I.D.T. -- In-Draft Thread 2010

[MFS62]

seawolf17 wrote: Dodgers waste a pick on James Baldwin, who retired like four years ago.

Maybe they were hoping he'd catch the fire next time.

Later

[MFS62]

Round 14 pick James Brown, 2B, University of the Pacific, led Pacific with a .376 batting average as a junior.

James Brown?

I feeeel good!

da da da-da da-da da

Later

[seawolf17]

Finally, in Round 40, a Seawolf: Justin Echevarria to the Padres.

http://www.goseawolves.org/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/060910aac.html

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Update from the 42nd round: We have drafted John Franco's kid, shortstop JJ Franco!

[Frayed Knot]

I wonder if he takes the (minor) money or goes to college (St. John's?).

Other familiar names:

[u:252d5na8]Offspring[/u:252d5na8]
Benito Santiago Jr.
Delino DeShields Jr.
Mel Rojas Jr.
James Baldwin
Dickie Thon Jr.
Cam Bedrosian
Colton Keogh (Matt)
Andy Fermin (Felix)
Hunter Jones (Tracy)
Garrett Beuchele (Steve)
Josh McGee (Wendell)
Cam Narron (Jerry)
Logan Thompson (Robbie)
Chad Wallach (Tim)
Reggie Jr. & JaDamion Williams (4 picks apart)
Dillon Moyer (Jamie) - promote him NOW!!!!
Patrick Leyland
Ozney Guillen
Brett Bochy
Mark Tracy (Jim)
Bo McClendon (Lloyd)
Andrew Benes (Andy) - and of course nephew of Alan

[u:252d5na8]Grandsons[/u:252d5na8]
Drew Cisco (Galen)
Jake May (Lee)


[u:252d5na8]Siblings[/u:252d5na8]
Devon Ethier (Andre)
Ben Verlander (Justin)
Gabriel Romero (Rickey)
Kellen Sweeny (Ryan)
Ben Gamel (Mat)
Bryan Harper (Bryce) - although surprisingly not by the Nationals

[u:252d5na8]Other[/u:252d5na8]
Michael (nephew of Paul) O'Neill - and, yes, by the Yanquis
Joseph Jackson (50th round) who the Royals claim is the great-great-grand-nephew of 'Shoeless' Joe

Edited June 9, 2010 by Guest

[Gwreck]

Frayed Knot wrote: I wonder if he takes the (minor) money or goes to college (St. John's?).

Committed to Brown so I'm guessing college.

[Frayed Knot]

Given the choice between a free Ivy League education - and getting to play ball - versus 42nd round bonus money and I'd choose college as well.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I just don't get why Franco wouldn't tell the Mets privately, "Don't waste the pick, my kid's commitment is set." But I don't know why Howard Johnson didn't either.

J.J. Franco was either considered one of the two best high school shortstops in the city or one of the two best private school shorstops in the city.

Pretty funny, since his father as a hitter went oh-for-the Mets.

[Benjamin Grimm]

29 -- 872 -- Hamilton Bennett -- LHP -- Tennessee Wesleyan CC, Tenn

I just found out that my brother-in-law knows this kid! He's his neighbor!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jet's either a big shortstop or has tiny honey bunny.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 29 -- 872 -- Hamilton Bennett -- LHP -- Tennessee Wesleyan CC, Tenn I just found out that my brother-in-law knows this kid! He's his neighbor!

How are the intangibles? Does he roll his eyes when he's asked to mow the lawn? How long does it take him to get out to the car in the morning? Does he leave the bike out in the rain?

[seawolf17]

Or, more importantly, does he leave the cake out in the rain?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Jet goes 6'3" 215, and his college career numbers suggest he's more a secondbaseman than a shortstop, but whatev.

http://thejetbutler.com/

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 29 -- 872 -- Hamilton Bennett -- LHP -- Tennessee Wesleyan CC, Tenn I just found out that my brother-in-law knows this kid! He's his neighbor!

