[Westheim]

2029 AMATEUR DRAFT

After Stonecipher’s long-relief heroics for his first major league win I hopped over to the league offices in New York along with the guy that had run our scouting department for the last few years, you know… that… that guy… (clicks fingers in vain trying to come up with the name)

The Raccoons did not expect much at all from this draft, given that we had signed away our #23 pick to the Aces when we had inked Tom Shumway to a 5-year deal (and I dare say that the early signs are that it was worth it). We would have the 23rd pick in all other rounds, while we also had a pick in the supplemental round, which was compensation for the loss of Jon Correa. This remained the #37 pick as pointed out earlier when I quickly showcased the draft pool, since Ian Prevost – still injured – remained unsigned through draft day and the Gold Sox lost their potential compensation to the big black void.

Speaking of the draft pool and personnel within, as already pointed out this was more of a batter’s draft, with the hotlist outlined beneath (* notes high school players; ^ notes two-way player):

SP Justin Kaiser (13/15/10) * – BNN #8
SP Rick Haugh (12/12/10) – BNN #2
SP Kent Turner (12/13/9) – BNN #5

RP Gabe Creech (16/13/9) ^ – BNN #4

C Mitch Cook (11/12/13)

INF/RF Billy Bouldin (15/3/5)
1B Ryan St. Pierre (9/15/14)
INF Josh Barnett (12/10/11) *

OF Sean Calais (13/10/4) * – BNN #3
3B/RF/LF Sonny Deming (9/11/13)
OF John Baron (8/14/12)

Of course I had no illusions of grabbing any of these. The Rebels could have illusions, given that they had the #1 draft pick for the 2029 selecting bonanza. They picked that high school pitcher up there, Justin Kaiser, to begin the pickery. The Blue Sox took Billy Bouldin at #2, while Mitch Cook went #3 to the Falcons. The Indians’ selection of John Baron, and the Scorpions taking Sean Calais completed the top 5 – all from the hotlist – and it continued like that with Gabe Creech going to the Loggers at #6, and Rick Haugh to the Bayhawks at #7; only after that the Gold Sox took OF/SS Tyler Miles as the first player not on our hotlist.

After that it was Kent Turner to the Knights as the 15th selection, but that was actually all for the last two thirds of the first round proper. For future reference, the Aces took SS Bill Hill with our #23 pick. Surefire Hall of Famer there!

The Aces also took the third-to-last player from our hotlist, Josh Barnett, with the #28 pick – but that was actually it. To our great surprise, Sonny Deming and Ryan St. Pierre remained left over by the time our #37 rolled around. Oh dear – choices! There was something to be said about high power bats, though, and there was only one high power bat left in the selection – St. Pierre.

Sonny Deming would actually linger around all the way to the #58 pick when the Miners had mercy on him and selected him with their second-round choice, just before the Raccoons could get engaged again…

There were also two pitchers named Jesse Erickson in this draft; a right-handed and a left-handed one. The Titans picked them both.

2029 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Supp. Round (#37) – 1B Ryan St. Pierre, 21, from Minneapolis, MN – prototypical first baseman with very high power potential, not much in terms of high average, but maybe some strikeout issues. He did have patience though and might draw walks, if that was what you wanted from your vaunted cleanup hitter with three on and one out – set up a double play!
Round 2 (#62) – SP Bob Thomson, 18, from Dallas, TX – left-hander with a soft fastball (although he had room to add to that 88mph), but an interesting slider-changeup combo that could make him a valuable big leaguer, although in all honesty maybe more in a corner-nibbler role rather than flashy 10 K per game.
Round 3 (#86) – SS/3B Chris Pothen, 18, from Manhattan, NY – does a bit of all, batting for average, decent eye, good speed, solid defense; nowhere over the top, but nowhere does he appear to be really weak, and he could be a fairly decent infielder of the Matt Nunley mold in the sense of an upper-middle round pick with a balanced profile.
Round 4 (#110) – C/1B David Tinnin, 22, from Houston, TX – good defensive catcher, pretty smart, but the big question mark is whether he can hit enough to become viable; hitting for *some* power for Rice College, but not much, and not exactly a sparkling average, either.
Round 5 (#134) – LF Brian Cannon, 17, from Avondale, AZ – big wild card pick and a weird profile for a corner outfielder; he has hardly any range in the outfield and not much of an arm and might be better off as first baseman, but also does not hit for much power. He seems to have a good OBP bat, and despite his lack of range is very good at stealing bases; it is very likely that he amounts to nothing, ever, but at least he is a high schooler and has a lot of time to grow.
Round 6 (#158) – CL Kyle Green, 20, from Chula Vista, CA – right-hander throwing 90mph with a changeup and knuckle curve, but he has not mastered either one of those yet, and should come up with at least one of them… not much stamina apparently, so he will always be a reliever.
Round 7 (#182) – CL Sean Jaeger, 20, from Prattville, AL – right-hander with a 92mph heater and a swooping curve that can dart sideways to confuse the hitters.
Round 8 (#206) – CF/RF Matt Tate, 18, from Chillicothe, OH – wide range in center, but not much of a bat and absolutely no power…
Round 9 (#230) – 1B/RF/3B Cody Monk, 21, from La Follette, TN – how many strong defensive first basemen are in the Hall of Fame? Right.
Round 10 (#254) – SS Matt Carusi, 20, from Tallulah, LA – very good defensive shortstop, but a strict singles slapper and he doesn’t even have much speed to make himself a RISP presence after singling…
Round 11 (#278) – CL Elijah Crutchfield, 20, from Springdale, AR – left-hander (of course!) with an array of mediocre pitches and ill command, which is a lot more than what we wrote about Nick Brown almost 25 years ago!
Round 12 (#302) – C Dave Osmer, 18, from Gambier, OH – I asked, and we HAVE to pick somebody… OSA hardly ranks him able to jog, but somehow our scouting department gave him fair grades in some areas. Oh well, whatever!
Round 13 (#326) – SS/2B Joe Cinquegrana, 19, from Joplin, MO – there might be some power here, there surely is some defense here, but somehow it is all covered in those white packaging chips and a pile of lint.

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All draft selections were assigned to Aumsville.

We also canned a handful of guys right away and would continue to cull a few more for the rest of the season. Gone were among others 2023 sixth-rounder RHP Dale Autry, hopelessly stuck in AA (and already 28 years old); 2028 ninth-rounder 1B Danny Vera, essentially legally blind at the plate; same for 2028 eighth-rounder 2B/SS Roy Werden; and 2024 international free agent C Jesus Florian, who had cost us $18k back then; plus some scouting discoveries and random trash heap signings.