[Westheim]

2027 AMATEUR DRAFT

Boy, Draft Day sure arrived in a hurry this year, hasn't it? No? Felt that way for me at least! Maybe this is what old age gives you. Your last few days fly by.

Independent of reflections on one's own mortality, there was still a draft to go through, in which the Raccoons would have the 22nd pick in every round, plus a supplemental round pick for the loss of Matt Jamieson, plus the vain hopes that they could get anything crisp off…

The annual hotlist (*denotes HS player):

SP Matt Peterson (13/14/8)* - BNN #4
SP Roland Warner (12/14/11)
SP Brian Bowsman (11/15/14) – BNN #8
SP Jim Tierney (12/11/12)*
SP Jon Bleich (12/13/12)

CL Chris Ritz (16/15/10)

C Nate Evans (13/11/12) – BNN #1

3B Chance Bossert (15/5/15)*
1B Eric Clarke (10/12/12)

LF/RF Kyle Weinstein (9/13/16) – BNN #10
LF/RF Jared Kitzman (10/12/12)* - BNN #6
LF/RF Ron Miller jr. (8/11/12) – BNN #5

I do like the looks of that Evans kid, but we probably should have lost 100 last year to get paws on that guy.

While the Raccoons were in Pittsburgh, I had flown to New York with our head scout – who's name I totally know! – for the draft ceremony and taking pictures with your future disappointments (or Hall of Famers!). Say, what IS your name? Sanchez? Martinez? Gonzalez? Well, you sure look Mexican though!

Before things could get ugly, the commissioner hit the giant gong near the door of the draft room and the Blue Sox were on the clock, although the #1 pick was never something that took long to make, since you had weeks upon weeks to decide beforehand. 3B Chance Bossert was the #1 selection in 2027, and there they began with taking pictures, all smiles. SP Roland Warner went #2 to the Knights, and the Wolves took Kyle Weinstein at #3. Things continued with starting pitchers, Josh Long to the Loggers at #4, then Brian Bowsman to the Falcons at #5, before the Indians took outfielder Jared Kitzman at #6, and then it was back to pitchers with Matt Peterson being made the #7 pick by the Bayhawks.

Teams ventured off our hotlist for a moment there, but then returned to hit, and right into the guts when the Capitals selected C Nate Evans with the #11 selection. Ugh, nooooo …! The Crusaders' and Condors' GMs turned heads as I slumped over the table, weeping, but to no avail. The Capitals would not give Evans back.

Further hotlist picks were Ron Miller jr. (#12, Miners) and Jon Bleich (#18, damn Elks), leaving us with a selection of CL Chris Ritz, SP Jim Tierney, and 1B Eric Clarke as far as the hotlist was concerned, as well as some 75 players still on the shortlist. We eventually succumbed to the promised power of Eric Clarke, a right-handed slugger at Stetson, who is said to have been able to hit a baseball over the lagoon between his hometown of Merritt Island and the Florida mainland when he was only 14 years old. Probably all lies, which is why you are always disappointed by draft picks.

Chris Ritz went #23 to the Scorpions, while Jim Tierney was the last one to go as far as the hotlist was concerned, falling to #26 and the Falcons' supplemental round selection.

2027 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#22) – 1B Eric Clarke, 20, from Merritt Island, FL – defensively clumsy prototypical first baseman with not much patience but a huge power promise, and above-average ability to make contact. Just watch him whack 'em!
Supp. Round (#39) – SP Ian Wilson, 19, from Lubbock, TX – left-hander with variable movement and a nasty curveball; the tertiary stuff needs a bit more work, but he looks like a very efficient groundballer in the making
Round 2 (#68) – SP/MR Bryan Rabbitt, 21, from Chester, NH – right-handed groundballer with a late sinker and good stamina; the problem is more in his lack of a crisp third pitch and we sure hope he can get that changeup around to be actually useful
Round 3 (#92) – INF/RF Joe McFarlin, 21, from Sikeston, MO – patient batter with good contact abilities, also defensively adept and with multiple positions, and with impressive base stealing qualities.
Round 4 (#116) – 2B Brad Murphy, 18, from Sunrise Manor, NV – another patient batter (and switch-hitter) with good contact abilities and tremendous base stealing potential, but without McFarlin's defensive pedigree, just being able to hang onto second base, and that just barely…
Round 5 (#140) – SP/MR David Fernandez, 21, from St. Louis Park, MN – another left-hander with not much of a third pitch, but if all else fails, he can still fall back on that quite nasty slider and hope that his 91mph catapult pitch isn't picked out and upon too often
Round 6 (#164) – OF Edgar Espinosa, 18, from Camuy, Puerto Rico – our scout sees a contact bat with gap power and speed, but not much of an outfield arm, while BNN sees a career minor leaguer with so-so stats in high school in Tennessee.
Round 7 (#188) – SS Justin Fowler, 18, from Florence, KY – bat could be more steady, eyes could be more precise, and his brains more patient, and the hands aren't very steady either…
Round 8 (#212) – C Zach Mandeville, 22, from Johnson City, TN – we agreed it was time to draft a catcher, any catcher, and it was also his birthday…
Round 9 (#236) – MR Alvin Gallegos, 21, from Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico – right-hander with a 90mph fastball and a decent curveball
Round 10 (#260) – LF/RF Danny Azulay, 19, from Sylvester, GA – imagines himself as a famous slugger with several home run titles; pitchers, coaches, scouts, fans, his peers, his mother, and Mother Nature not least all think otherwise…
Round 11 (#284) – SP Dusty Kuhlman, 19, from Lawnside, NJ – this years's Nick Brown Memorial Pick has a lot of stamina, a slider, and a sturdy neck that has already withstood a lot of spinning around to catch a last glimpse of a murdered baseball gasping as it crosses the plane over the outfield fence.
Round 12 (#308) – RF/LF Josh Cleveland, 18, from Brooklyn, NY – lazy bum with a knack for being a drama queen on strike three calls…
Round 13 (#332) – LF/RF Greg Brinson, 19, from Springfield, NJ – not a lot to love about this bland, trying-but-always-failing kid; his stepmother agrees with that assessment…

+++

All draft picks were assigned to single-A Aumsville. Of course, with the influx of dubious talent, we also have to get rid of even more dubious talent.

2021 fourth-rounder Hank Gibson, a left-hander, first reached AAA in '22, and was never called up. He is now 29, has an 8.07 ERA on the season, and we can't support his act any longer. He wasn't even the longest-tenured AAA left-hander released, as we also canned 27-year-old 2020 ninth-rounder Matt Wilson, who actually did make the ABL roster once, making ten appearances for the '25 Coons for a 12.00 ERA.

Also culled: 2023 Nick Brown Memorial Pick, AA reliever Mike Mattice, who was mainly an expert in walking people (8.5 BB/9), 2026 seventh-rounder Marco Diaz (I suspect he's actually legally blind…), and a few others that have likely never been mentioned by name in the first place.