│ 12/3/14: D-backs Podcast | Chip Hale and Buster Olney By Steve Berthiaume & Greg Schulte / Arizona Diamondbacks http://mlb.mlb.com/fan_forum/podcasts/index.jsp?c_id=ari Prep shortstop Rodgers leads 2015 Draft class Duke's Matuella, 2014 top pick Aiken follow Florida high school infielder on Top 50 list By Jim Callis / MLB.com http://m.dbacks.mlb.com/news/article/103097880/high- school-shortstop-brendan-rodgers-at-head-of-2015-draft-class 2015 Mock Draft: Callis, Mayo call Top 10 Shortstop Rodgers, hurler Matuella among leading candidates for top selections MLB NEWS By Jim Callis & Jonathan Mayo / MLB.com December 5, 2014 • MLB.com http://m.mlb.com/news/article/103053582/callis-mayo-make- http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news_ind early-choices-for-top-10-2015-draft-picks ex.jsp MLB Trade Value, Part 2 ASSOCIATED PRESS With the hot stove smoking and the winter meetings looming, December 5, 2014 • Sports.yahoo.com we conclude our annual ranking of baseball’s 50 most valuable http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/morenews assets By Jonah Keri / ESPN - Grantland MLB TRANSACTIONS http://grantland.com/features/2014-mlb-trade-value-rankings- December 5, 2014 • MLB.com part-2/ http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions Nats exec Deric Ladnier expected to get D-Backs scouting director job By Jon Heyman / CBSSports.com http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon- heyman/24866993/nats-exec-deric-ladnier-expected-to-get-d- backs-scouting-director-job MLB rumors, injuries and news roundup for Dec. 4 By Dayn Perry / CBSSports.com http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on- baseball/24867218/mlb-rumors-injuries-and-news-roundup-for- dec-4 Diamondbacks' Mark Trumbo sells desert home for $1.9 million By Neal J. Leitereg / The Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/hot-property/la- fi-hotprop-mark-trumbo-house-20141204-story.html 1 │ going third to the White Sox, behind Aiken and Tyler Kolek (Marlins). 12/3/14: D-backs Podcast | Chip Hale and Buster Olney By Steve Berthiaume & Greg Schulte / Arizona Diamondbacks "This is a really hard Draft so far," an American League scouting http://mlb.mlb.com/fan_forum/podcasts/index.jsp?c_id=ari director said. "I've spent a lot of time looking at it and there aren't any no-brainers. There are no Carlos Rodons sitting here New D-backs manager Chip Hale joins the D-backs Podcast as in this Draft. its first-ever guest, then hear from ESPN senior baseball writer Buster Olney as he previews next week's annual Winter "I really like Rodgers, but when you really get down to the tools, Meetings. he's not the plus runner that usually goes along with a shortstop. Aiken is a wild card. Matuella sticks out as somebody we're supposed to like, but we don't have the documentation we have on other guys. We haven't had that many looks at him and it's Prep shortstop Rodgers leads 2015 Draft class almost like he's a northern high school kid who came out of the Duke's Matuella, 2014 top pick Aiken follow Florida high school blue." infielder on Top 50 list By Jim Callis / MLB.com Rodgers aside, pitching should dominate the top of the Draft. http://m.dbacks.mlb.com/news/article/103097880/high- There are plenty of left-handers and right-handers as well as school-shortstop-brendan-rodgers-at-head-of-2015-draft-class collegians and high schoolers, and pitchers occupy seven of the first eight spots and 10 of the first 13 on MLBPipeline.com's For the second time in their history, the Arizona Diamondbacks Top 50. The Draft record for pitchers in a first round is 20, a own the top pick in the First-Year Player Draft. The first time number reached in 2001 and '14, and that mark will be that happened, in 2005, they took a high school shortstop with a challenged. potent bat. San Clemente (Calif.) High School southpaw Kolby Allard, who Ten years after grabbing Justin Upton, the D-backs could follow has a lot of parallels to Aiken but comes with a smaller six-foot a similar path. Lake Mary (Fla.) High School shortstop Brendan build, is the consensus top prep pitcher available. Fellow Rodgers sits atop MLBPipeline.com's initial Draft Top 50 California lefty Justin Hooper, of De La Salle High School in rankings, thanks to his three plus tools (bat, power, arm) Concord, is the hardest-throwing high schooler with a fastball complemented by two solid ones (speed, defense). Unlike that has reached 97 mph and a 6-foot-7 frame that suggests Upton, who immediately moved to the outfield as a professional, more velocity to come. Rodgers should remain at shortstop. On the college side, Vanderbilt right-handers Walker Buehler Six months before the Draft begins on June 8, Rodgers' main