[Westheim]

2018 AMATEUR DRAFT

Before you know it, the tears have got to be dried, because it is time for the draft. The Raccoons had the #21 pick in every round, plus a supplemental round pick.

We had already gone into the lack of interesting position players in the upcoming draft. There was a flock of pitching available, and we would probably pick a rather interesting pitcher at #21 than another dud outfielder we had no confidence in to begin with, and our track record in developing position players was grim, to say the least. The last meaningful position player to come out of the draft for the Coons had been Matt Nunley, a fourth round pick in 2010, #132 overall, so it was more of a lucky draw than skilled scoutie-pickie, and before that it was – heck I don’t know. Danny Sharp? Sounds about right.

We will only draft third basemen this year!

Here is our hotlist again, with * indicating high school players:

SP Antonio Moreno (12/12/12) *
SP Adam Garrett (12/15/15) *
SP Jimmy Jackson (12/15/9) * - BNN #5
SP Mark Morrison (12/12/13) *
SP Pete Molina (11/14/14) *
SP Markus Bates (14/12/11) *
SP Travis Giordano (13/12/11) *

INF Guillermo Obando (17/6/12) * - BNN #7
1B Lee Breidenbach (11/14/11)
INF Jeff Christiansen (14/8/9)

LF/RF/1B Luke Gross (5/15/15) * - BNN #3

The Titans opened the draft by selecting outfielder Adrian Reichardt, one of those top two that we didn’t have on our hotlist. The Wolves selected the extremely risky Luke Gross at #2, and Guillermo Obando went to the Capitals at #3, before the Buffaloes picked BNN #1 selection Chris Hollar, another outfielder at #4. The first pitcher wasn’t taken until #5, when the Stars selected Adam Garrett.

None of the four position players on our hotlist survived until our top pick (and it wasn’t particularly close). Only three pitchers remained: Moreno, Molina, and Bates. Gabriel Martinez considered the third pitches for both Moreno and Bates to be very much a work in progress, but Molina had a repertoire of four pitches and ended up his clear favorite. So be it! The Bayhawks would take Moreno right after us at #22, but Bates hung around for our supplemental round pick.

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2018 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#21) – SP Pete Molina, 19, from Ridgeland, MS – “Bad Moon” Molina is a right-hander throwing 92, but still filling out his frame. Fork, slider, and changeup are all usable, with the most potential on the changeup probably. Had good stamina and impressive control for a high school senior.
Supp. Round (#34) – SP Markus Bates, 18, from Bourbonnais, IL – mean slider, but this right-hander’s changeup is still very much a work in progress, and whether he can actually remain a starter remains to be seen.
Round 2 (#60) – CF/RF Dan McCoy, 17, from West Helena, AR – very agile contact hitter with the ability to find the gaps; very eager to find the gaps, to be honest, and he tends to swing at everything.
Round 3 (#84) – 1B John O’Quinn, 18, from Lake Worth, FL – here’s an oddity: a right-handed batting first baseman that is a base-stealing threat and also has power, but still can’t really field in a way that would help his team
Round 4 (#108) – OF Adrian Vandenburgh, 18, from Texas City, TX – agile outfielder with decent defense and a solid contact bat, but unfortunately no power, and whether his defense will be enough to be a worthwhile defensive centerfielder is doubtful at least
Round 5 (#132) – INF Randy Russell, 18, from Chantilly, VA – scouring the old 1862 battlefield for memorabilia for years as a teenager has left Randy with a keen eye and a lot of patience, which give him a high on-base percentage. Versatile defender, but his stick isn’t exactly a 20-pounder.
Round 6 (#156) – CL Marty Woodard, 20, from Chicago, IL – right-hander with a very good curveball that is a bit compromised (some might say wasted) by the straight 92mph heater.
Round 7 (#180) – INF John Morris, 18, from South San Francisco, CA – doesn’t have the strongest of arms, so realistically he might be a second baseman only, and even then the bat doesn’t impress a whole lot. Keeps missing, and doesn’t hit for power.
Round 8 (#204) – LF Cameron Allison, 18, from Downey, CA – another corner outfielder with not a lot of pop in the bat, and this one also doesn’t have the nice defense or speed that made Vandenburgh a valid pick in the fourth round…
Round 9 (#228) – C Lee Henkel, 21, from Henderson, NV – we could use another catcher in Aumsville.
Round 10 (#252) – SP Eddie Briggs, 19, from Mt. Venon, NY – things are getting thin down here; Eddie throws 89mph, mostly straight, and gets mostly forked himself by his fork…
Round 11 (#276) – CL Joe Nelson, 21, from Scotch Plains, NJ – southpaw throws three pitches, some of them sometimes for strikes; a 89mph fastball, a curve and a slider, and that might be enough to close in some beer league.
Round 12 (#300) – 2B/LF/RF/3B Kearney Lennon, 18, from Brighton, AL – versatile, I guess, but not excelling anywhere; some speed, but not too much; no power… if you wanted to say anything nice, then he really doesn’t strike out a lot and has a decent eye. It’s the left one.
Round 13 (#324) – SP Kris Mattingly, 19, from Oak Park, IL – another left-hander; throws 87, which is also about the distance in miles that the average fastball is hit for; if he could make the changeup that he is toying with work in some capacity, he might one day be good enough to throw batting practice … in instruction league.

This time, it was even hard to make a Nick Brown Memorial Pick in the 11th round.

All draftees were assigned to the Aumsville Beagles.

We also cleaned house once more. We already released Tom McNeela a few weeks ago to end that sad chapter in Raccoons lore, and now a few more former demi-prospects were cut to make room in the minors. Released were a sixth-rounder (MR Adan Nelson, 2014), two 11th-rounders (OF Tim Willey, 2013; MR Andy Trexler, 2016), and a 12th-rounder (OF John McGrew, 2017); also a few international signings (C Carlos Rosario, 2011, $10k; C Daniel Maynez, 2014, $15k) and a few nameless, faceless international discoveries. Even with that, we still have 94 players between the three minor league teams, excluding another three on the minor league DL.