David Cooper of UC Berkeley it is.My initial reaction is a bit "meh." Both Keith Law and Baseball America figured Cooper wouldn't come off the board until the Bosox picked 30th overall, so he might've been a bit of an overdraft. The Cardinals took Brett Wallace (3B/1B) of Arizona State at 13 and the Brewers took Canucker Brett Lawrie (C/3B) at 16, right before the Jays were to pick. With the two guys they wanted most off the board, Cooper was clearly plan C.
What does Cooper bring to the diamond? At first glance he appears to be a lefty 1B in the Lyle Overbay mould: should hit for good average, show modest 20-HR power, will hit to all fields, lacks speed, and will field his position adequately. If they had their hearts set on a first baseman, the Jays could've selected Ike Davis (Arizona State), who is a better fielder, has more power and is probably versatile enough to handle the outfield. The Mets took him 18th, right after the Jays took Cooper.
MiLB.com has a lengthy scouting report on him here and UC Berkeley has a player bio you might be interested in. And, most importantly, his college stats (with aluminum bats) are over at Batter's Box.
Will update after the second round.
-- Johnny Was
1 comment:
Can't they just have a rule that if your payroll is less than $100 mil you can keep using aluminum bats?
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