[ayaghmour2]

Lot's of trade action, and at the moment, we pick twice in the first, second, third, and fifth. Three times in the seventh, none in the fourth, and once in each other round. Knowing myself, there's probably more trades to be had. I had no interest in initially trading my second 2nd Rounder, but got an offer (technically two) I liked and still got the guy I wanted with the last pick in the round. Here's the two new Cougars from this round:

LHP Doc Smith (2nd Round, 21st Overall): I dropped the ball here. With being at work, I sort of decided my two second rounders ahead of time after making my first in the morning. I sort of assumed the El Dorado Kid would be taken already (he went next...), so I committed to Doc Smith for my first 2nd Round Pick. Still, that does not mean I an upset to get Smith here. The 21-year-old lefty is a groundball artist with a decent sinker and devastating changeup. One that hitters just can't tough. It's the best of his five pitches, the other three his fastball, cutter, and change. With such a heavy fastball repertoire, I really thinking Smith is going to be throwing a lot harder then the 83-85 he sits at now. He was teammates with Phil McKenna at Coastal Carolina, and tossed 181.2 innings for the Dolphins in his two years. With great competition, he was 11-7 with a 3.47 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 57 walks, and 74 strikeouts. If Smith is able to hit his spots and burry his sinker down in the zone, he's going to be a really good pitcher.

SP Grover Donahue (2nd Round, 36th Overall): He was the last pick of the second round, but the guy I was wanting to take the entire time, but I knew there were better players available (including the guy I took two picks later) so I was comfortable moving back. Donahue also had tough competition in college and pitched at Indiana A&M and pitched against Smith. In Donahue's two seasons he was 15-8 with a 3.30 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 62 walks, and 116 strikeouts in 215.2 innings pitched. He's born in Huntingburg, Indiana, so there's a chance he might have been a Cougar fan growing up. Unlike most of the pitchers I've been targeting lately, Donahue is not a groundballer and one of the reasons I was more comfortable waiting until the end of the round. Still, I really like this kid and my scout is a huge fan. He's got six pitches, and uses his 84-86 MPH fastball to challenge hitters up and in. He will walk hitters, but I think that's just because it will take time for him to master all his pitches. He also has a cutter, curve, slider, change, and splitter, but I imagine at some point he'll throw one or two of the pitches very sparingly. I like how he's able to strike out batters, and that's something we're going to need from a starter who doesn't keep the ball on the ground.

The best sign is he's already projected to be an FABL starter, so this could be another Harry Parker situation. Parker dominated at San Jose and then went 6-5 with a 2.39 ERA (190 ERA+), 1.43 WHIP, 29 walks, and 48 strikeouts in 93.1 innings with the Lincoln Legislators. Parker was a HS kid and just turned 20, so it's a little different, but in both cases the pitcher has a lot of pitches with at least three of them big league ready. At the time of this writing, the 7th Rounder from last year now ranks 125th on the prospect list. I don't expect Donohue to be ranked this high, but I can't even remember if Parker was in the top 500 after we selected him.

RF Chubby Hall (3rd Round, 34th Overall): I will be 100% honest. When I was making my second round picks, I had no idea Hall was available. I committed to the two pitchers, and just went on with my day. After I got off, I took a nice look at the draft order, and realized the OSA mock 12th pick of the draft Chubby Hall was still available. The #12 rank meant nothing to me when drafting him. The thought of having a guy named Chubby in the everyday lineup is just too much to pass up. Supposedly the 5'7'' 190 18-year-old can play first, left, center, and right, so I'm going to give 'ol Chubby a shot out in center. If the 5'11 250 John Dibblee can play center field then why can't Chubby do the same! Sure, it'll be cool if he can hit a little, and Hall hit .535/.603/.899 with 6 homers and 37 RBI's in 117 trips to the plate. I have been scouting Hall all season for one reason: 1-1-1-1

That's his triples, strikeouts, steals, and caught stealing. I think this kid is going to be a good hitter. And he never causes trouble. Mississippi A&M, you're not going to get another great outfielder...

CF John Johnson (3rd Round, 37th Overall): There were three center fielders I liked. This was the third and the third selected. He just turned 22 two days ago and the speedy lefty can play all three outfield spots as well as first base. In his two seasons at Grange College he hit .282/.379/.470 with 12 homers, 77 steals, and 93 RBI's in 604 trips to the plate. My scout is a big fan of his eye, and he showed it off with 78 walks compared to just 46 strikeouts. I think he has all the tools to be an excellent defender out in center, but I'm not yet sold on the bat. Good plate discipline isn't enough on it's own, but it's definitely a good start for developing a young hitter.