-SS

3. Zach Cox-3B

4. Drew Pomeranz-LHP

5. Jameson Tallion- RHP

While this seems to be a consenus look at the top players in the draft, I don’t value Tallion as much as others. High School pitchers scare me immensely, way too often do they break down or just become completely different pitchers than what they were drafted as. Tallion might end up 2nd overall, but there is almost as much risk as there is reward with him. Cox is a player I really like, he might not be on the elite 3B level like say Longoria or Zimmerman, but he should be very talented. I also think he is quite the sure thing in this class, and if you are going to pay between a $3-6 million dollar bonus to a player I’d rather see it paid to a player you know will be in the majors. Machado is a player I really like, and while just a high schooler I think he has an immensely bright future.

6. Christian Colon- SS

7. Yasmani Grandal-C

8. Chris Sale-LHP

9. Michael Choice-OF

10. Jose Sale-OF

11. Matt Harvey-RHP

12. Kolbrin Vitek-2B

13. Karsten Whitson-RHP

14. Deck McGuire-RHP

15. Anthony Ranaudo-RHP

Colon and Grandal are both next up for me because they play premium positions and are pretty close to major league ready. While they aren’t perennial All-Stars, they do have All-Star ability and at the very least should be solid major league starters. Their ceiling might not be as high as some prospects, but their chance of being a complete bust is very small.  Choice, Josh Sale, and Vitek are by far the next best bats in this class. All three should develop into solid regulars and could even develop into more. McGuire as fallen some down draft boards, while he is a pretty sure thing it is hard to believe he will ever be more than a number 3. Ranaudo is an interesting case because going into this season he was considered top 3 material. Due to injury he has fallen some, and might fall to the end of the 1st round, but I believe he will end up being one of the best players in this class.

16. Alex Wimmers-RHP

17. Kaleb Cowart-RHP/3B

18. Brett Eibner-CF/RHP

19. Stetson Allie-RHP

20. Nick Castellanos- 3B

21. Bryce Brentz- OF

22. Brandon Workman-RHP

23. Austin Wilson-OF

24. A.J. Cole-RHP

25. Gary Brown-OF

The draft ranks begin to thin out as you get past the top 15. While these are a number of very solid prospects they don’t have the immense upside of some of their peers. Eibner is one of my favorite players in this draft class, and I really believe in his bat. I look for him to make a quick jump into the majors. As for the H.S. guys there are some good bats in this group Cowart, Wilson, Castellanos all have a ton of upside. They lack a bit of polish which likely means they will need at least 4 full years before they are ML ready, but the talent is there. Allie and Cole are very good H.S. arms and both have top of the rotation potential. Wimmers is a guy a lot like McGuire, in that his upside is limited, but he should be pitching in the bigs within a year.

All-in-all it is a down draft class, one without the sure fire talent or unlimited potential you usually see at the top of the draft. Regardless 3-5 years from now is when we can really evaluate this draft class, in the meantime though it will be quite interesting watching these amateur’s develop and lay the foundation for each and every team in baseball.