Colin Moran, 3B

[Namaste]

No way the Marlins fuck this up

[Miamarlin21]

Tidbit:

Manny Navarro @Manny_Navarro 6s
#Marlins 1st round pick Colin Moran said he grew up a fan of the #Yankees. One of his favorite players: #Marlins hitting coach Tino Martinez

[Chewford]

As a lifelong Yankee fan, he'll fit right in with the South Florida community.

[Fritz]

Get a brain, Moran.

[Big Z]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccdOsGqybbg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccdOsGqybbg[/ame]

[emkayseven]

from insider:

There was a lot of top three talk with Moran, but at the end of the day he went right about where his talent suggested he would be. His advanced approach at the plate could see him progress through the Marlins' organization very quickly, and even if he does have to move across the diamond to first base, he could help the abhorrent Marlins' lineup as soon as 2014. -- Crawford

--------------------
on twitter at @CMoran18

[Miamarlin21]

The Miami Marlins have been missing a big bat at third base since Miguel Cabrera moved to Detroit in 2008.

And while it’s tough to tell how Colin Moran will perform the next few years in the minors, the North Carolina star could one day be the Marlins’ long-term answer at the hot corner.

The Marlins selected Moran with the sixth overall pick in the MLB Draft on Thursday night, landing the Atlantic Coast Conference’s player of the year.

“He’s one of the premier college bats in the country,” Marlins director of scouting Stan Meek said. “We really thought he would go in front of us. Fits a need but also fits from ability standpoint.”

A junior from Rye, N.Y., the left-handed-hitting Moran has a .357 batting average and .478 on-base percentage with 13 home runs, 84 RBI and 69 runs for North Carolina (52-8) this season. Marlins fans can see Moran play this weekend on TV, as the Tar Heels host South Carolina in a best-of-three Super Regional.

Moran was watching the draft on television Thursday with his teammates, parents and friends.

“It is something that I’ve always dreamed of,” said Moran, who was not drafted out of high school. “Right before the pick I kind of had an idea that I was going to get picked. I hadn’t talked to the Marlins too much. I couldn’t be more excited to be picked by them.”

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Moran has been a decorated collegiate player, hitting .365 as a sophomore, and he was also named Baseball America's freshman of the year in 2011 after hitting .335 with an ACC-leading 71 RBI.

Meek sees Moran as a player that has gap power and will hit a lot of doubles in spacious Marlins Park.

“He’s always been a hitter before he’s shown power,” Moran said. “Rather than a power hitter, he’s a hitter with power. I always liked that in a kid.”

Moran impressed scouts the past two summers in the Cape Cod League. In 2011, he was an All-Star in the wood-bat league. And in 2012, he led all Cape Cod League players with 42 RBI.

It was important for him to show how he would hit top-notch college pitchers while in the box with a wood bat, and that left Meek impressed.

“He doesn’t chase much,” said Meek, who watched about 60 of Moran’s at-bats on the Cape in 2012. “He’s not a free-swinger. He is very knowledgeable with the strike zone.”

Moran grew up in New York and followed the Yankees for years, despite the fact that his uncle, B.J. Surhoff, played for Milwaukee, Baltimore and Atlanta from 1987-2005. In Miami, Moran could one day learn from longtime Yankee and Marlins hitting coach Tino Martinez.

“I couldn’t be more excited to meet him, talk to him, pick his brain about hitting,” Moran said. “He was one of my favorite, if not my favorite, player growing up.”

Moran is a junior, so he has the option to sign with the Marlins or return to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the 2014 season. But Meek is optimistic.

“I think we’ll get this done,” Meek said.

Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on linkedinShare on emailShare on print

http://www.foxsportsflorida.com/mlb/...19&feedID=3610
--------------------
More from Meek:

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Marlins Vide President of Scouting Stan Meek feels like he has a pretty good handle Marlins' first round pick Colin Moran. He watched him take about 60 at-bats in the wood-bat Cape Cod League over the last two years.

The name that comes to mind when he watches the 6-4, 205-pound third baseman? Wade Boggs.

"He's a solid defender, moves a little like Boggs," Meek said. "I wouldn't like to put that tag on anybody. But he's like a Boggs type hitter. I think he's got the skill set to kind of look like that. Now, you would never suspect he would get those type of numbers. But he hits for average over power. I like a guy who can hit first. This guy stays on the ball in all parts on the zone. That for us is where you start. I think he'll have adequate power to hit at third base."

The left-handed hitting Moran has certainly hit for average and driven in plenty of runs in his three years at North Carolina to draw the comparison.

In 2011 he was Baseball America's Freshman of the Year for the Tar Heels, hitting .335 with nine homers and 71 RBI. In 2012, he hit .365 with 6 HRs, 35 RBI and then led the Cape Cod League in 2012 with 42 RBI.

This season, he leads the nation with 86 RBI. He's also hitting .348 with 13 homers for the top-ranked Tar Heels. He's proven to be a patient, controlled hitter, too. He's drawn 60 walks compared to 22 strikeouts.

The Marlins believe that will work well in the ballpark, where its hard to hit home runs, but there is plenty of space in the gaps for doubles and triples.

