Best Names of the 2011 MLB Draft

Just as we did last year, this year we kept track of the best names drafted in the 2011 MLB draft. 2011 wasn’t a particularly strong draft. It didn’t give us any Goodrums or Greathouses, but—carrying over Kendrick Perkins (Red Sox) from last year—we were able to field a full (but still bad) NBA starting 5, with Perkins, Brad Miller, Matt Barnes, Aaron Brooks, and Derek Fisher.

ROUND 1
Bubba Starling (Kansas City Royals)
Matt Barnes (Boston Red Sox) - not this Matt Barnes
Joe Panik (San Francisco Giants)
Mikie Mahtook (Tampa Bay Rays)

COMP ROUND A
Brad Miller (Seattle Mariners) - not this Brad Miller
Austin Hedges (San Diego Padres) - We like when names are also complete sentences.

ROUND 3
Bryan Brickhouse (Kansas City Royals)

ROUND 4 
Kylin Turnbull (Washington Nationals)
Dillon Thomas (Colorado Rockies)
Kenneth Peoples-Walls (St. Louis Cardinals) 

ROUND 5
John Leathersich (New York Mets)
Taylor Featherston (Colorado Rockies)
Chris Marlowe (San Francisco Giants)

ROUND 6
Derek Fisher (Texas Rangers)
David Goforth (Milwaukee Brewers) - He was also drafted last year by the Indians.

ROUND 7
Abel Baker (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California Angels)

ROUND 8
Kevin Quackenbush (San Diego Padres)

ROUND 9
Aaron Brooks (Kansas City Royals)

ROUND 13
Stephen Lumpkins (Kansas City Royals)

ROUND 17
Adam Choplick (Arizona Diamondbacks)

ROUND 27
Derrick Loveless (Toronto Blue Jays)
Steven Snodgrass (San Francisco Giants)

ROUND 31 
Aaron Bummer (New York Yankees)

ROUND 34
Adam Weisenburger  (Milwaukee Brewers)

ROUND 38
Devin Shines (Los Angeles Dodgers)

ROUND 40
Raphael Rhymes (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Jordan Gross (Boston Red Sox)

ROUND 42
Joseph Pankake (Texas Rangers)

ROUND 48
Malcolm Clapsaddle (New York Mets) 

ROUND 50
Travis Pitcher (Oakland Athletics)

World Cup: KNOCKOUT!

So, it’s here. Just 16 games remain in the World Cup, and you don’t need an expert, or even me, to tell you that they’re all important. With France and Italy falling short, there are some surprise teams hanging around, and of course Landon Donovan and company are through as group C winners, so you’ll see bandwagon-hoppers multiply as well as columns like this drivel be hashed and re-hashed as writers tell us how far they have their fingers in their ears.

Let’s get to the games before I get any more upset.

Saturday, June 26
10:00 AM: Uruguay v. South Korea
I’ll admit I don’t know much about either of these teams. Uruguay has looked impressive in the group stages, but was facing poor competition in a disgruntled France, inconsistent Mexico, and South Africa, who’s only there because they’re the home side. They’re likely the best of that group, but have certainly had a lucky run of opponents so far.

I haven’t watched any of South Korea’s games. Sorry. But, I didn’t expect them to do much and I think they’ll lose against Uruguay. They were second, but only had four points, beating a poor Greece team, getting trounced by Argentina, and drawing with Nigeria with help from Nigeria’s striker Yakubu missing the easiest chance of the tournament (though he did get a penalty moments later).

2:30 PM: United States v. Ghana
While the USA barely made it into the knockout stage, it does seem that they are a dangerous team, as two goals were disallowed and they had numerous other chances. While finishing is a skill, I can’t help but think that they got unlucky with both the bad calls and the ball just not bouncing the right way, and if they can produce as many quality chances against Ghana as they have this tournament so far, they should be able to put more of them away.