Ask him why he kept losing those cases to Perry Mason.

[bmfc1]

Good stuff from The Hardball Times w/stats from the draft:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/2010-mlb-draft-by-the-numbers/

2010 MLB Draft by the numbers
Posted by Jeff Sackmann
For most fans, it's easy to lose interest in the draft after the few couple of rounds. For the geekier of us, there are 1500 new players to analyze!

A good starting point is to look at the overall trends of the draft. Not every team takes the same approach. Even the same front office might go in a radically different direction than they did the previous year. To start with, here's a look at how each team balanced their draft between pitchers and hitters, and which talent pools they drew from:

TEAM Bat Pitch 4YR JC HS
ARI 24 25 32 6 11
ATL 31 20 23 15 13
BAL 27 21 25 9 14
BOS 26 26 16 3 33
CHC 19 31 21 14 15
CHW 24 27 28 8 15
CIN 23 27 30 6 14
CLE 22 28 23 11 16
COL 24 27 25 7 19
DET 26 25 31 6 14

TEAM Bat Pitch 4YR JC HS
FLA 22 28 29 11 10
HOU 26 26 24 3 25
KC 23 27 35 6 9
LAA 30 24 31 7 16
LAD 27 23 21 11 18
MIL 22 28 31 5 14
MIN 20 30 28 9 13
NYM 20 29 34 4 11
NYY 22 28 24 7 19
OAK 26 24 31 4 15

TEAM Bat Pitch 4YR JC HS
PHI 21 29 27 8 15
PIT 18 32 17 7 26
SDP 26 24 27 8 15
SEA 20 28 29 3 16
SF 25 25 33 8 9
STL 26 26 35 6 11
TB 25 28 23 10 20
TEX 22 31 25 3 25
TOR 24 32 14 7 35
WAS 27 23 24 14 12

TEAM Bat Pitch 4YR JC HS
Total 718 802 796 226 498
Average 23.9 26.7 26.5 7.5 16.6

The average team picked a few more pitchers than hitters, and got a little more than half of their new players from four-year colleges. The most noteworthy standouts are the Blue Jays and Pirates, two teams that went very pitching-heavy, and the Braves and Dodgers, who picked the most hitters.

In the type-of-school breakdown, what strikes me is the huge number of high schoolers selected by the Red Sox (33) and Blue Jays (35). No one else picked more than 26! On the flip side, the Royals went very college-heavy, choosing only nine prep players.

Batters and pitchers by type of school

Here's a more detailed breakdown using the same parameters as the previous table:

TEAM 4Y-Bat 4Y-Pit JC-Bat JC-Pit HS-Bat HS-Pit
ARI 18 14 2 4 4 7
ATL 11 12 9 6 11 2
BAL 15 10 6 3 6 8
BOS 7 9 1 2 18 15
CHC 10 11 3 11 6 9
CHW 10 18 4 4 10 5
CIN 15 15 1 5 7 7
CLE 9 14 5 6 8 8
COL 12 13 3 4 9 10
DET 16 15 1 5 9 5

TEAM 4Y-Bat 4Y-Pit JC-Bat JC-Pit HS-Bat HS-Pit
FLA 10 19 7 4 5 5
HOU 11 13 1 2 14 11
KC 16 19 2 4 5 4
LAA 15 16 4 3 11 5
LAD 12 9 7 4 8 10
MIL 15 16 1 4 6 8
MIN 7 21 3 6 10 3
NYM 13 21 1 3 6 5
NYY 9 15 1 6 12 7
OAK 12 19 3 1 11 4

TEAM 4Y-Bat 4Y-Pit JC-Bat JC-Pit HS-Bat HS-Pit
PHI 11 16 2 6 8 7
PIT 11 6 1 6 6 20
SDP 16 11 3 5 7 8
SEA 12 17 1 2 7 9
SF 19 14 3 5 3 6
STL 17 18 4 2 5 6
TB 11 12 3 7 11 9
TEX 13 12 0 3 9 16
TOR 5 9 3 4 16 19
WAS 14 10 8 6 5 7

