Astros Amateur Draft...World Cup Preview

The Astros selected Delino Deshields Jr.  (son of the former MLB second baseman) with the 8th pick in the MLB draft.  Deshields played 2B in high school as well as RB on his Norcross High School football team.  He is committed to play both sports at LSU, and I would imagine that Drayton McClane is going to have to empty the wallet to keep this guy from going to school.  Deshields Jr. has world class speed but a questionable bat.  Most projections had him about 10 picks later if in the 1st round at all.  ESPN had the Astros taking him at #19.  Baseball America saw him as a 2nd round talent.  Here's a brief video of Deshields Jr. in action.

With the 19th pick in the 1st round, the Astros took RHP Mike Foltynewicz a prep pitcher from Minooka, Illinois.  He has a 94MPH fastball and a good changeup.  He was scheduled to play baseball at The University of Texas.  Baseball America had him ranked as the 24th ranked RHP in the draft.  Here's a video of Foltynewicz below.

With the 33rd pick in the draft (the top pick in the compensation round) the Astros drafted Mike Kvasnicka.  Baseball America projected him as a catcher.  He played RF and C this year for the Gophers, but the Astros see him as a 3B.  Color me confused.

The World Cup begins Friday with Mexico taking on the host country South Africa.

Here are my top three picks to win it all as well as some sleepers.

#1 Netherlands - "A clockwork orange" as they are often called probably have the most skilled mid field in the tournament.  Wesley Sneijider and Rafael Van der Vaart are as good as it gets.  The strikers are very deep with Dirk Kuyt and Rob Van Persie headlining.  The only question mark is between the pipes where Edwin Vandersar has retired from international competition.

#2 England - The Three Lions have a dynamic star in Wayne Rooney and a fantastic central midfield featuring Frank Lampard and Steven Gerard.  David James is an underrated keeper.  The loss of Rio Ferdanand in central defense could be huge.

#3 Spain - The trendy pick to win it all, Spain has an All star cast in the midfield with Xavi, Cesc Fabregas, and rock solid central defenders, Puyol and Pique.  The pre-tourney injury of Fernando Torres may or may not be a big deal as the continent's leading scorer David Villa is in perfect health.

Sleepers

Serbia - Man U's Vidic and Borussia Dortmund's Subotic anchor the best backline in the World Cup.  Their group could be diffcult to finish in the top 2 but with Michael Essien  out  for Ghana they should advance to the knock out stages.

South Korea - I think Argentina is ripe for the picking with the crazy Diego Maradona at the helm of an offense that features the world's best player, Lionel Messi.    The Koreans have an incredibly high work rate that is finally matched by some World Class talent.  Midfielder Park-Ji Sung is coming off his best year ever with Manchester United.

Mexico -  One of the oldest field players in the tournament Cuauhtemoc Blanco is aided in scoring by one of the youngest in 21 year old Giovani Dos Santos.  As always with Mexico, the keeper is suspect and inconsistent.  With France looking shaky, El Tri could win group A.

Tomorrow I'll take an in-depth look at Team USA and Group C competition.



This Phillies fan is awfully thirsty....oh and awfully 3!