North Carolina left-hander Andrew Miller was expected to become the newest Kansas City Royal as they held the first pick in the 2006 Amateur Draft. His stock dropped significantly with some boards having him fall as far as 11th to Arizona. Instead, the Detroit Tigers used their #6 pick to select the southpaw. Here is a snippet of the Baseball America.com premium content scouting report on Miller:
1. Andrew Miller, lhp (National rank: 1)
School: North Carolina. Class: Jr.
Hometown: Gainesville, Fla.
B-T: R-L. Ht.: 6-6. Wt.: 210. Birthdate: 5/21/85.
Scouting Report: Miller entered this spring as the top-rated prospect for the 2006 draft and proceeded to live up to that lofty billing. The top unsigned player from the 2003 draft, when he was a third-round pick of the Devil Rays out of high school in Gainesville, Fla., Miller wound up at North Carolina and has improved every season, becoming more consistent and more dominant. He dominated in the wood-bat Cape Cod League each of the last two summers (2.03 ERA in 2004, 1.65 ERA in 2005 for Chatham) and was rated as the league's top prospect by Baseball America in both years…
As much as I would've liked to see the Tigers get Drew Stubbs, this was based on Miller being gone. I'm thrilled with the potential of this number one pick. Here is a list of the other Tigers picks:
50th pick – Ronald Bourquin, 3B, Ohio State
82nd pick – Brennan Boesch, CF, UC Berkley
112th pick – Ryan Strieby, 1B, Kentucky
142nd pick – Scott Sizemore, 2B, Virginia Commonwealth
172nd pick – Jordan Newton, C, Western Kentucky
Bourquin was rated as the 8th best player available from the state of Ohio, a 5-star state.
Boesch was rated as the 21st best player available from the state of California, a 3-star state.
Strieby was rated as the 3rd best player available from the state of Kentucky, a 3-star state.
Sizemore was rated as the 3rd best player available from the state of Virginia, a 2-star state.
Newton was rated as the best player available from the state of Kentucky & 149th overall, a 3-star state.
The rankings and state star ratings are from Baseball America, as well. Here is a legend regarding the star system:
THIS YEAR'S CROP
***** One for the books
**** Banner year
*** Solid, not spectacular
** Not up to par
* Nothing to see here
Last 10 #1 Overall Picks:
2006 — Luke Hochevar, rhp (Kansas City Royals)
2005 — Justin Upton, ss (Arizona Diamondbacks)
2004 — Matt Bush, ss (San Diego Padres)
2003 — Delmon Young, of (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
2002 — Bryan Bullington, rhp (Pittsburgh Pirates)
2001 — Joe Mauer, c (Minnesota Twins)
2000 — Adrian Gonzalez, 1b (Florida Marlins)
1999 — Josh Hamilton, rf-lhp (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
1998 — Pat Burrell, 3b (Philadelphia Phillies)
1997 — Matt Anderson, rhp (Detroit Tigers)
Baseball By Paul 