Manchester's Mormann likely MLB draft pick again

For Tyler Chatwood, it was a special day. For Jeremy Thorne, it was just another day.

Major League Baseball's First-Year Player Draft begins Tuesday night with the first three rounds. It's rounds 4 through 30 on Wednesday and rounds 31 through 50 on Thursday.

Cedar Rapids Kernels pitchers Chatwood and Thorne recalled their 2008 draft experiences as being different as you could get. Guess that's what happens when one guy is taken in the second round and the other in the 29th.

"I stayed home from school that day, didn't go at all," said Chatwood, who was the Angels' top pick, the 74th overall, from nearby East Valley High School in Redlands, Calif. "My whole family was over at my house. We were just watching the computer and the TV. A lot of excitement."

There wasn't nearly as much excitement for Thorne. A senior from Florida Southern College, he had been drafted by the Angels in the 42nd round in 2007 but didn't sign.

He didn't figure he'd go much higher this time around, if he went at all.

"I didn't have the best of years my senior year, so it was kind of iffy if I'd even get drafted," he said. "I kind of figured I would, but I wasn't 100 percent sure. That first day, where they do everything on television, I knew I wasn't going to be picked there, so I just went fishing."

Things are a lot different draft-wise than they used to be. The first three rounds are live on Major League Baseball's television network, with the rest of the draft available live via its Web site.

There was a lot more secrecy in the old days, with some picks not getting out publicly for days after the draft. Some draftees didn't even find out they had been picked until then, either.

"The (second) day, I just pretty much hung around the computer the whole day until the 29th round," Thorne said. "I got a call, it must have been around the 24th, from the scout that drafted me, Tom Kotchman. That gave me kind of a heads up."

For Chatwood, getting drafted when he did wasn't much of a surprise. He was highly rated and figured to go in the first few rounds.

That didn't make it any less special, however.

"A lot of screaming and yelling. There were hugs going all around," he said. "It was an exciting time, especially with it being the Angels ... It's always fun to get drafted by the team you watched growing up."

The contract signing process was a lot different for the two, as well. Chatwood had to wait for over a week, until he graduated from high school, before anything could be done. He eventually signed for a $547,000 bonus.

Thorne? Well, when you're a college senior, you don't have any contract leverage.

"You pretty much take whatever they give you," he said. 

There are few certainties when it comes to the draft, but you can pretty much count on former West Delaware prep Mitch Mormann getting a call from some team for a second-straight year.

The 6-foot-6 pitcher was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 17th round of the 2008 draft but didn't sign. He returned to Des Moines Area Community College for his sophomore season instead, a move that could pay off, literally.

Perfect Game USA President Jerry Ford said Monday that the word his Cedar Rapids-based baseball club and scouting service is getting is that Mormann - who throws his fastball in the mid-90s - could be taken in the top 10 rounds. The LSU signee set a school record with 12 saves in 2008 and went 10-3 with a 3.40 earned run average for DMACC this past season.

Mormann is playing in the prestigious amateur Cape Cod League this summer.

Though he stressed it's difficult to know for sure, Ford said other local draft possibilities are Northern Iowa pitchers Shuhei Fujiya and Nick Kirk and Iowa pitchers Mike Schurz and Steve Turnbull and infielder Kevin Hoef. Injured catcher Tyson Blaser and shortstop Justin Toole also could get drafted.

Ford said the best prep possibility is probably Cherokee pitcher Matt Koch, who has committed to Louisville. He also mentioned Cedar Rapids Washington's Chad Christensen (Nebraska), Sioux City North's Dean McArdle (Stanford), Fort Dodge's Ricky Sandquist (Iowa), Norwalk's Matt Dermody and Iowa City West's Josh DeBoer.

"When you talk about the draft versus the top players in the state, there's a difference," Ford noted, meaning players like Christensen - whom he really likes - may not get drafted because of their strong commitments to Division I colleges. "To be honest, it's a bad year for the draft in Iowa."

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