2008 Draft, Rd3, #106, David Adams

Born: 15/05/1987
Height: 6′2″ Weight: 205 lbs
Position: 2B
Bats: R Throws: R
Transactions: Selected in 3rd round (106th overall) of 2008 draft out of University of Virginia.

Video
MLB Scouting Video
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w_id=701761&w=/2008/open/draft/broll/br_adams_david_400.wmv&mid=200805302798970&pid=gen_video&vid=11071&cid=mlb&v=2&bypass=true

Photo
http://yankees.scout.com/PictureGallery.aspx?PlayerId=117191&Title=David%20Adams

Pending Pinstripes
http://mvn.com/milb-yankees/2008/06/05/yankees-3rd-round-pick-david-adams/
Adams, a 2nd baseman for UVA, had his stock drop this season as his batting average dropped over 100 points, to .286, after a great junior season in which he hit .372. He is a good fielder at 2nd base and has gap power. Not a very high ceiling pick here, but he sounds like a very polished guy with great baseball instincts. I’ll add to this if I find more detailed information. He also hit very well in the Cape Cod League, and the Yankees seem to like drafting guys who did well there, such as Andrew Brackman, David Robertson, and Jeremy Bleich.

River Ave. Blues
http://riveraveblues.com/2008/06/05/yanks-fourth-pick-106-overall-2985/
With their third round pick, the Yanks selected David Adams, 2B, Virginia

Scouting Report: He’s a grinder, gritty, hard-nosed, all that stuff. Decent pop (10-15 homers a year), but he excels at making contact. Not fast for a middle infielder but he can still steal some bags. Great makeup, kind of guy who just gets the job done. Here’s his scouting video.

My Take: I like the pick, good value in this round. The Yanks desperately need some middle infielders.

Outlook: I’m guessing he’ll head to Staten Island later in the month. Shouldn’t be tough to sign.

The Pinstripe Press
http://nyyankeesnews.blogspot.com/2008/06/2b-david-adams-university-of-virginia.html
Selected in the third round of last week's MLB draft (106th overall), Virginia 2B David Adams quickly inked a professional contract with the NY Yankees.

“It was certainly exciting and it is a great opportunity for me,” David Adams told the Charlottesville Daily Progress. “It is an honor to play for the best organization in baseball.”

After a stellar 2007, in which David Adams hit .315 (35-for 111) in ACC action, the Cavalier infielder struggled this year against in-conference pitching; He hit just .210 (25-119) this season. Batting in the third spot in the order, Adams hit .286 for the season with six homers overall.

“He’s had a down year,” said Yankees director of scouting Damon Oppenheimer. “We saw some things in his stroke that they had made changes to at the college level that we run into quite a bit. That didn’t work for him. We looked at a lot of film of him at high school and the [Cape Cod League].

“We’re hoping to get this guy back, and if we can get him back to what we saw, we feel we got a guy that at one time was ranked very high.”

UPDATE: David Adams, who was taken in the third round by the New York Yankees, agreed to a contract late Monday and will join short-season Staten Island.

NYYankeeFans.com
http://www.nyyankeefans.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=64983
A solid hard-nosed type, he gets the ultimate praise from scouts as being a real "baseball player." While Adams hasn't had a great season with the bat this spring, he's always hit in the past, including with wood in the Cape Cod League. His approach is going the other way and using his hands for contact. He's got gap power, but could hit 10 to 15 homers, perhaps once he's out of UVA's huge home park. Speed is not his biggest tool. Solid arm and range and knows how to turn a double play. His offense took a steep drop but he's a proven hitter:

2006: .318/.404/.448
2007: .372.454/.522

MLB Comp: Mark Ellis

MLB Scouting Report
Hitting Ability: While Adams hasn't had a great season with the bat this spring, he's always hit in the past, including with wood in the Cape Cod League. His approach is going the other way and using his hands for contact.
Power: It's not a big part of his game, but like with a lot of Virginia players, he'll probably show more -- 10 to 15 homers, perhaps -- once he's out of UVA's huge home park.
Running Speed: He's got below-average speed.
Base running: While speed is not a tool, he's a good baserunner who has used his instincts to steal some bases in college.
Arm Strength: He's got more than enough arm to be a good second baseman at the next level.
Fielding: He's adequate at second, with good hands and turns the double play well.
Range: His range is just average.
Physical Description: Adams is a decent-sized middle infielder who isn't flashy but gets the job done
Medical Update:Healthy.
Strengths: History of good hitting ability, great makeup, plays the game the right way. Weaknesses: He hasn't hit well this spring, he doesn't have any one tool that jumps out.
Summary: The University of Virginia has become a good proving ground for legit pro prospects in recent years, and while Adams isn't Ryan Zimmerman, he should do pretty well in this year's Draft. A solid hard-nosed type, he gets the ultimate praise from scouts as being a real "baseball player." He's hit in the past, but didn't fare so well this season, which might affect him somewhat, but likely not too much.

Perfect Game (by Allan Simpson)
SCOUTING REPORT (3/1): Scouts who saw Adams in the second half of the 2007 Cape Cod League season thought he had the most polished bat in the league and were impressed with his ability to center balls consistently. Indeed, he was a much better hitter statistically in the second half and his surge at the plate coincided with a move from shortstop to second base. He hit just .213 and made five errors in 15 games at short to start the season, but he moved across the bag once Oregon State’s slick-fielding Joey Wong joined the team late from the College World Series and became the team’s everyday shortstop. From that point on, Adams hit .352 and led the league with 14 doubles. Overall, he hit .302 on the season. Though he did not homer all summer, the ball jumps off his bat and scouts believe it’s just a matter of time before his power develops. He primarily needs to add lift to his swing—and could become another Jeff Kent-type of player once he does. He hit .372 with five homers last spring at Virginia. Though he played much more relaxed at second base and turned the double play efficiently, he still made nine more errors at the position and topped the Cape with 14 errors overall. Scouts say he’s more than adequate in the field and mainly needs to improve his throwing mechanics as he has a higher slot on his release than most middle infielders. At Virginia, Adams committed just seven errors in 271 chances as a sophomore. Virginia has produced three big leaguer infielders in Brian O’Connor’s brief four-year tenure as head coach—Joe Koshansky, Mark Reynolds and Ryan Zimmerman—but the Cavalier coaching staff said Adams had a better fall season than any of those players ever did.

UPDATE (5/15): Adams appeared to have solidified himself as a solid second-rounder through the first half of the 2008 season, but hit a wall in the heart of the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule and his average nosedived. As Virginia entered NCAA play, he was hitting just .282—a significant drop from earlier in the season and a 90 percentage point decline from a year ago. Earlier, he had shown the smooth swing mechanics and selectively-aggressive approach that enabled him to make consistent, hard contact, making him one of the best hitting prospects in the college game. Without his bat to carry him, his lack of speed and range at second base suddenly became more of an issue. Like teammate Jacob Thompson, though, he has enough of a track record that his late-season slide shouldn’t impact his draft status significantly.