[Westheim]

1993 AMATEUR DRAFT

After my blunder with signing Bob Arnold and forfeiting our first round pick two weeks before the draft, I spared myself the hassle of digging through the draft pool. We had not received compensation picks this year and didn’t pick until last in the second round, which fell to pick #83. It was not worth the time. Scout Vicente Guerra had more time on his hands and had his own list of people worth picking – from the third or fourth row.

The Crusaders had the first overall pick and selected 20-yr old Venezuelan SP Francisco Garza, whom we had rated 14/14/15 on potential and who according to Guerra lacked in respect to his fastball. Well, the Crusaders know full well how to run a franchise into the ground, they will have picked wisely.

The Raccoons picked:

Round 2 (#83) – INF Brent McLaughlin, 21, from Los Angeles, CA – speedy, agile infielder with good contact abilities, but not so much power
Round 3 (#107) – LF Marvin Gregory, 17, from Tulsa, OK – while he is very quick on his feet, his defense is sorely lacking to terrible, and his bat doesn’t have much pop for his ambition to play a power position
Round 4 (#131) – C Brad Gray, 21, from Hopkins, MN – main upside should be his offense rather than catching, although caution should be held, since OSA has him as a major bust
Round 5 (#155) – 1B Santiago Rodriguez, 21, from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico – prototypical first baseman, but the whack in his bat could turn out to be short of the major league requirements
Round 6 (#179) – SP Ray Conner, 17, from West St. Paul, MN – left-hander with enough time to develop the four pitches he claims to throw
Round 7 (#203) – MR Jarred Mason, 19, from Vallejo, CA – left-hander with a changeup and control issues
Round 8 (#227) – LF Danny Nash, 17, from Fresno, CA – has been batting .439 for his high school, but what can that be worth? Little defense, little power potentional here.
Round 9 (#251) – MR Ambrose Albright, 18, from Acushnet, MA – right-hander with a decent curveball … and control issues
Round 10 (#275) – 1B Roberto Galindo, 21, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – doesn’t have lots of success in most things he’s doing on the field
Round 11 (#299) – MR Edgar Matthews, 22, from Vista, CA – unremarkable with a run-of-the-mill slider
Round 12 (#323) – MR Pedro Perez, 18, from Barahona, Dom. Rep. – left-hander with a curve he can’t place where it belongs

All picks were assigned to the A level and I think my frustration with this botched draft is clear to see.