Red Sox Draft Pick

John Sickels pointed out a few sleepers from this year's draft, one of whom is Red Sox 24th-round pick Jason Twomley from UMass. Sickels has this to say about Twomley:

Another senior outfielder with a power bat, Twomley hit .314 with a .467 OBP and
.700 SLG this year for UMass, contributing 16 homers, 34 walks, 31 strikeouts,
and 13 steals in 140 at-bats. His walk rate was high, and he was one of the more
dangerous left-handed hitting outfielders in college ball. His stock suffered
due to his age (23 in September), senior status, questions about how much his
power will translate to wood, and concerns that he's not athletic enough. All
those are good things to be worried about, but he showed enough with the bat
this year to at least qualify as a sleeper on paper.

Gotta like that 1167 OPS. Twomley looks like a real "Moneyball" kind of player - doesn't wow the scouts, but does perform on the field. I also like that he's got some speed (13 steals in 15 chances - also more runs scored than base hits) and played CF for the Minutemen, so he's not simply a slow slugger. I'm not sure where he'll start out - as a 24th-round pick, maybe Lowell or Greenville - but if he's for real, I think he'll be in Portland quickly. As a 23 year-old, he's already older than many members of the Sea Dogs, so he'll have to catch up quickly to have a real shot at the majors.

Of course, a 24th-round pick isn't the guy that they'll be talking about. That honor will go to first round picks Jacoby Ellsbury, a Johnny Damon-type from Oregon State, and Craig Hansen, a hard-throwing reliever from St. John's who fell to Boston because he's a Scott Boras client. Soxprospects.com has the full draft list on their web site.