It's nearly time to replenish the system again! Let's look at what our candidates are for the first round.

Here's a Baseball America preview from a couple months ago. It seems that it's a 4 player draft (2 pitchers and 2 hitters) with a decent drop-off after that. We have the 4th pick so we're bound to be able to choose one of the 4.

The top 4 are:

1) Pedro Alvarez, slugging 3B from Vanderbilt. Boras client.

2) Tim Beckham, SS. Best high school prospect.

3) Aaron Crow, RHP from Missouri. Probably the best pitcher. May have mechanical problems, though.

4) Brian Matusz, LHP from San Diego. Some like him better than Crow. Seen as more durable.

This is an interesting Saber-Scouting blog post where two guys mock the upcoming draft. One guy likes Alvarez dropping to us. The other thinks the Pirates will nab him, leaving us with Matusz.

There's a good question about MacPhail and slots buried in this Q & A. It may alleviate some of our concerns about the Weiters pick coming before MacPhail was hired. I should note that there are kind words in both this article and the mock draft one for Jim Jordan.

So what do ya'll think? Do we go with whoever of the top 4 fall to us? What if both hitters are taken? There's been plenty of talk about our system having a dearth of position players and there are some good hitters that are in the next tier of draftees.

I'm hoping Alvarez, who most say is the best prospect, falls to us and MacPhail doesn't hesitate to nab him. I'd take any of the top 4 besides Crow, however. Mechanical problems can be solved, but why take such a risk with the top pick? If he's the only one left of the 4, let's take one of the slugging 1Bs that the Saber-Scouting guys like.