Major League Baseball’s 2005 June Amateur Draft is only two weeks away and it still looks to me like this year’s draft class is as stacked as it has been for quite some time. It looks as though the Diamondbacks will take high school phenom Justin Upton with the first overall pick but from there things get a little dicey. Rumor has it that the Royals might pass on Nebraska third-baseman Alex Gordon in favor of a more budget-friendly choice while the Mariners seem infatuated with Long Beach State shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. The Nationals are next on the board and their odds-on favorite seems to be Virginia’s defensive whiz at the hot corner, Ryan Zimmerman.

If the top four teams choose according to plan (assuming the Royals do indeed take Gordon), the Brewers will probably select high school outfielder Cameron Maybin with the fifth pick in the draft. Compared by Brewerfan.net’s Patrick Ebert (whose draft coverage is second to none) to Eric Davis and by many others to Ken Griffey, Jr., Maybin is a fairly raw player but a great athlete with tools-a-plenty. While he wouldn’t be my first choice, it is hard to dispute that the North Carolina-native has a ton of potential.

Last season the object of my affection was Jeremy Sowers, a left-hander from Vanderbilt with silky-smooth mechanics that was taken by the Indians with the sixth pick in the 2004 draft (just one slot after the Brewers opted for prep righty Mark Rogers). I was also quite infatuated with Gamecock left-hander Billy Buckner, whom the Royals nabbed in the second round with the 56th overall choice. While Sowers is annihilating the Advanced-A Carolina League, Buckner is only pitching “OK” in the Single-A Midwest League. While Rogers is an exciting prospect, I remain unconvinced that he will be a better big league pitcher than Sowers and perhaps even Buckner.

This year there are a handful of players I am enamored with.

  1. Alex Gordon - 3B - University of Nebraska

    An unbelievably talented hitter, Gordon is batting .396/.548/.748 with 19 doubles, 16 homers, and almost twice as many walks (55) as strikeouts (30). He’s a good defender, he runs well, and his sweet left-handed stroke will almost certainly translate well to wood. If he somehow falls to the Brewers, I would barely be able to contain my enthusiasm.

  2. Ryan Braun - 3B - University of Miami

    His defense is very questionable and most scouts seem to think that his eventual home will be in the outfield, but Braun can flat-out rake. Playing in a neutral park, the right-handed hitter is posting a .418/.496/.762 line with 15 doubles, 16 homers, and a 30-32 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Some people have questioned his ability to hit with wood but I don’t see the hitch in his swing that the nay-sayers cite.

  3. Taylor Teagarden - C - University of Texas

    The kind of special defensive catcher that doesn’t come ‘round too often, Teagarden has exceptional makeup and is the unquestionable leader of the dominant Longhorns club. Batting in the middle of Texas’ lineup, Teagarden is hitting .316/.447/.480 with 17 doubles, three homers, and a 38-to-35 walk-to-strikeout ratio. There is some question whether his offensive game is good enough to make him an impact player in the big leagues, but I am confident that he’ll maintain a high enough on-base average to be an All-Star-caliber signal-caller in the Majors.

  4. Ricky Romero - LHP - Fullerton (Cal State)

    With a fastball that only barely reaches the low-90s, Romero is the kind of polished college arm that many scouting directors will likely pass on in favor of prep pitchers with perceived higher ceilings. I think that’s a huge mistake. The ace of the Titans staff, Romero has an excellent arsenal of pitches, rock solid makeup, and outstanding command and he has been a dominant force in the NCAA. Pitching in a hitter-friendly home park, the southpaw is 11-4 with a 2.57 ERA and 120-to-29 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 112 innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .217 against him and he has allowed only 23 extra-base hits all season.

There are others whom I am fond of (Zimmerman and Tulowitzki would be numbers five and six on the above list), these four are the ones I am especially high on. Unsurprisingly, they are all college players… while I am not dead-set against drafting prep stars, it would take a very special high schooler to convince me to go in that direction were I a Major League team’s scouting director.

Unfortunately, I doubt the Brewers will select any of the players on my list. I’m still holding out (irrational) hope that Gordon somehow falls, however… that would be quite a wonderful day to be a Brewers fan.