TEAM 4Y-Bat 4Y-Pit JC-Bat JC-Pit HS-Bat HS-Pit
Total 372 424 93 133 253 245
Average 12.4 14.1 3.1 4.4 8.4 8.2

The Pirates didn't select nearly as many high schoolers as did the Jays or Red Sox, but man oh man, did they take some young pitching. Their draft suggests they are willing to take chances on raw arms�in addition to all the prep pitchers, in later rounds they chose Kelson Brown, a shortstop from Division 3 Linfield with limited pitching experience, and Stephen Lumpkins, a 6'8" lefty from American University, where he played basketball. (They don't have a baseball team there.) It's not India, but it's about as close as you can get in the Rule 4.

Position by position

Here's one more look at the draft as a whole. This time we break it down by position, as well as type of school. (I won't clog up THT Live with 30 posts doing this for every team, but you can find those starting today at the College Splits blog, where we're recapping the draft in a truly inappropriate amount of detail.)

Pos 4YR JC HS Total
RHP 296 98 187 581
LHP 128 35 58 221
C 81 9 45 135
1B 42 11 18 71
2B 38 6 11 55
3B 35 6 20 61
SS 54 10 62 126
IF 2 1 1 4
LF 29 9 4 42
CF 47 19 58 124
RF 23 10 22 55
OF 17 11 12 40
UTL 3 1 0 4
DH 1 0 0 1

Total 796 226 498

You're wondering about that lone designated hitter, right? It's Russell Moldenhauer, drafted 716th overall by the Nationals, a big lefty bat from the University of Texas and owner of a .503 adjusted wOBA this year. I wish him the best, but suspect that he probably isn't Washington's designated hitter of the future.

[Guest Edgy DC]

So the Mets were very four-year-heavy, particularly in terms of pitchers.

[Frayed Knot]

John Sickels gives his evaluation

[Guest Edgy DC]

Signed a bunch of college folk:

[list:1ncpnfxj][*:1ncpnfxj]Fourth-round pick outfielder Cory Vaughn (San Diego State)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]Seventh-round pick RHP Jeff Walters (Georgia)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]Eighth-round pick RHP Kenny McDowall (College of Southern Nevada)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]Ninth-round pick RHP Jacob deGrom (Stetson)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]11th-round pick LHP Adam Kolarek (Maryland)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]12th-round pick RHP Bret Mitchell (Minnesota State)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]13th-round pick third baseman Brian Harrison (Furman)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]14th-round pick second baseman James Brown (University of the Pacific)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]15th-round selection outfielder Tillman Pugh (Sonoma State)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]16th-round pick RHP Ryan Fraser (Memphis)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]17th-round pick RHP Chad Sheppard (Northwestern State)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]18th-round pick RHP A.J. Pinera (University of Tampa)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]19th-round pick RHP Jonathan Koutis (Embry-Riddle)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]20th-round pick first baseman Luke Stewart (Alabama-Birmingham)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]22nd-round pick shortstop Brandon Brown (University of South Alabama)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]25th-round selection RHP Peter Birdwell (Vanguard University)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]26th-round pick shortstop James Butler (Mississippi State)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]27th-round pick RHP Michael Weldon (Wayland Baptist University)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]28th-round pick LHP Jeremy Gould (Duke)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]29th-round selection LHP Hamilton Bennett (Tennessee Wesleyan College)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]30th-round pick LHP Joshua Edgin (Francis Marion University)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]32nd-round pick catcher Patrick Farrell (Regis University)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]33rd-round pick RHP Hunter Carnevale (University of the Pacific)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]34th-round selection shortstop Justin Schafer (UC-Davis)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj]
[*:1ncpnfxj]37th-round pick outfielder Dylan Brown (University of Tampa)[/*:m:1ncpnfxj][/list:u:1ncpnfxj]

[Guest Edgy DC]

Source says MLB unhappy with #Mets for giving 24th rd pick Erik Goeddel $500k because he's a college kid in 24th round, could set precedent about 13 hours ago via web .joe_demayo Joe DeMayo

Yay!