Most of the odds-makers have this match as close to even, but I’d give the edge to the USA. I think the odds-makers are overrating the “home continent” effect, as it’s not a particularly short trip for Ghanaians, there are a lot of Americans at the World Cup, and it’s questionable how many South Africans would root for Ghana. Some prediction systems don’t even account for Michael Essien being out, and he is one of the best players in the world. I also think the U.S. is being underrated. But it should be a good match, as both teams play positive football, and while they’ll both be wary of mistakes, they should move forward.

Sunday, June 27
10:00 AM: England v. Germany
I’m very excited for this game. Germany has played well this tournament (they always do) and play a skilled yet physical game, and while England hasn’t played as well, they have numerous star players and it just takes them working together to produce a great performance. I kind of doubt that will happen, as I think there are a lot of egos on that England team, but it will be fun to watch them implode.

I’d like to direct your attention to German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and point out first, his awesome name, and second, this outfit he is wearing. The English blog I link to makes fun of it, but I’m kind of into it. Kind of Elfish. Let your freak flag fly, Bastian.

2:30 PM: Mexico v. Argentina
I think Argentina can lose in this tournament against a team with a strong defense which can keep Lionel Messi somewhat in check and score with quick counterattacks. Mexico isn’t that team, though. Argentina is really fun to watch, however, and it’s worth it to watch the Best Player in the World in every game he plays. So do it. Or else.

Best Names of the 2010 MLB Draft

Yesterday, we highlighted some of the fantastic names of the 2009 MLB draft, and today we’ll continue with a look at the best names of the 2010 draft. With 1,500 players drafted—many of whom won’t sign a contract and more of whom will never see a Major League roster—there are bound to be some fantastic names in the mix. We’ve chosen names that are funny, cool-sounding, or straight-up badass.

Round 1:
Kolbrin Vitek (Red Sox)

Round 2:
Marcus Littlewood (Mariners)
Drew Smyly (Tigers)
Cartier Goodrum (Twins)
Angelo Gumbs (Yankees)

Round 4:
James Baldwin (Dodgers)

Round 5:
Jablonski Noel (Padres)
Dickie Thon (Blue Jays)
Justin Grimm (Rangers)

Round 6:
Gauntlett Eldemire (Phillies)
Kendrick Perkins (Red Sox), different from this Kendrick Perkins

Round 8:
Dace Kime (Pirates)
Cameron Greathouse (Cubs)
Jabari Blash (Mariners)

Round 12:
Tyler Cannon (Indians)
Phillip Wunderlich (Rays)

Round 13:
Michael Goodnight (Indians)
Mark Christman (Giants)

Round 14:
Diego Seastrunk (Indians)

Round 15:
Thomas Girdwood (Twins)

Round 21:
Adam Liberatore (Rays)

Round 24:
Adam Champion (Astros)
Daniel Poncedeleon (Rays)

Round 26:
Chase Johnson (Rangers)

Round 29:
Patrick Lala (Phillies)

Round 30:
Zachary Nuding (Yankees)

Round 31:
David Goforth (Indians)

Round 33:
Hunter Carnevale (Mets)

Round 36:
Wander Nunez (Nationals)
Robert Dickmann (Rays)
Forrest Snow (Mariners)

Round 40:
Dale Cornstubble (Royals)

I was hoping to go out with a bang, but unfortunately the last 10 rounds didn’t provide another Michael Monster.

Best Names of Last Year’s MLB Draft

Soon we’ll be rounding up all the great names of this year’s MLB draft. As a teaser, here’s a small taste of some of the great names from the 2009 draft:

(Parentheses denote round drafted)
Michael Trout, CF, Anaheim (1)
Zachary “Slade” Heathcott, OF, NYY (1)
Bradley Boxberger, P, Cincinatti (2)
Kyle Heckathorn, P, Milwaukee (2)
Brooks Pounders, P, Pittsburgh (2)
Benjamin Tootle, P, Minnesota (4)
Seth Schwindenhammer, OF, Boston (5)
Michael Monster, SS, Cincinatti
Damien Magnifico, P, NYM
Sequoyah Stonecipher, OF, Florida

Not all of these players signed, so they may appear in this year’s draft as well. As of right now, we’re 8 rounds deep into the 2010 MLB draft, and the names have not disappointed.

The Next Butler?

