A Toolsy Mock Draft

Here is your real First-Year Player Draft Preview.

1. The Rangers will be looking for some "toolsy" players. Toolsy players are a must.
2. Plus don't forget about signability. Toolsy and signability are musts.
3. Pitchers must have "big arms." Then when they get to the big leagues, they must be able to change speeds, locate the ball and throw strikes. But to start out they must have "big arms."
4. A toolsy big arm is huge.
5. Homework is a must. You don't want to use your first round pick to take a pitcher without an collateral ligament (R.A. Dickey) or a shortstop who can't throw (Monty Fariss). Or a catcher (Scott Heard) who just doesn't want to play.
6. Shooter Hunt (right) is the right-hander from Tulane who is on the Rangers board as a potential pick. He got the name from the Dennis Hopper character "Shooter" in the movie Hoosiers. That's reason enough to draft him.
7. One year they did the first round in all of 30 minutes by conference call. One team took an extra 20-30 seconds and a Rangers official cracked that, "they're already clutching and it's just the first round."
8. Now we have television.
9. Signability is huge. Otherwise Barry Zito and Bruce Sutter go pitch for some other organization.
10. The Rangers do better in the third round then they do the second round. Third round: Hank Blalock, Barry Zito, Ryan Dempster, Scott Podsednik, Darren Oliver and Dean Palmer. Second round: Roger Pavlik, Edwin Diaz, Terrell Lowery, Barry Manuel, Jason Grabowski, Nick Regilio.
11. Plus Vince Sinisi, who got $2 million. He was supposed to be first-round material in 2003 but slipped to the second round supposedly because Scott Boras was his agent. The Rangers took him and gave him $2 million. Now he's somewhere in the Padres system.
12. Can't remember if he was toolsy.
13. Toolsy guys taken late: Rusty Greer (10th round), Pete O'Brien (15th round), Mike Stanley (16th round), Jeff Frye (30th round), Robb Nen (32nd round)
14. The lowest round that has never produced a single player for the Rangers since they moved to Texas is the 27th round.
15. If you don't have tools, upside is a must.
16. Agents aren't agents until the players sign. They are advisors. Some advisors start recruiting players when they are freshmen or sophomores, but they obviously haven't heard about these college basketball coaches who are offering scholarships to eighth graders.
17. Scott Boras ranks his clients not by talent but by "earnings potential."
18. The big battle is over "slot money." Some guy at Major League Baseball sits at a desk with a calculator and determines how much money should be doled out per spot in the draft. The higher the pick, the more money he should get. This is life-threatening to agents. If Major League Baseball determines the price, why should a player give five percent to an agent. Or advisor.
19. Remember when the Rangers drafted Benji Gil in 1991 out of Chula Vista High School. Called his home around eleven and told he was in the shower. Called the school and asked for the head baseball coach. Also, out of curiosity, asked the secretary if school was in session that day. Her reply, "Oh yes, we're all here today...." Except one guy still in the shower.
20. Three standard questions asked all draft picks: "What do you think of being drafted by the..." "How quickly do you think you'll sign?" "How long do you think it will take you to get to the Majors."
"Great." "Pretty quick" "Quick as I can."
21. Drew Meyer went to the University of South Carolina. His dad went to The Citadel. Guys from the Citadel - if you've ever read The Lords of Discipline - hate guys from Carolina. That should have been a tipoff.
22. The Rangers once took a guy from Astronaut High in Florida. Amos Lewis. Outfielder. Real toolsy. Two picks later the Orioles took Cal Ripken Jr. Really really toolsy.

23. I'm betting Shooter Hunt. Like his tools.