Brewers' Fourth Round Pick - Josh Baker, College RHP

[950opsLHcatcher]

The brother in-law of Astros OF Lance Berkman, Josh Baker was one of the other Rice pitchers this year, and he's the Brewers' fourth round pick.

[batman]

Josh Baker. I'm stoked.

 

~Bill

[Vgmastr]

MLB.com scouting report on Baker:

 

LONG FRAME. GOOD BODY. TALL. NARROW, SLOPED SHOULDERS. LONG, SLENDER BUILD. LONG ARMS & LEGS. NO WINDUP, HIGH 3/4 TO OVERHEAD DELIVERY W/ EFFORT. ARM WORKS. FB'S 89-92, THROWS DOWNHILL. OCCASIONAL 2-SEAM FB W/ RUN IN ON RHH. 11 TO 5 CB, TIGHT ROTATION W/ K ZONE DEPTH. FEEL FOR SINKING CHANGEUP.

[bjkrautk]

I was hoping they'd take a chance on Baker in the fourth or fifth round...glad they did. (I'll have his BA scouting report up whenever the links on the site feel like working again. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/ohwell.gif )

 

4 pitchers....will they make it 5?

 

edit:

Quote:

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Jeff Niemann, Phil Humber and Wade Townsend command most of the attention, but Rice has a fourth pitcher who will go in the early rounds of the 2004 draft. A 2001 fourth-round choice by the Rangers, Baker was drafted well ahead of all of them coming out of high school. He hasn't improved as much as they have, but he's still plenty attractive as a 6-foot-5, 210-pounder with an 88-92 mph fastball, hard slider and good splitter. His control wavers but Baker is tough to beat when he gets ahead in the count. He spent his freshman year at Alabama and has gone 17-2 since transferring back home. Undrafted because of signability concerns as a sophomore-eligible in 2003, Baker should go in about the same area he did three years ago. And he does have one edge over the Owls' aces: bloodlines. His father Johnny was an NFL linebacker, his uncle Frank was a big league infielder and his brother Jacob was an outfielder at Rice and in the Royals system. Baker also is the brother-in-law of Astros star Lance Berkman, another former Owl.

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[Terok Balefire]

Where's the best place to track the draft?

[Ralph Wiggum]

right here good sir

[batman]

Where's the best place to track the draft?

 

MLB.com radio... or here, if you only care about the Brewers.

 

~Bill

[bjkrautk]

mlb.com has live coverage of the draft conference call, which you can reach from This Page.

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Starters, starters and more starters.

 

We're gonna fix the injury bug by throwing arms at it!

[bjkrautk]

Here's the MLB profile for Baker:

 

Quote:

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COMMENT: LONG FRAME. GOOD BODY. TALL. NARROW, SLOPED SHOULDERS. LONG, SLENDER BUILD. LONG ARMS & LEGS. NO WINDUP, HIGH 3/4 TO OVERHEAD DELIVERY W/ EFFORT. ARM WORKS. FB'S 89-92, THROWS DOWNHILL. OCCASIONAL 2-SEAM FB W/ RUN IN ON RHH. 11 TO 5 CB, TIGHT ROTATION W/ K ZONE DEPTH. FEEL FOR SINKING CHANGEUP.

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Anyone else glad that his arm works? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Big Reed]

Josh Baker was previously drafted in the 4th round by the Texas Rangers coming out of high school in 2001. Was Melvin the Rangers GM in 2001? I think so! Melvin has a very good memory of his previous picks. While not as famous as the other 3 Rice pitchers, Josh Baker was rated by Baseball America in their 2004 Annual prospects book as the #38th best college player. I think he was a steal.

[hardytheman]

Im jacked about this pick.

 

While he may not be a dominant player at the major league level, i do think he can have a successful career.

[The Big Cheese]

Does anyone have any action pictures of Josh Baker from him pitching in a game? I'd really like to see how he looks and I can't access the MLB scouting video.

 

So if anyone has any pictures of Josh please post them!

 

Great pick in Round 4!

[batman]

From a notes column by JR Radcliffe at MLB.com:

Quote:

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The one that got away?

 

The Astros may have been looking for another Lance Berkman when they drafted 15 players with Texas connections in the 2004 June draft on Monday, but it was the outfielder's Friday opponent that picked up his brother-in-law Josh Baker, a right-handed pitcher from Berkman's old stomping grounds at Rice.

 

Baker, the Brewers' fourth-round selection (No. 106 overall), played with one of college baseball's greatest rotations of all time and didn't get the attention of 2004 top ten picks Phillip Humber, Jeff Niemann and Wade Townsend, but Berkman said he would have enjoyed seeing Baker in the hometown organization.

 

"I'm disappointed they didn't draft him; I thought they might draft him in the third round," Berkman said. "I know this: nobody's going to outwork him, he's got the best work ethic of anybody I've been around. I just think he's only going to get better."

 

Berkman, who is married to Baker's sister Cara, had the chance to give his brother-in-law a taste of the big show when he shadowed Lance at the 2002 All-Star Game at Miller Park.

 

"It was neat to be able to have him there with me, I wanted him to get to see what it was all about," he said. "He's kind of like my younger brother. I've got three brother-in-laws and I'm as close to them as I would be a regular brother."

 

Baker went 9-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 100 innings with Rice, a team that failed to defend its 2003 national championship after losing to Texas A&M in their regional final on June 6.

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~Bill

[AJAY]

It will be interesting to see Josh Baker pitch to Lance Berkman someday. I wonder who Lance's wife will be rooting for?

[Never Outhustled]

If Berkman is dissapointed his brother-in-law wasn't drafted by his organization, I think the solution is simple. Berkman is a FA this offseason, you figure it outhttp://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[jwaltz]

Yeah, maybe Josh can sweet talk Lance into signing for Klements or Uzingers sausages (his choice.) If we need to sweeten the deal we can offer some Miller beer and a giant mug to drink it out of(might as well not waste that giant mug.) If that doesn't work we can blackmail him. "We have your brother-in-law. If you don't sign with us we will abuse him like Dusty Baker abuses his pitchers." As long as he doesn't call our bluff we should be fine. If he does oh, well.

 

If wishes were horses...

 

On second thought maybe we just have to get him drunk. Very drunk.

[DHonks]

Wow...just watched Baker's video. Based on mechanics I will say that I think he will have the most productive big league career of the Rice Quartet. The only thing I see tha tlooks goofy is his leg kick from the stretch, but that should be easy to fix

 

almost looks a little like Sheets...kind of scary