The rule five draft begins at 9 am this morning.? Last night, before the Red Sox made Carl Crawford a very, very rich man, there was a little bit of chatter about the draft.In particular, there were numerous reports that the Mets would lose hard-throwing right-handed pitcher Elvin Ramirez.? Buster Olney tweeted, "The guy widely expected to be the first pick in the Rule 5 draft:Mets right-hander Elvin Ramirez,who has been clocked 94-98 mph this winter."
At Baseball America, John Manuel, who did not write about Ramirez in his first look at 25 guys who could be selected in the Rule 5 draft, corrected that omission by writing, "Ramirez has pushed his fastball up to 98-99 mph according to several scouts who have seen him in the Dominican. ... He throws a changeup, curve and slider as well but has impressed most with his improved fastball velocity and control in the Dominican, where he was averaging 11.32 strikeouts per nine innings and just 1.74 walks per nine."
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