Monday night, I sat with my roommate watching Butler, a school of less than 5,000 students in Indianapolis, threaten Coach K. and the Duke Blue Devils, matching them shot for shot until ultimately coming up short. Many comparisons were made during the week between the Bulldogs and Hickory High from the movie “Hoosiers,” and it made sense. Butler, after all, comes from the Horizon League, meaning that while Duke played night in and night out against teams like UNC, Maryland, and Wake Forest, Butler was running past Wright State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Youngstown State with minimal resistance. (Butler entered the title game having not lost since December.)

Although the media played it like Butler was an underdog that emerged from nowhere, this isn’t necessarily true. The Bulldogs were a five-seed and ranked in all preseason Top 25 polls. This was their fourth straight trip to the NCAAs and their third time reaching the Sweet Sixteen since 2003. Where Butler resides is in a new class with Gonzaga—media darlings that grow from underdogs in small conferences to legitimate tournament forces year in and year out. Both programs are at a point where they are expected to make the tourney each year, and that shouldn’t change any time soon. Andy Katz has Butler ranked #3 in his early 2010-11 poll and Gonzaga #18.
So are we seeing a new class of team, the juggernaut from the mid-major that competes year in and year out with the major conferences? There’s no reason not to think so. The question is who could potentially join them. Taking into account recent success, coach, recruiting pool, and league, here are a few teams that could be poised to join the Brothers Bulldog over the next few years.
Note: For our purposes, I’m not considering the MWC, WAC, or Atlantic 10, since those conferences regularly put multiple teams into the tournament.
Virginia Commonwealth
A logical place to first look for a team to join the mid-major juggernauts is the CAA. This year, Old Dominion represented the league well by upsetting Notre Dame in the first round before losing a tough game to Baylor in the NCAAs. It’s a deep league that also gave us George Mason’s Final Four run a few years back. VCU has regularly been near the top, making the tourney three times since 2004 and beating Duke in one of those trips. Touted young coach Anthony Grant left to take the Alabama job and was replaced by another up-and-comer in Shaka Smart, who led the Rams to a 27-9 record and CBI Championship this year. In fact, the team hasn’t had a losing record since ‘98-‘99. They have shown the ability to bring in high caliber talent, recently producing lottery selection Eric Maynor and currently possessing another potential lottery pick in power forward Larry Sanders. The Rams should again be near the top of the league next year, lead by Sanders and the next star in waiting, point guard Joey Rodriguez. There are a handful of CAA teams that could potentially take this mantel, but I think VCU is the best poised for long-term success.
Siena
More and more people are becoming familiar with the Saints, as they became a trendy pick to upset Purdue in the first round of this year’s tourney, as they did last time they were a 13-seed, beating Vanderbilt in ‘07-‘08. The Saints will graduate their two best players in Alex Franklin and Edwin Ubiles, but they seem to have outgrown the rest of the MAAC in recent years to become the perennial favorite, this year winning the regular season title by a Butler-esque four games. Coach Fran McCarthy has established a winning tradition in his five seasons in upstate New York, and with the addition next year of freshmen Melsahn Basabe and Trenity Burdine, he appears to reloading rather than rebuilding. Besides, don’t “Melsahn Basabe” and “Trenity Burdine” just sound like guys that would hit game-winning shots to upset a high-seeded team?
Creighton
Since the Missouri Valley Conference is one of the deeper, more talented mid-majors and one that’s had recent success in the NCAAs (Northern Iowa’s Sweet 16 run this year, Bradley’s Elite 8 run a couple years ago,) it would make sense that one of them could become a perennial contender. It would also make sense to select the most recent en vogue team, Northern Iowa, as that squad, in light of their huge upset of Kansas this year. But I think they’re losing too much after this year that’s not being replaced to sustain that kind of success. I see Creighton as the team from the MVC that could take a large step forward over the next few years. The Blue Jays have a few things going for them: they regularly draw a huge crowd, ranking 15th in average attendance in the country last year, so it’s a fun place to play. Their coach, Dana Altman, is one of the best in the business. This was his first season to not win 20 games (18-16) in over a decade. They also have recently produced NBA players in Kyle Korver and Anthony Tolliver. The Blue Jays were young this year, but will bring back leaders in Kenny Lawson and P’Allen Stinnett, and welcome in former blue chip prospect Greg Echinique, who will be eligible after transferring from Rutgers. Creighton made the tournament five straight years from ‘99-‘03, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to think they’ll return to that same level starting next year.
Saint Mary’s
Saint Mary’s garnered a lot of national attention this year with their second round upset of 2-seeded Villanova and subsequent Sweet 16 trip. In his ninth season, coach Randy Bennett has established a winning tradition, forcing his team to progressively raise its game to compete with conference rival Gonzaga, this year beating the Zags to win the WCC title. Though they’ll lose three talented seniors, including the face of the team in center Omar Samhan, the Gaels actually had a young squad this year with seven freshmen seeing playing time, led by Matthew Dellavedova (12.1 PPG). Saint Mary’s has the interesting recruiting factor of regularly pulling talent from not just the west coast, but Australia, with five players currently making the trip from down under. After finishing this season at #19 in the Coaches Poll, I see guard Mickey McConnell becoming a household name next spring and the Gaels making their third trip to the NCAAs in four seasons.

