2014 draft tier 4

I may have done myself a small disservice in numbering these tiers, since in a hypothetical draft, it's possible I'd go out of order. For example, if my pick is coming up, and all of my tier 3 (guys I think will make it to MLB) players are available, but there is only one tier 4 guy there, I might pick the tier 4 player, hoping to catch a tier 3 when the draft comes around again.

This continues my 2014 MLB draft tier articles (tier 1 here, tier 2 here, and tier 3 here)

As a reminder, Tier 4 is my lotto ticket: A guy who has intriguiing potential, and if he hits, could become a star for me. One other thing. This particular group is very heavy on pitching. In this draft, I seemed to be heavy on hitters in the first few tiers, so if I can add some upside pitching, it will help me round out my draft class.

That said, here is the small group of players I had in my tier 4 heading into the 2014 draft:

1. Cameron Varga- I might as well spill the beans. When I look at high school pitchers, there are a few things that impress me. The first is athletic ability, which I have somehow equated with "ability to play the field as well." Varga fits this, extremely well (he was a highly sought after SS in Florida). His season was up and down, because of an injury (meaning he may fall for an explainable reason), and his stuff has the ability to get big leaguers out. The red flag I have on him is that he's old for his draft class (apparently he moved around as a kid), and generally speaking, this is a challenge. But if he falls to me, I'd be a happy camper
2. Austin DeCarr- He's a New England kid, a player with athleticism (he's apparently quite a good QB), with 2 quality pitches right now (meaning the bull pen might be his downside). I'll take it.
3. Zach Shannon- Shannon fits the profile of athletic pitcher who plays 2 positions, but interestingly, he hits with power. Lot's of it. If he falls to me, I'm leaving it up to my baseball ops people to see what we have on our hands.
4. Tate Blackman- A poor man's Christian Arroyo. That's how I've seen him described. The guy has a quality contact swing, and if he makes it onto my roster, he is going to get every chance to stick at SS.
5. Lane Thomas- He's an athlete, first of all. He played on Team USA's Under 18 squad, looks like a tweener between SS and CF, and has the kind of tools one can dream on.
6. Chandler Shepherd-Everything I said about Varga above holds true here. As a side note, Shepherd was drafted by the Reds as a SS. I think he'd be a pitcher in my organization. ***
7. Marvin Gorgas-He's a little guy, at 5'9, but that's OK with me. Something about his background is super intriguing for me (he's from Puerto Rico), he played in the field and on the mound with Team USA Under 18, and at worst, I somehow have ideas of a BH Kim usage (they're different pitchers, but a multi-inning relief ace might just be what Gorgas becomes).

***Please see the post recapping this exercise... I acknowledge being a bonehead of Shephard's inclusion.