Leiter is the more polished pitcher - perhaps befitting his lineage as the son of two-time All-Star left-hander Al Leiter - while the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Rocker possesses better pure stuff. In a Super Regional sweep of East Carolina last weekend, Rocker struck out 11 in 7.2 innings of a 2-0 victory, while Leiter followed with seven innings of one-run ball and 10 strikeouts in a 4-1 win the next day. The former is 10-3 with a 2.16 ERA, while the latter is 13-3 with a 2.46 ERA. That gives the Red Sox some extra time to make a decision, and they'll use it scouting the College World Series, where Rocker and Leiter are leading the Commodores in pursuit of their third national title. Normally the draft is held in June, but MLB moved it to All-Star weekend this year on July 11. We have more work to do, but we feel like we're in a pretty good position.' Tomase: Richards lets his thoughts be known after shaky start So our group has been out in force in a lot of places throughout the country. Looks that have happened, when seasons end, you can't get those looks back. 'It's not just that fourth pick, but the whole draft, we want to make sure we've got all the work done.

'Our scouts have been out for a while,' chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said recently. It is the question that will no doubt consume the club's amateur scouting department over the next month as the Red Sox prepare to make their highest selection in more than five decades. the traditionally safer pick of a position player, possibly Louisville catcher Henry Davis if he happens to slide. Rival scouts and evaluators seem torn between the Red Sox grabbing the best Vandy pitcher available vs. And here's the $6 million question - will they bite?ĭepends on whom you ask. Next month, either one of them could suddenly be there at No. Only weeks ago, it looked like Vanderbilt teammate Jack Leiter had surpassed him.

At this time last year, Kumar Rocker was the consensus No.

Jack leiter