TigsTown Roundtable: Top Performing Draftee

Ready to talk Tigers? Want to hear the opinion of the TigsTown staff on some of the hot button topics of the offseason? Welcome to the TigsTown Roundtable! This week's question: Which draft pick do you expect to have the best 2008 season?

Paul Wezner, Executive Editor
Based strictly on performance, I expect Tyler Stohr to step up and have a great debut campaign in Oneonta. Already being experienced in a closer's role, Stohr can quickly adapt to his new surroundings, and as the New York-Penn League is often made up of recent college draftees, Stohr will be facing relatively similar competition, which he dominated. He already possesses a solid fastball, and an excellent slider will keep hitters off-balance, and with only working one inning, Stohr shouldn't have issues about too much workload for a single season.

Mark Anderson, Managing Editor
Often an interesting question, it really depends how you define it. For the purposes of this exercise, let's just go strictly on performance, and not on making strides or developmental progress. With that, you have to consider the more polished components of the draft, as well as those that might be participating at a level lower than you might expect. With that in mind, some guys that stand out to me as potential breakout guys include Brandon Douglas, Josh Workman, Rob Waite, and Thad Weber. Douglas and Workman have polished middle-infield bats that could feast on GCL pitching, while Waite was held back in the rookie league despite a nice fastball-breaking ball combo and college bullpen experience. Despite those items lending to the success of those three, Thad Weber seems to be the guy that could simply dominate in his debut. With a little rest after Nebraska's college season was complete, Weber is back to sitting in the low-90s with a very sharp breaking ball, and a very good approach. Look for him to have very little trouble with GCL hitters, and possibly be poised for a quick promotion to Oneonta.

Jason Avery, Associate Editor, Amateur Baseball
There are numerous candidates for this accolade, but I'm going to go with Tyler Stohr. Drafted in the sixth round out of North Florida, Stohr had a solid season as the Ospreys' closer this spring, going 3-2 with a 1.93 ERA and 10 saves, and he should get plenty of chances to rack up a fair amount of saves as Oneonta's closer. As of last weekend, he hadn't allowed a run in his first two outings to go with a save. Four of his six outs have come via strikeout, and Stohr hasn't given up a hit in his brief amount of work. Stohr tends to get lost in the shuffle with the other collegiate arms the Tigers, but he has flourished since moving to the bullpen in college, and I think he'll do a solid job as Oneonta's closer.

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