[Westheim]

2033 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

Good news, after some hiccups* I know everything about the draft pool for the 2033 teen ball raffle. Who would have known you’d have to hold our scout’s reports the correct side up to get an actual clear picture??

This was not one of those drafts that knocked you out of your shoes, but there were quite a few interesting selections for a team that was picking, oh, say, fourth in every round and had an extra pick in the supplemental round, too. We had prepared a list of 89 players (and not 68 as I initially thought, again, whoops) and the following boys and girls (not actually) were on the vaunted hotlist (*indicates HS player):

SP Mike Lang (13/12/7) *
SP Corey Booth (12/14/9) – BNN #9
SP Chris Lulay (13/13/10) – BNN #1
SP Kurt Crater (14/13/13)
SP Luis Torres (12/13/14) *
SP Jared Ottinger (12/12/10)
SP Oscar Valdes (12/12/10)

C Rick Urfer (9/15/11) – BNN #10

1B Bill Jenkins (10/10/15) – BNN #3
SS/2B Tony Aparicio (12/14/13) * - BNN #6
SS/3B Brad Critzer (10/7/12) *

OF/1B Scott Martin (14/9/14)
OF Steve Jorgenson (12/12/9)

Of all those starting pitchers, Lang is probably #1, and everybody else ties for second place, because they all appear good in some aspects, and not so good in others, f.e. Crater and Torres lack anything even near a quality third pitch, which is always a downer. Booth has a well-rounded package, but collects plants and bugs, and who wants to have that sort of weirdo around the clubhouse? Lulay finally is a born leader, engaged in the community, a fine young pitcher, too, but he’s too goddamn ugly to look at for even two seconds.

Tough choices!

But if I’m honest, my preferred pick is none of the seven pitchers above, although I am quite certain we’ll take one of the six not named Mike Lang with our #4 pick. Lang will be gone by then, as will Tony “Moby Dick” Aparicio, a slugging shortstop with above-average defensive capabilities. I am thinking of a group including Shane Walter, Vic Flores, and Ronnie McKnight here as far as former Raccoons are concerned. Only McKnight won defensive silverware and he also slugged the most, but he also had the most depressing career arc. He was Rookie of the Year the year *after* Matt Nunley and yet Nunley outlasted him by almost a decade…

But that is the mold I see for Aparicio, whose nickname comes from his introverted personality and his love for books. Apparently he read Moby Dick when he was five. Smart, it seems, but if he’s in a room with you and several plants you have a hard time telling him apart from said plants. He is *that* silent. Nevertheless, he’d be my top selection!

*My first go at this draft pool dissection had me at about M in the batters’ section when I wondered why the **** every guy with solid ratings had such a terrible ranking based on stats. Turned out I didn’t copy their school wOBA, but their BABIP into Excel. Again, whoops! This might explain why this team has such a terrible draft record with batters. =)