[Westheim]

1989 AMATEUR DRAFT

The Raccoons were picking 11th in every round, and 9th in the 39-pick supplemental round. Our projected top cherries have been outlined earlier, but they are:

SP Garrett Danton (18/19/13)
SP Eduardo Salazar (12/14/18)
SP Joe Mann (12/19/13)
MR Gabriel De La Rosa (19/19/14)
CL Roberto Delgado (18/18/16)
MR Brody Burrell (20/16/10)
C Luis Moran (18/5/13; good catching abilities)
1B Jim Cutler (19/16/14)
INF Tom McAndrew (20/3/12)
RF/LF Roman Reyes (20/19/18)
LF/RF Connor Starr (14/13/16)

So many good boys in there, you didn’t know whom to select. Thankfully, the Sacramento Scorpions and nine other teams would pick before the Coons to thin out the flock a little. The Scorpions made SP Joe Mann the first overall pick in the 1989 class, and we sighed deeply and struck him off our shortlist. Most of the early picks didn’t come from our Top 11 there, but from like the extended Top 25, so we still had a difficult time to pick. By the time we picked in the supplemental round, only three players remained from the shorter list, and none after that. With one exception: Brody Burrell, but we suddenly shied back from him. I discovered a fragile label on him (don’t know if it was there before or not), and passed on him in the second round (also, we already had picked two pitchers). He was still there in the third round – and we passed him for an outfielder. The Capitals took him 104th overall.

1989 Raccoons Draft Class

Round 1 (#11) – SP Eduardo Salazar, 23, from Sosúa, Dom. Rep. – great repertoire of pitches, with six pitches in total in his arsenal, not all top notch, but he’s able to keep hitters guessing forever
Supp. Round (#33) – MR Gabriel De La Rosa, 18, from Havana, Cuba – kills people with a filthy splitter with a salivating whiff rate, has closer potential
Round 2 (#74) – 1B Rubén De La Rosa, 22, from Monte Cristi, Dom. Rep. – elite offensive basher, should rack up doubles in bushels, and can hold his ground defensively
Round 3 (#98) – OF/1B Rodrigo Correa, 21, from Levant, ME – good all around package of offense, defense, and running, and these guys always find a hole to play in
Round 4 (#122) – SP Brendon Bell, 17, from Waimanalo Beach, HI – four pitches, all with much development left to do, but the package is promising; stamina is very good, and if he gets at least two strong pitches, he can still go into long relief
Round 5 (#146) – MR Rafael Vázquez, 18, from Perrysburg, OH – left-hander with a good curveball, looks like made for situantional lefty duty
Round 6 (#170) – LF/RF Carl Price, 22, from Dallas, TX – agile and speedy corner outfielder, bat could turn out rather decent
Round 7 (#194) – MR Kenneth Hunter, 21, from Chesapeake, VA – right-hander with a curveball, of which there are a dime a dozen
Round 8 (#218) – C Ron McDonald, 18, from Oneonta, AL – so far not much promising stuff to discover here
Round 9 (#242) – CL Wilson Hall, 20, from Upper Saddle River, NJ – good slider, but that’s it
Round 10 (#266) – SP Denny Dixon, 18, from Vicksburg, MS – five pitches in the arsenal, but maybe he’s just throwing it randomly

Salazar and Rubén De La Rosa (who drafts two guys with the same surname back-to-back??) reported to AA ball, the rest to the A level team.