The MLB Draft -- No Longer Steve Phillips-Free

[3:16PM] This is a lot less painful than the NFL draft; bless these five minute time limits. We're through thirteen picks and there's still no sign of Andrew Brackman.

[3:23PM] Cleveland just took my man Beau Mills, he of the 1.000 slugging percentage. Austin Johnson should be joining me here on this sort-of-liveblog shortly.

[3:36 PM] Austin - Minor technical difficulties but I'm in now. Thanks to Steven for letting me invade his blog for the afternoon. Quick advertising note and then I won't mention PackPride.com again, but we'll have some stuff up after the draft about Wolfpack players who were picked up today and tomorrow.

[3:41PM] I'm still trying to figure Milwaukee's decision to go with LaPorta. Keith Law made the point that LaPorta is the kind of guy who can build trade value for a contender rather quickly, but what if you end up wanting to play the guy? Consensus seems to be that he's going to be stuck at 1B.

Glad you made it successfully, Austin. Did you like the Cubs' pick? -- Steven

[3:41PM] Austin - I was happy with the Cubs pick, Vitters is the best high school hitter in the draft. Can't complain about that.

I'm watching the draft live on ESPN2 right now. It's Peter Gammons, Steve Phillips and Karl Ravech. They are echoing like crazy. Probably because the draft looks like its taking place in an airport hanger somewhere.

[3:51PM] They do need to work on this draft atmosphere for next year. Every time Selig comes to the podium, you can hear like twelve guys in the back. What we need are Jets fans. A lot of Jets fans. -- Steven

[3:52 PM] Austin - Yeah Jets fans would do the trick. Or, you know, more than 12 fans in the building.

We've had two ACC players go so far. Daniel Moskos, a lefty pitcher from Clemson, went No. 4 overall to the Pirates. Georgia Tech catcher Matt Weiters was ranked by most as the best hitting prospect in the draft - he went No. 5 to Baltimore.

[3:54PM] Selig just announced Philly's pick, and...dead silence. But I'm sure Phillies fans are there booing in spirit.

I hope we're getting to Brackman territory here (20s); I would hate to see him slide all the way to the supplemental round. -- Steven

[3:59PM] I'm waiting for Keith Law to lampoon JP Ricciardi (his former boss) for one of Toronto's selections. A little feud couldn't hurt.-- Steven

[4:03PM] Austin - Yeah Law seems to enjoy taking stabs at his old employer. Why isn't he at the draft? He's like the Mel Kiper of this thing.

If the White Sox or Yankees don't take Brackman, he could really start to slide.

[4:08PM] I mean, there's no one there to heckle Steve Phillips. This is tremendously disappointing. Twenty-two picks down, Brackman still available. Come on, White Sox! -- Steven

[4:08PM] Austin - There's nothing funnier than looking at some of this grainy home video footage of high school players. Wow! Did you just see how he dominated that 5'3", 120-pound 15-year-old!

[4:13PM] The Giants took Tim Alderson, a pitcher who Kevin Goldstein says the White Sox had as their #1 target. Brackman = plan B? -- Steven

[4:18PM] Austin - "The Chicago White Sox, are now on the clock." - Bud Selig

Selig never looks remotely happy. Just smile every once in a while man.

[4:22PM] He could at least put on a smile for the cameras.

There's really a buzz surrounding this draft. Oh, wait, that's just the air conditioning. -- Steven

[4:29PM] Boo-urns. I'm fine with the pick, but I wish the White Sox had taken a chance on Andrew. I think Boras might have made the difference there. -- Steven

[4:27PM] Austin - The White Sox pass on Brackman, meaning he'll have to wait until at least the 30th pick. Teams are also staying away from another Boras client, Rich Porcello, who was projected as a top-5 talent.

[4:31PM] Selig: "The Detroit Tigers are on the clock."
Two Tigers fans: "Woooo!"
Karl Ravech: "A lot of Tigers fans here..." -- Steven

[4:36PM] Austin - Detroit isn't afraid of the big price tag guys. A year after taking Andrew Miller, they grab Porecello with the 27th pick.

[4:47PM] Well, here we are. Yankees up at #30. -- Steven

[4:54PM] Austin - It's official - Andrew Brackman is a Yankee.

[4:59PM] Gammons and Law like the pick. Others...not so much. From a BPro chat:

Kevin Goldstein (2:04:02 PM PST): The Yankees finish up the first round by taking Andrew Brackman. Maybe the Oliver Stone theories were correct, and it really was a big ol' orchestration to drop him to the Yankees -- and maybe not. I don't think I like the pick, even at 30.

BSmith (2:05:35 PM PST): He's fun to watch pitch, I know, but at some point, the results have to matter. The consistency isn't there, the dominance has never been there, and earlier in the year, I wrote about his struggles against 1-5 hitters in the ACC. He is probably going to do well in the low minors, if he's healthy, but I don't see him having much more success than Jon Rauch.

And from Rich Lederer: a rather terse "you can have him." -- Steven

[5:02PM] Austin - These people have a point, but he has performed before. Brackman's problem is, as Smith said, consistency.

Personally I think Brackman will be fine. He needs a consistent delivery and a slightly better breaking ball, but the Yanks are looking at upside and Andrew has plenty of that.

[5:11 PM] Austin - Alright, its been fun. Thanks again to Steven for having me on this afternoon and hopefully we can do it again sometime.

[5:21 PM] Enjoyed it, Austin, thanks for chatting. We'll do it again.

Yankee fans not entirely behind the pick. -- Steven