Part of what makes the draft so much fun is the element of the unknown. Very few fans have actually seen these kids play, making it easy to conjure up images of superhuman hitters with menacing stances and 24-inch biceps, or pitchers with lightning quick arms, video game control and breaking pitches that defy gravity. That, of course, is far from reality.

Thanks to the intra-net, regular saps like me are now able to see clips of these kids in action, providing short glimpses into the future. I’ve scoured of the information superhighway for clips of some of the most exciting prospects in this year’s draft class, and am presenting them here for your viewing pleasure.

Let’s start with my personal favorite, prep RHP Gerrit Cole. Here’s a clip of Cole striking out the final batter of his 2 hit, 10 strikeout complete game shutout in Game 1 of the California Interscholarship Federation Southern Section playoffs.

OLU Gerrit Cole ends game with strikeout from Jaime Cardenas on Vimeo.

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Purdue RHP Josh Lindblom and his snot. Photo taken from Baseball America’s front page sometime last week.

It’s been a while since we talked draft, so here’s some bullet point style draft goodness:

• MLB tweaked some of the draft rules a bit, so now failure to sign a second-round pick results in a compensation pick after the second round the following year. Previously the comp picks were awarded one spot after the original selection was made. The Braves and Red Sox saw their comp picks for the unsigned Josh Fields and Hunter Morris, respectively, drop 18 spots thanks to the rule change (haha). Fifth year seniors can no longer sign as free agents before the draft as part of the rule changes.

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Did you know that more than one in every 100 American adults is in prison? That’s kinda scary. Every year over 1,500 players hope to kick start a potential big league career come the June amateur draft, and it’s inevitable that a few bad apples end up in the crop. Lastings Milledge was a first round pick despite being expelled from high school because he allegedly raped a classmate. Clay Buchholz was a sandwich pick after … well, you know what happened there. Elijah Dukes is in a class all by himself. Heck, even Tyler Clippard was booted off his high school team because of a DUI. Boys will be boys, except sometimes those boys are really good at playing baseball.

Major league teams have shown that they’re willing to take a chance on a player with makeup issues if the talent is there. While it’s not ideal to build your franchise around guys with less than colorful backgrounds, remember that prospects generally serve two purposes: feed talent to the major league roster, and serve as trade fodder. There will always be someone out there ready to take a chance on a talented kid if you’re sick of dealing with him. And people do change; life isn’t about what they do or what they’ve been through, it’s about the type of person they become afterwards. Everyone needs a second chance now and then.

This draft class is no different, with a handful of guys bringing more than just baseball ability to the table. I’ve decided to highlight the best of the worst because sometimes the talent is just too good to pass up. Fun starts after the jump.

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After telling you about some of the top overall prospects and top left-handed pitchers available in this year’s draft, it’s time to bring you up to speed on how they’re doing. The draft order is close to being finalized, with Mike Piazza being the only unsigned compensation free agent (Type-B) remaining. Even though he signed a minor league deal, the A’s will get a sandwich pick for Shannon Stewart if, and only if, he sticks on Toronto’s 25-man roster out of Spring Training. Right now the Yanks are picking at #28 overall, followed by #44, #77, #107, #142 and then every thirty picks thereafter. Not too shabby.

I had trouble finding stats for the high schoolers; most of the info on MaxPreps was team W-L records and individual game results only, not box scores or player stats. The schools’ websites were also useless, so I’ll have to update you on the prepsters in the future. Fun starts after the jump.

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