Atlanta Braves: Cox’s Last Hurrah

The Atlanta Braves have been a well-run organization for as long as I have been a baseball fan. Although they’ve only won one World Series in that time, they have been competitive all but a couple years under different GMs, pitching staffs, pitching coaches, closers, and core groups of players. The main constant during this time has been Bobby Cox. While the importance of managers is generally overrated, it’s probably fair to say that Cox deserves some credit for running the team for so long. As he will retire after this season, let’s take a look at Atlanta and see if the young team can provide a playoff run for Cox in his final season.

The Braves’ strength is their rotation. Unfortunately, due to monetary concerns, they had to trade one of their better pitchers, Javier Vazquez, away in the off-season. Vazquez has frequently underperformed his peripheral numbers, but the last few years he seems to have either figured out his problems from the stretch, simply gotten better luck, or a combination of both, and has been a top contributor; last year he was even a Cy Young contender. Though they did receive Melky Cabrera, who is a decent contributor along with a solid prospect (Arodys Vizcaino), they would likely have been able to keep Vazquez were it not for a grave mishandling of the roster.

Let me take you through the chain of events. First, the Braves offered arbitration to both Rafael Soriano and Mike Gonzalez, figuring they would decline and the Braves would net draft picks when they signed elsewhere. Then, they signed both Billy Wagner from the Red Sox (giving up their first-round pick in compensation) and Takashi Saito for a total of $10.2 million. Gonzalez declined arbitration and opted for free agency, but Soriano accepted, which the Braves were absolutely not counting on. Because he accepted arbitration, they needed to find him a roster spot, and decided to designate Ryan Church for assignment, who is a solid fourth outfielder when healthy. Then, since they had signed Wagner and Saito, Soriano was superfluous, and was traded to Tampa for Jesse Chavez, who isn’t particularly good. Then, Vazquez was traded for Melky Cabrera and prospects, when Ryan Church is basically a less-healthy, older, left-handed version of the Melkman. So in all, they gave up Vazquez, Church, the 18th pick in the June draft, Soriano, and Gonzalez, and got a below-average outfielder, a prospect, and two old relievers.

Now, maybe the Braves needed to save money and the Vazquez contract was their most tradeable asset (they did save around $9 million in the Vazquez deal). Maybe they felt they couldn’t trust Soriano to be healthy the whole season and wanted to compete this year. Maybe they felt the same way about Church, or maybe they just really like the Melkman. But from here, it seems like the Braves could have let Gonzalez go, NOT signed two old relievers and given up their first round pick, and maybe kept Soriano (making $7.25 mil this year) and Vazquez, and been a better team. Maybe if they were worried about giving the somewhat injury-prone Soriano and Gonzalez big chunks of guaranteed money they shouldn’t have replaced them with a guy who needs platelets injected into his arm for it to not fall apart, and another who has had Tommy John surgery and shown a bad attitude in the past. Maybe if they paid $9 million this year to a very good pitcher he would help them make the playoffs where they would recoup that $9 million. But that’s just the view from up here.

