2014 MLB Post-Draft Discussion Thread

Rolen is listed at an athletic 6’2” 200 lbs. and throws from an effortless, conventional high ¾ delivery. His fastball had a fair amount of run, sitting 84-87 and touched 90 in the first inning. The pitch to watch is his curveball, it has good depth with hard bite and he located it terrifically. It’s a pitch he maintains his arm speed and slot on, and it stays from 73-76. He also showed what looked to be a slider at around 81 that isn’t a plus pitch but effectively kept hitters off balance.

One of the major draws with Case is his pitchability. He was fearless in throwing his secondary pitches, mainly the curveball, spotting them on both sides of the plate in a multitude of counts. He also knew when to stick with his fastball, a pitch he mixed in on the outside part of the plate and high and tight when he needed too. Some of that may have to do with the catching of Ray Henderson-Lozano, I’ll get to him later. At one point in the final inning he seemed to lose the zone completely, walking three, and his velocity had dipped to 82-83. With the bases loaded and two outs he gutted it out throwing the final three pitches for strikes all at 87. Impressive competitiveness. Rolen showed his athleticism and baseball IQ at one point by snagging a comebacker and catching the runner on second straying off the bag. He also worked well with runners on in steal situations, clocking in at 1.16 seconds to home.

The Dallas Baptist commit may not blow people away with his velocity and maybe he didn’t face the best lineup today, but he definitely put himself on the map as a pitcher to be watched when the draft rolls around in June.

18u ABD Texas Case Rolen was 88-92 and touched 94 in 2nd inning. Was still touching 90 in 7th inning and a devastating hammer sitting 77-80 all game!

Rolen is projected to go anywhere between the eighth and 10th round, according to scouts. “The key with him is that age-wise, he should have one more year of high school left,” one scout who wished to remain anonymous said. “He’s a young senior and I know that really will help him.” Rolen’s fastball tops out at 89 mph, but his hard-biting curve with good location is his “out” pitch. On the year, Rolen finished 8-1 for the Bearcats with a 1.70 earned-run average in 61 2/3 innings and recorded 81 strikeouts against only 37 base hits.

We're officially in the overage. My calculations is that there is approximately $188k remaining (in addition to the $100k per post-10th round pick) to sign Rolen/Alvarado/Rice, etc. My guess is that it won't be sufficient to get any of them signed.