[Guest The Second Spitter]

Signed a bunch of college folk: [*]19th-round pick RHP Jonathan Koutis (Embry-Riddle)

It's Jonathan Kountis and I'm adopting him. (Poor kid, Fman's gonna have a field day with him).

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy DC wrote: Source says MLB unhappy with #Mets for giving 24th rd pick Erik Goeddel $500k because he's a college kid in 24th round, could set precedent about 13 hours ago via web .joe_demayo Joe DeMayo Yay!

This has been one of those singings 'rumored' for weeks now but not officially announced at least in part because of it being over-slot and the irrational fear of triggering an avalanche.
Of course I prefer they just tell MLB to stick it up their ass if they don't like it but it's not like the Mets have a history of doing that.

Having said all that, I have no idea what it is about this particular guy that makes them cough up the extra bucks and, why, if they decided he was worth it, they didn't pick him several rounds earlier.




Meanwhile, I've heard nothing about their 1st round pick Matt Harvey although first round signings all over the league have been going very slowly this year.
August 15th deadline.

[Guest Edgy DC]

There's excited reports about him out there. I don't know if they're credible.

I'm not happy for the Mets' sake so much as I'm happy for Amuhrica when anybody makes honest offers that undercut this anti-competitive policy.

[Frayed Knot]

Not to panic but ... signing deadline for 2010 draft picks is Monday.

Mets have actually already signed all of their first 20 picks except for 1st pick (7th overall) Matt Harvey & 6th rounder Greg Peavey
(also signed 13 of the following 15 choices)

That Harvey hasn't signed and that we haven't heard a whole lot about it isn't that unusual. He's expected to sign "over slot" and when that happens the clubs keep that info a secret until the very end lest all of the top picks use the amount the other guys signed for as leverage in their negotiations. If all these deals get announced just before (or even after) the deadline then no one gets an advantage and MLB keeps pretending that its precious 'slotting' system works.

Have no idea what the story is with Peavey.

If one of the back-round guys hasn't signed yet he probably won't at this point so it looks like John Franco Jr. isn't in our immediate future -- http://www.baseballamerica.com/draftdb/2010xteam.php?team=1013

[metirish]

@SI_JonHeyman: #mets no. 1 pick matt harvey, rhp from unc, has been seeking $4.5 mil

[Frayed Knot]

Not sure what the "slot" figure for the 7th pick is supposed to be so I don't know whether $4.5 is super-high or only kind of high.
That Harvey - and most of the rest of the top 10 picks - were going to ask for above-slot money was pretty much a given.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Jamie Taillon (#2) signed for a reported $5 million bonus, and the #18 and #24 guys signed for $2.3M and $1.8M, respectively.

[Frayed Knot]

There is/was a supposed sizable gap between the top 4 picks and the group after that - so if Tallion got "only" $5mil then Harvey might be pricing himself out if he holds out for $4.5
On the other hand, I don't think that price is all that high for a 7th pick. Yonder Alonso - a college 1B drafted 11 spots ahead of Ike in the same draft - got right about $4.5 as the 7th pick two years ago. Sometimes it depends on not just the money but how it all gets structured and how many years it's spread out over.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Bryce Harper signs:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5468993

[batmagadanleadoff]

Mets sign Harvey:

http://www.sbnation.com/2010/8/17/1626975/matt-harvey-mets-baseball-sign-draft

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

6th-rounder Greg Peavey, too.

Nothing as yet on Memphis Tiger/Cape Cod League terror/23rd-round longshot Drew Martinez.