Phillies 2014 6th -7th Round Pick Profiles

Round 6 - Brandon Leibrandt, LHP - Leibrandt is the definition of a fringy left hander.  A Junior from Florida State, MLB.com's writeup of him reports that he's been a bit snakebit in terms of injury: a broken ankle and a shin bruise have hurt his collegiate career a little bit.  Add onto that that his fastball velocity is upper 80s, and that, as a college guy, he's not particularly projectable, and you get to why he might be a sixth round pick.  Still, while Leibrandt might look like standard casting's call for Generic Middle Reliever, he does have a plus changeup and an okay curve, as well as good bloodlines: his father was Charlie Leibrandt. I'm not sure what that's worth necessarily, but given how well Al Leiter, Jr has been doing, we might give him the benefit of the doubt.  And hey, MLB says he might be a back of the rotation starter, which would be nice sixth round value, though it'll take some time to arrive if at all.

In the spirit of optimism, here's a clip of him owning Boston College.

Round 7 - Emmanuel Marrero, SS - Now stop me if you've heard this one before: Marrero is a college junior with a fairly modest ceiling but a high floor due to his defense.  Coming out of Alabama State University, Marrero is, if MLB.com is to be believed, better known for his defense than his offense, as his switch hitting even needs work from his good side (sadly, the short-side platoon on the right).  That said, he defends extremely well, enough to earn college accolades simply for that part of his game.  While we know that these kinds of pieces (Freddy Galvis) don't always make a team immediately dangerous, they can be a useful part on a contender (Andrelton Simmons (but so not a comp, so don't jump all over me)).

Sadly there's no video of Marrero, so here's a Manowar song about him.

So how to feel out the sixth and seventh rounds for the Phillies?

Optimist perspective: Oh wow, a left hander (they're always useful!) and a slick fielding middle infielder who can maybe put on some muscle.  Couple of steals!

Realist perspective: Hey, it's a pretty late round at this point: if you're not drafting upside, you're drafting depth, and that's what we're seeing here.

Pessimist perspective: Great, it's no-velocity Phillipe Aumont and a noodle bat shortstop, as if we didn't have enough of those.

WIP Perspective: These idiots get two stiffs with Marshall and Pankake on the board?!  Fire Ruben!