Daily Notes: Early Returns on More First-Round Picks

Table of Contents
Here’s the table of contents for today’s edition of Daily Notes.

1. Early Returns on More First-Round Picks
2. Notable MLB Games (Including MLB.TV Free Game)
3. Today’s Complete Schedule

Early Returns on More First-Round Picks
What Happened Yesterday
In yesterday’s edition of the Notes, we looked at first-round picks from the recent draft who had not only (a) already signed with the organizations by which they were selected, but also (b) been assigned to, and started playing for, minor-league teams within those organizations.

Regarding the Public, Their Reaction to That Post Yesterday
The public reacted to yesterday’s post with praise, mostly. Effusive praise, one might say. Overwhelming praise, another one might say.

What’s Happening Today
What’s happening today is that same thing as yesterday — except, whereas yesterday we looked at picks from the top half of the first round, today we look at picks from the bottom half.

What the Public’s Reaction Is Likely to Be
More praise, one imagines. Fawning praise, perhaps. Unending praise, also perhaps.

Some Resources
In compiling both yesterday and today’s lists, the following sites have been helpful: Baseball America, Minor League Central, and Baseball Reference — and, of course, the present one.

More Notes on Signed Players
Below are more notes on signed players — in this case, from the bottom half of the first-round of the 2012 draft.

Player: D.J. Davis, TOR, 17th Overall
Team, League: GCL Blue Jays (Dunedin, FL), Gulf Coast League (Rookie)
Line: 26 PA, .250/.308/.250 (.462 BABIP), 3.8% BB, 42.3% K, 1-2 SB

Player: Deven Marrero, BOS, 24th Overall
Team, League: Lowell (MA) Spinners, New York-Penn League (Short-Season A)
Line: 5 PA, .500/.600/.500 (.667 BABIP), 20.0% BB, 20.0% K, 0-0 SB

Player: Stryker Trahan, ARI, 26th Overall
Team, League: AZL (Scottsdale, AZ) Diamondbacks, Arizona League (Rookie)
Line: 20 PA, .538/.650/1.077 (.556 BABIP), 30.0% BB, 15.0% K, 1-1 SB

Player: Clint Coulter, MIL, 27th Overall
Team, League: AZL Brewers (Phoenix, AZ), Arizona League (Rookie)
Line: 10 PA, .000/.000/.000 (.000 BABIP), 0.0% BB, 30.0% K, 0-0 SB

Player: Lewis Brinson, TEX, 29th Overall
Team, League: AZL Rangers (Surprise, AZ), Arizona League (Rookie)
Line: 20 PA, .294/.400/.529 (.500 BABIP), 15.0% BB, 35.0%, 0-0 SB

Notable MLB Games
Note: as of last night, the identity of today’s MLB.TV Free Game had not been revealed. Click here for would-be updates.

Arizona at Atlanta | 19:10 ET
Arizona right-hander Daniel Hudson (43.2 IP, 103 xFIP-, 0.3 WAR) faces Atlanta right-hander Tim Hudson (65.0 IP, 94 xFIP-, 1.4 WAR), creating the perfect excuse you’ve been waiting for to read British explorer Henry Hudson’s Wikipedia entry. Spoiler: he did not find a Northwest Passage. He did, however, die via mutiny.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Atlanta Radio.

Toronto at Boston | 19:10 ET
Think in your head about what percent of opposing batters Daisuke Matsuzaka, who starts tonight for the Red Sox, has probably walked so far this season. Did you think of a number yet? No? You walked to your refrigerator instead to grab a Shasta? That’s weird.

Readers’ Preferred Broadcast: Toronto Radio.

Today’s Complete Schedule
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 4.9.

Note: the following Game Scores include the poorly conceived playoff-odds adjustment discussed in a recent edition of Daily Notes. Also note: the following table is entirely sortable.

Away		SP	Tm.	Gm.	Tm.	SP		Home	Time
C.J. Wilson	LAA	4	4	5	3	3	BAL	Brian Matusz	19:05
Justin Masterson	CLE	4	4	5	6	6	NYA	Phil Hughes	19:05
Erik Bedard	PIT	4	2	5	5	6	PHI	Vance Worley	19:05
Daniel Hudson	AZ	7	6	8	7	5	ATL	Tim Hudson	19:10
Marco Estrada	MIL	6	6	5	4	4	CIN	Bronson Arroyo	19:10
Kyle Lohse	STL	4	10	3	2	2	MIA	Carlos Zambrano	19:10
Aaron Laffey*	TOR	4	6	7	6	6	BOS	D. Matsuzaka*	19:10
Drew Smyly	DET	6	4	6	10	6	TEX	Yu Darvish	20:05
Dillon Gee	NYN	8	1	5	3	4	CHN	Randy Wells*	20:05
Kip Wells*	SD	3	5	2	5	3	HOU	Jordan Lyles	20:05
Gavin Floyd	CHA	5	5	3	3	4	MIN	Liam Hendriks	20:10
Chris Archer*	TB	10	4	6	5	3	KC	Bruce Chen	20:10
Gio Gonzalez	WAS	9	4	6	10	6	COL	Chris. Friedrich	20:40
Travis Blackley	OAK	4	4	2	5	2	SEA	Jason Vargas	22:10
Clayton Kershaw	LAN	9	3	5	4	2	SF	Ryan Vogelsong	22:15

To learn more about Pitcher and Team NERD scores click here.
To learn how Game NERD Scores are calculated, click here.
* = Fewer than 20 IP, NERD at discretion of very handsome author.