[Westheim]

2009 DRAFT POOL

The 2009 draft is almost upon us and the pool for this draft is … strange.

There is a truck load full of potential stars among high school pitchers (well, about five or six perhaps), but the college pitcher collection was a bit on the dull side. Yet even among those high school pitchers on the top end of the list, there were a few who had scars on their elbows already, so it was a bit of a gambler’s year in the high school pitching market. When it came to batters, first base and second base were well represented with appreciable talent (although mostly questionable when it came to defense), but there was a rather small crop of potential catchers and outfielders, and at third base the situation was completely dire. It was a good year if your system was short on defensive centerfielders who had at least some batting potential, though.

Below is the dozen-or-so favorites of Whitebread’s formulaic analysis.

SP Bryant Roberts (12/12/13)
SP Jim Fortman (11/13/14)
SP Ian Van Meter (11/14/12)
SP Tony Harrell (13/16/10)
SP Mike Stank (10/14/11)
SP Milt Beauchamp (12/15/12) – college pitcher
SP Rich Hood (11/11/10) – college pitcher
SP/MR Chris Elenbaas (11/10/14) – short on the third pitch, and nobody can errorlessly say his name

CL Tim Edmonds (17/11/9)

2B Josh Downing (13/12/11) – looking for a 5-tool second baseman?
SS Erik Janes (15/2/10)
1B Jonathan Marsh (10/10/12)

LF/RF/INF Devin Hibbard (12/8/14)
LF Corey Martin (11/12/16)
OF Geoff Allen (10/5/9) – potential Gold Glover

The Raccoons are guaranteed at least one among this group, being in possession of the #14 (compensation for Craig Bowen) and #21 picks, as well as two supplemental round picks.