Draft Day 2008: A few thoughts from elsewhere (UPDATED)

Seattle made six picks on the first day of the draft.

Prospect Insider has a few posts. Neither Jason nor Jonathan hold back. To excerpt either would be a disservice.

Here is Larry Stone's article in the Seattle Times about Joshua Fields, Seattle's #1 pick.

"Fields should be one of the first players from this draft to reach the majors, and could get there as quick as Brandon Morrow did," said Jim Callis, executive editor of Baseball America. "His fastball-curveball combination can be pretty unhittable. If he throws enough strikes in spring training, the Mariners will be very tempted to keep him next year."

Looking at a fastball that registers in the mid- to high-90 mph range, and what Mariners scouts refer to as a "power curve" in Fields' repertoire, the club definitely is eyeing him as a late-inning reliever.

"You'd like to say he's close," said Bob Fontaine, the Mariners' vice president of scouting. "I wouldn't want to say a month, a year, two years. But you've got to think, with that kind of stuff as a reliever, you're closer than if you're a starter. A lot of it depends on when he gets started."

Signing Fields could be a challenge, considering that Scott Boras is his adviser, and considering that the Braves couldn't sign him last year after they picked him in the second round (69th overall).

Added: USS MARINER recaps day one. So, does Mariner Minors.