[Westheim]

2051 AMATEUR DRAFT

June’s second trip to New York (with one to go) was for the annual amateur draft. Poor me, had to work while the rest of the team had their hindpaws up somewhere! Oh well. Time to draft some new prospects.

We had already talked about our annual hotlist (*marks high school players) and some on the list in particular, especially Matt Walters. Where we so desperate to have both a Matt Waters and a Matt Walters on the same team?

Well, were we?

SP Scott Evans (10/16/8) * – BNN #10
SP Roger Pritchard (11/11/12) – BNN #1
SP Larry Clark (11/12/10) *
SP Richard Castillo (10/14/12)
SP/CL Matt Walters (12/12/11)

C Brett Hamill (12/15/17) * – BNN #2

1B Gustavo Jacinto (13/9/12)
SS Rich Padilla (9/8/14) *

LF/RF John Kaniewski (10/11/12) – BNN #9
LF/1B/RF Trent Brassfield (13/15/12) * – BNN #4
OF/1B Armando Caban (10/11/11) – BNN #6
OF Cory Oldfield (12/14/6) * – BNN #7
OF Richard Romig (10/5/12)

Having the #8 pick meant dodging seven bullets before it was our turn to make our selection (and the only one for a while). We would not select Roger Pritchard, who went #1 to the Wolves, nor Trent Brassfield (CIN, #2), or Scott Evans (LVA, #3). From there it was Brett Hamill fourth-overall to the Pacifics, and Larry Clark to the Falcons to complete the top 5. The next pick was the Indians’, and they went with Cory Oldfield. Only the Loggers to go, and they went with not-quite-on-hotlist-but-honorable-mention Bryant Law.

And I still didn’t see why we wouldn’t take Walters, who’d make for a strong closer, or maybe even a strong starter. It was hard to lose out by picking Matt Walters at #8! (Famous last words…?)

John Kaniewski went #11 to the Rebels, Armando Caban #19 to the Baybirds, Gustavo Jacinto to the Stars at #21, immediately followed by Richard Castillo taken by the Knights. The supplemental round then saw Rich Padilla swept up at #26 by the Pacifics, and finally Richard Romig was taken as the #31 pick by the Buffaloes.

In the second round I had several options on my mind, including a stellar defensive shortstop in 17-year-old Bobby Dodd. But the second round is a bit high to draft a defensive shortstop. In my opinion at least. The damn Elks thought otherwise and took him with the #64 selection.

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2051 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#8) – SP/CL Matt Walters, 21, from Oro Valley, AZ – left-hander with a very strong fastball/curve combo and looking for a strong third pitch to take him over the top. Surely not risk-free, but there should be a good reward either way.
Round 2 (#49) – RF/LF/1B Josh Vasilakos, 17, from Westfield, NY – not overwhelming on defense with limited agility, but at least he wraps the rotund form into some impressive power while making consistent contact.
Round 3 (#73) – SP Nick Hampton, 18, from Fountainbleau, FL – a bit of a suspicious drop to the third round, this right-hander has a high potential on all three of his pitches, a cutter, curve, and slider. Control seems like a way bigger problem than pitch selection.
Round 4 (#97) – 2B/SS/OF/3B Tim Line, 19, from Nogales, AZ – defensively adept, quick super utility player with a very patient eye, but not much home run power.
Round 5 (#121) – CL Jason Mack, 22, from New Brunswick, NJ – right-hander throwing a 94mph fastball with a big old loopy curve, and a changeup amounting to leave that one in the bullpen.
Round 6 (#145) – INF/LF Tommy Hannoush, 22, from Vinton, TX – very adept, slick-fielding middle infielder, and hitting like one.
Round 7 (#169) – OF/1B Tim Lange, 18, from McHenry, IL – more of an on-base type of hitting profile, without a lot of power, speed, or defense.
Round 8 (#193) – MR Craig Neal, 20, from Bonavista, Canada – lefty with fastball/slider, and enough introversion to look even his coach in the eye, but when he faces batters, you can see the hatred flicker in his eyes. Plus passion for sure!
Round 9 (#217) – 3B/RF Randy Bruce, 17, from Stanford, CA – tough out at the plate, some power, but also tough to watch run or field…
Round 10 (#241) – C Matt Stanton, 20, from Florence, OR – works well with pitchers and has a good throwing arm, but looks like everybody’s grandma when swinging a bat. Can’t run either.
Round 11 (#265) – SP Adam Ide, 18, from Plymouth, IN – the most interesting thing about this year’s Nick Brown Memorial Pick is that he’s three-eighths Japanese; apart from that he gets taken deep a lot with his department store-grade 86mph fastball and curve.
Round 12 (#289) – 1B Ian Thore, 18, from Jamestown, NC – pretty much all things about him are “oh, yeah, typical first baseman”, except that he doesn’t have any power either…
Round 13 (#313) – C/1B Hector Castro, 17, from Carolina, Puerto Rico – complete shot in the dark; our scouts hate him; the other 23 teams hate him; somehow OSA loves his contact and power potential…

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As always, some older picks had to go, although this time only a pawful of them were former draft picks. These included left-handers Matt Spurgin (2049, 7th round), Bobby Turner (2049, 11th), catchers Malik Morris (2048, 8th), Ramiro Ramirez (2049, 12th), and outfielder Jeff Kjar (2047, 6th).

All of this year’s draft picks were assigned to Aumsville.