"Anytime you put wood in his hand he can keep up with the velocity," Meek said. "I saw him against several good arms. I really had not seen him get beat on fastballs at all. He really understands the strike zone. He's so confident in his at-bat he'll take pitches that are close. I think because of that that will help him when he gets to this level."

Meek said it's likely Moran will begin at Single A Greensboro once he signs. The Marlins have until July 12th to get it done. Meek doesn't believe it will be a problem.

"I hadn't talked to the Marlins too much, but I've always loved Florida and Miami and I couldn't be more excited to be picked by them," Moran said. "I couldn't explain how excited I am. Not getting drafted out of high school I was a little bit disappointed. But I knew going to a school like North Carolina I would have a chance to work hard and make it."

Posted by Manny Navarro at 10:11 PM | Permalink

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/fish_...#storylink=cpy

[emkayseven]

Not long before the Major League Baseball draft began Thursday night, speculation emerged that the Houston Astros might consider drafting North Carolina’s Colin Moran with the No.1 overall pick.

It didn’t happen that way, but Moran didn’t have to wait long to hear his name called.

The Miami Marlins selected Moran, the Tar Heels’ junior third baseman, with the sixth overall pick.

Moran becomes the most recent UNC player to become a first-round selection. Since 2009, the Tar Heels have had five players selected in the first round. In addition to Moran, the others are Dustin Ackley, Alex White, Matt Harvey and Levi Michael.

Moran, who was recently named the ACC Player of the Year, led the Tar Heels’ offense throughout the season. The No. 3 hitter in the lineup, his 86 RBIs are a single-season school record. He’s also 23rd nationally with a .478 on-base percentage.

Moran went undrafted out of high school and was the last player in his freshman class to receive a scholarship offer from UNC.

He started at third base during his first season and quickly established himself as one of the best hitters in the ACC. National attention followed.

Baseball America named him the national freshman of the year in 2011, and the magazine ranked him seventh among draft-eligible prospects this year. John Manuel, editor of Baseball America and the magazine’s draft analyst, said scouts liked Moran for his ability to hit to all portions of the field.

“His natural inclination is to use the whole field,” Manuel said. “So his natural swing is to center field, left-center, even to left. It’s not so much inside-out, but you’re pitched away so much in college with the metal bats that that’s the makeup of a great hitter, that he can take the pitch away and drive it to the opposite field.

“He does project to hit for some power – that’s one of the big questions, is just how much power.”

Moran is the second member of his family to be selected in the first round of the draft, and the third member to be drafted at all.

His brother Brian, who also played at UNC, was a seventh-round selection in 2009. Moran’s uncle, B.J. Surhoff, was the No.1 overall selection in the 1985 draft. Like Moran, Surhoff was also an All-American at UNC.

The first Major League game Moran ever attended was at Yankee Stadium, where his uncle was playing for the Baltimore Orioles. Moran said this week he often dreamed of finding himself in this position – a first-round pick.

“I’m kind of excited to get it over with and find out the future and stuff like that,” he said.

As much as Moran had been anticipating the draft, his focus has been on the continuation of his season. The Tar Heels will host South Carolina this weekend in an NCAA tournament Super Regional.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/...#storylink=cpy

[Namaste]

Marlins fans can see Moran play this weekend on TV, as the Tar Heels host South Carolina in a best-of-three Super Regional.

I would like to watch this weekend.

[emkayseven]

Fantastic article here: http://m.espn.go.com/extra/ncaa/stor...99&src=desktop

What Moran does have is a little bit of a lot. He has size (6-foot-3 and 215 pounds). He has improving lateral agility, enough that you can project at least an average defender. He has arm strength and accuracy. He has supple hands and a beautiful left-handed swing. He has uncanny plate discipline. And he's brilliant for 20 years old, working through at-bats like a Google engineer works through clusters of code.

"His strongest attribute I do think is his patience -- his ability to make the pitcher really work," UNC coach Mike Fox says.

And also

He could have been more pull-conscious this season. He probably could have hit 20 homers if he wanted. Should he have given evaluators what they wanted to see? Maybe the answer is yes. But the cost of that transaction is a piece of what he sees in himself.

"I was always taught that power comes from getting stronger and comes naturally," Moran says. "It's not something you force. I've just never been interested in being someone who hits .250 with 30 homers."

[Nick]

ooooh supple hands.

[Big Z]

From video I've seen, he hits the ball the other way a lot.

I'm actually very pleased to have him and I hope he stays at 3B.

He's so skinny that he seems Richie Sexson tall, but he's only 6'3.

[emkayseven]

Lol "only" 6'3

I could stand on Ramp's shoulders and still only be 6'3

[Big Z]

Lol "only" 6'3

I could stand on Ramp's shoulders and still only be 6'3

Lol.. 6'3 is perfect. I thought he was way taller.

[nny]

So I know college stats don't mean all that much and there's difference in conference talent and such but wow his power really lagged behind Bryant's and Petersen's.

Bryant: .329/.493/.820/1.313 66/44 BB/K
Petersen: .408/.520/.807/1.327 46/35 BB/K
Moran: .348/.478/.557/1.035 60/22 BB/k

We're talking nearly 300 points of difference in SLG.

I still like the pick (cuz yah college 3b bat) and not trying to discredit it (yah more power as he gets older yah) just crazy those number differences.