and Carson Fulmer both will factor into the upper half of the competition comes from two pitchers, both of whom have high first round, as will Virginia lefty Nathan Kirby and Louisville upsides tempered by medical issues. Duke's Michael Matuella is a righty Kyle Funkhouser. The junior-college ranks are stronger 6-foot-7 right-hander who can miss bats with his mid-90s than usual and could produce multiple first-rounders for the first fastball, his curveball and his slider. But he also has spondylosis, time since Phil Dumatrait and Robert Stiehl in 2000. Phil a manageable defect of the vertebra in his lower back. Matuella Bickford, who declined to sign with the Blue Jays after being has logged just 121 innings in two years of college and summer taken No. 10 overall in 2013, transferred from Cal State- ball, and he didn't face live hitters during fall practice. Fullerton to the College of Southern Nevada after hitting 98 mph with his fastball in the Cape Cod League. Also in the mix is left-hander Brady Aiken, who combines three plus pitches with command and athleticism. That package led In contrast to the abundance of pitching, there's a scarcity of the Astros to take him No. 1 overall last year out of a San Diego position players, especially on the college side. Vanderbilt's high school, but their $6.5 million bonus agreement fell apart Dansby Swanson is the best of the group -- the Commodores after a post-Draft physical raised concerns about the ulnar should become the first program to produce three first-rounders collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. in one Draft since Miami had Yonder Alonso, Jemile Weeks and Carlos Gutierrez in 2008 -- but is more of a solid player than a Aiken is expected to pitch at a to-be-determined junior college in superstar and still has to show he can play shortstop after the spring, which would make him Draft-eligible as a freshman. previously manning second base. Swanson could be the only The Astros received the No. 2 pick this year as compensation for college hitter taken in the top dozen picks, with Louisiana State not signing Aiken and earned the No. 5 choice with their play on shortstop Alex Bregman and Cincinnati outfielder/second the field, making them the first team ever with two selections baseman Ian Happ the only other contenders. that early. Houston's allotted bonus pool for the first 10 rounds should be in the neighborhood of $18 million, topping the "With the college position players, wow, there are some question previous record of $14.2 million that the Marlins had last year marks for sure," an AL scouting executive said. "That's been an before trading a supplemental first-round pick to the Pirates. issue in the last three or four Drafts for the most part. The better position players are still signing out of high school. Those Rodgers, Matuella and Aiken have separated themselves from guys get paid." the rest of the Draft pack heading into 2015. While they're all attractive, none is a slam-dunk No. 1 overall pick like Carlos Several high school outfielders could get paid handsomely in Rodon appeared to be a year ago at this time. Rodon wound up 2015, with Daz Cameron (Eagle's Landing Christian Academy, 2 │ McDonough, Ga.), Nick Plummer (Brother Rice High School, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.), Trenton Clark (Richland High School, Callis: Matuella. Houston makes up for missing out on Aiken by North Richland Hills, Texas) and Kyle Tucker (Plant High grabbing the top pitcher in the 2015 Draft, as Matuella combines School, Tampa, Fla.) all looking like first-rounders and intriguing a mid-90s fastball, two tough breaking pitches and a 6-foot-7 athletes Demi Orimoloye (St. Matthew's High School, Orleans, frame. Ontario.) and Garrett Whitley (Niskayuna, N.Y., High School) possibly knocking on the door. The most famous name in the Mayo: Rodgers. I'm basically flip-flopping with Jim here, as the prep class, Cameron, is the son of former All-Star and Gold Astros take the best player on the board, dreaming of a left side Glove Award winner Mike Cameron. Daz emerged as an early of an infield with Carlos Correa at third and Rodgers at first-rounder as a sophomore. shortstop. In a Draft with a lot of uncertainty, the biggest X factor could be 3. Rockies Allen (Texas) High School shortstop Kyler Murray. He's a well- above-average runner with plenty of bat speed and arm strength. Callis: Brady Aiken, LHP. He may not have picked a place to He's also the top-rated dual-threat quarterback prospect in the pitch in 2015 yet, but unless Aiken's medical reports scare off nation and is committed to play both baseball and football at other teams like they did with the Astros, he's not going to last Texas A&M.