TCB Kicks off MLB Amateur Draft Coverage

Outside of a few late-inning heroics by Lance Berkman, it's been pretty tough being an Astros fan for the past week. Heck, it's been pretty tough all season. Luckily, we have the MLB Rule IV draft approaching quickly and, like most people around the interwebs, TCB will be blowing off the doors with our draft coverage. What's the plan? Starting today, we'll be posting draft profiles on some of the players the Astros might be targeting. Right now, we have three players a day scheduled, but we might expand that if someone gets mentioned as a late possibility.

On Monday, Day One of the draft, we'll have a story predicting the Astros draft picks where you can add your own predictions. The reader who nails the most picks on the first day will get a super-sweet 1992 Topps Craig Biggio card. We'll also have an open thread for draft talk if any of you are planning on watching live. I'll be updating it with picks as they come in, my reactions, mocking of the team representatives, etc. We'll also try to do bigger picture profiles on the actual Astros draft picks, using the ones that will post now as a base and then talking about where the players fit into the system, where they might start, signability and the like. Day Two will see another open thread, started early in the day to talk about the picks. I'll follow up after the round is over with quick thoughts on all the players (if I can find video on them).

Let us know if there's any type of draft coverage you want to add, or if there are players you want to see profiled. I tried to group the profiles into threes that had a common theme. Here's the list of the reason why I grouped them together (sorry, the actual players will be kept secret until they publish...have to hold your attention somehow).

Wednesday: Players who haven't been linked to Houston, but are intriguing possibilities later in the first and second rounds.

Thursday: Players who have been linked to Houston, but only once.

Friday: Two local guys, two players the Astros failed to sign previously.

Saturday: Three guys who might be disappointing first round picks.

Sunday: The three most likely first rounders.