For better or worse, the Braves can afford to make mistakes like their bullpen bungling because their scouting team is so dang good. Growing up in the ’90s playing fantasy baseball, it was always a bad thing when the Braves traded a prospect, and until the Mark Teixeira trade (which sent Neftali Feliz and Elvis Andrus to the Rangers), there are very few former Braves prospects who reached their potential. The most highly rated prospect who failed was probably Andy Marte, who was traded first for Edgar Renteria and then for Coco Crisp, two much more valuable players. This knack for identifying prospects shows through in the makeup of the team and the fact that they have, over the years, relied very sparingly on free agents. The latest example of this is Jason Heyward, who shot up the minors last year, cranking a .963 OPS at all three levels and is likely to take a spot in the outfield this year at the ripe age of 20, after being selected 14th overall out of high school.

The frustrating thing about the mistakes the team has made is that if they could have kept Vazquez and Soriano, they would likely be the co-favorites along with the Phillies in a somewhat weak division. But without Vazquez, their pitching staff is reliant on Tim Hudson’s healthy return and the continued success of Tommy Hanson, and though Wagner and Saito looked good last year, they are old and injury-prone, which makes their bullpen questionable. On the other side of the ball, they are again relying on too many unsure things, as their best hitters are either old (Chipper Jones, Troy Glaus) or young (Heyward), and some are just not that good (Melky Cabrera, Nate McClouth). It’s very possible that things could go right for the Braves and they win 95 games and the division, but it’s also just as likely that they will suffer a few injuries and underperformances and again finish in the middle of the pack.

Starter: Shaun White

Who Is He? Shaun Roger White is the snowboarder you have already heard of, and maybe the only one you’d heard of before the 2010 Winter Olympics (unless you’re into snowboarding and/or saw Louie Vito on Dancing with the Stars). He’s the guy with the mane of red hair that There’s No “I” in Blog editor extraordinaire Rachel described simply as “gorgeous.” As of last night, he’s also the guy who won another half-pipe gold medal in one of the rare live Olympic broadcasts NBC has provided.

Why Do We Like Him? Shaun White is one of those exceptional athletes who single-handedly elevated both the public awareness and skill level of his sport. Just as professional golfers had to change the way they golfed and conditioned when Tiger Woods whooped all their arses when he showed up on the PGA Tour, snowboarders know they have to work their board-riding backsides off just to compete with Shaun White, and if he does lose a competition, they better be ready because he’s going to commit himself to making sure that doesn’t happen again, as he proved last night.

After a recent loss, White went to his private half-pipe and perfected the Double McTwist 1260, which he performed in his second run last night even though he had already secured a gold medal. We like him for putting on that extra special show, especially after cameras caught him amped up and seemingly overwhelmed, saying, “I can’t ride like this” after finding out he locked up the gold. We also like that he wants his Double McTwist 1260, which can be described as flying in the air, spinning, flipping, rocking the house, kicking ass, and taking names, as the “Tomahawk,” the name of  a 30 oz. steak White demolished as easily as his competitors. Of course, we also love awesome nicknames. With nicknames like “Animal” and “The Flying Tomato” because of his redheadedness, how can we resist?

And if you’d never seen him before last night, just know that he’s been schooling people on snowboards and skateboards since he was 11.

*Photo courtesy of bfishadow via Creative Commons License

Explaining My Fandom

Starter: Boof Bonser

Who is he? The newest member of the Red Sox, Boof Bonser is best known for being the least important piece of one of the most lopsided trades of all time when he went from the Giants to the Twins along with Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano for what ended up being one year of A.J. “The A Stands for Asshole” Pierzynski. Boof (which is now his legal name) is actually a pretty bad pitcher, but he showed some promise in a move to the bullpen in 2008 before his season and probably career were derailed by a torn rotator cuff AND labrum.

Why do we like him? Because his name is Boof. He’s a longshot to have any sort of impact ever again, but we’ll be rooting for ya, Boof.

*Photo courtesy of Wknight94 via Creative Commons License