The Next 15

The D-backs continued with the pitching trend in rounds 6-20, at least in the beginning with a pair of high school arms and one college arms in the 6-8 picks.

A couple of notes about the D-backs’ earlier picks, from Baseball America:

James Bradley – Second Round

A lanky, projectable righthander at 6-foot-4, 180 pounds, his fastball ranges from 88-92 mph, but sits at 89-90 and he can touch 93-94 a couple of times in a game… He has outstanding control for a high school arm. He reportedly has walked just two batters in the last two seasons.

Robby Rowland – Third Round

At 6-foot-6, 210 pounds, Rowland looks the part of a young Josh Johnson. He is one of the top basketball players in California and could have accepted scholarships to small Division I programs as a shooting guard. Rowland’s father Rich is a former big league catcher (Tigers and Red Sox from 1990-1995), and his older brother is a college catcher.

Cody Wheeler – Fifth Round

Wheeler’s best trait, aside from being a southpaw, is his athletic ability. It allows him to add and subtract from his fastball, repeat his delivery, field his position and hold runners well.

Keith Law of ESPN.com called fourth-round pick Kevin Munson, “the top pure closer in the draft.”

We’ll be back in a bit to wrap up the day’s picks.