Frayed Knot wrote: From one of the very oldest threads [6/7/2005] here in our archives: Those scouting writeups are a marvel of efficiency. Here's the guys the Mets are looking at [for the upcoming 2005 draft]: Jay Bruce Westbrook HS CF L/L 6'3" 195 1987-04-03 HS 56K | 350K COMMENT: Large frame. Broad, sloped shoulders. Body similar to a young Larry Walker. Aggressive, stroke w/ strength & lift for power. Loose, strong wrists w/ flick. Ball jumps off bat. Loose arm. Plus OF instincts. Five-tool player. Complete package. Jeffrey Clement U Southern California C L/R 6'1" 210 1983-08-21 4YR 56K | 350K COMMENT: Good upper body strength. Muscular arms. Similar to Tyler Houston. Short, compact stroke. Gamer, plays w/ intensity. Michael Pelfrey Wichita St U RHP R/R 6'7" 210 1984-01-14 4YR 56K | 350K COMMENT: Tall RHP w/ long limbs. Throws a FB that bores into hitters when up in the zone, sinks when down in the zone. Throws a power CB w/ some slider-like action. Also has a change-up. Clement wound up going 3rd overall to the Mariners and was a major disappointment: 385 ML ABs over pieces of four seasons for the M's and Pirates Mets take Pelfrey at #8 while Bruce goes four slots later to Cincy and winds up as the hindsight best pick among those three Highlights of that 1st round: #1 J. Upton, #2 Alex Gordon, #4 Ryan Zimmerman, #5 Ryan Braun, #7 Troy Tulowitski, #11 Andrew McCutcheon, #23 Jacoby Ellsbury Picks #6, 17, 20, and 29 that year never play in a big league game I've written several times here over the years about how I hardly ever follow MLB drafts closely. I usually know very little, if not nothing, about the prospective draftees - and the futures of baseball prospects, I think, are harder to predict compared to the future careers of amateurs from other sports. I'll make an exception if the Mets have a real chance at drafting some generational prospect, which hasn't happened in decades. But this 2005 draft, I followed closely. Pelfrey was widely considered to be the best pitcher in that draft with a heavy fastball that would occasionally hit 100 on the gun, a BFD back in 2005. (Pelfrey's fast ball lost some by the time he got to the majors). And even though the Mets picked eighth that year, the Mets had a chance at getting Pelfrey (which they did, as youse all know) because Pelfrey's agent was Scott Boras and that was supposed to turn off most, if not all of the teams picking ahead of the Mets.