[Westheim]

2034 AMATEUR DRAFT

With half the league, including the Critters, having an off day on the Thursday of the draft, I wasn’t going to miss any agony on the field. How lucky I was!

The Raccoons would have two first-round selections and one more in the supplemental round. Our play in 2033 had merited the #17 pick, while we had received the Condors’ #20 pick and the supplemental round choice for their signing of Mario Rosas. Not that the Condors had been stripped down; they had received two compensatory first round picks of their own that were even better than their original #20 pick, and the Thunder had also received two such picks in the first round and had kept their own, leading to the weird situation of Tijuana, Portland, and Oklahoma City holding six consecutive first-round picks, and seven in the second half of the round in total.

There were no obvious favorites going into the draft this time, given that at #17 you weren’t likely to win their souls and limbs anyway. We did have a 102-player shortlist, though, plus the usual hotlist, which held a dozen players this time around
(* indicates HS player):

SP Chris Watson (13/13/14) * - BNN #6
SP David Farris (14/12/9) – BNN #10
SP Lazaro Cavazos (12/14/12) * - BNN #3
SP Ryan Person (13/11/8) * - BNN #8

CL Chris Manley (20/13/7)

C/1B John Hill (15/9/11) * - BNN #2
C Jorge Santa Cruz (10/13/13) – BNN #9

3B/2B/RF Jared Paul (14/13/9) *
INF Jon Caskey (10/11/11)

LF/RF/2B/3B Mike Preble (11/13/9)
OF Mike Hall (14/7/10) – BNN #1
OF/1B/2B Bob Mancini (11/13/14) * - BNN #4

As predicted by BNN, Mike Hall went first overall to the Aces. This was followed by Mike Preble to the Scorpions and Ryan Person to the Rebels, Jared Paul to the Loggers and Chris Watson to the Falcons to complete the top 5. The damn Elks were the first team to make a selection outside the hotlist, taking right-handed college pitcher Matt Sealock at #6.

The hotlist kept thinning out though; Bob Mancini went #7 to Topeka, Jorge Santa Cruz at #8 to Cincy, and David Farris to Atlanta with the #9 pick. After a short intermission of lesser-ranked selections, the Miners took John Hill at #13, but he was the final hotlist player gone by the time of our first pick. At that point, three hotlisted boys were left: Lazaro Cavazos, Chris Manley on the pitching side, and Jon Caskey as infielder.

The 20-year-old Caskey was said to be thorough and studious of game and techniques, but also so shy that he was hiding from scouts; we hadn’t actually *seen* him on the field, but had gone by his stats accumulated by the USC statistician, because he was indeed playing – he was just camouflaging very well. He had a wide range and strong arm, recommending him for the left side of the infield, and indeed fit a bit into that Matt Nunley mold of third basemen, also with the bat which was likely to be solid throughout without challenging for the home run crown or the batting title. He did have some speed and was probably good for 15+ bases at least in his 20s. A lot to like here, but probably not a Player of the Year going forwards.

At rival UCLA, Chris Manley was a right-handed fireballer throwing a 97mph fastball and a breakneck slider. The problem was that not only could batters not keep up with the ball, but he himself couldn’t either. Control was a big issue here, and he was already 22, so the question was how good he could actually end up; Wally Gaston was a former Raccoon that came to mind, and while Wally Gaston was a staple of the 1980s Raccoons, they would have been better with a better pen… The last guy in the triplet was a Puerto Rican right-hander in high school in New York, Cavazos. He figured to be a groundballer with a good selection of pitches. Cutter, slider, a curve that tended to hang, and a changeup that needed work, but he was only 19. In the end, the Raccoons sided with Cavazos as their first selection. While we thought a tad more of Jon Caskey, we also thought that Caskey was more likely to survive the next two picks and be available at #20.

And he did! Manley did not, taken at #18 by the Thunder, which at that point was *alright*. The Condors took outfielder Chris Boles at #19, and Caskey dropped to the Critters as intended. This also finished off the annual hotlist, with no leftovers past the top 20. We would follow that up with an offensive-minded selection for our supplemental round choice, taking Jeff Wilson at #33. Wilson was a right-handed batting catcher slash first baseman. He was probably average at best behind the dish, but not a horrendous fielder at first base. It might even be possible to get him to be semi-serviceable at second base or a corner outfield spot, turning him into a special third-string catcher utility. He had some boom in his bat, although the main promise was good contact and the ability to lay off crap and only swing at stuff actually reachable with the stick.

PORTLAND RACCOONS 2034 DRAFT CLASS:

Round 1 (#17) – SP Lazaro Cavazos, 19, from Carolina, Puerto Rico – sturdy right-handed groundballer throwing the heat at 93 and adding a slider and so-so curve to the mix, plus a changeup with the potential of devastation.
Round 1 (#20) – INF Jon Caskey, 20, from Castaic, CA – well-rounded infielder suited for the left side of the infield with good range and a strong arm; balanced bat with both contact and power potential, but not going to threaten for awards there. Think Matt Nunley and all will be well.
Supp. Round (#33) – C/1B Jeff Wilson, 21, from Des Plaines, IL – right-handed potential high-average, mid-power first baseman that was also adept enough in the field to perhaps learn a few other positions, including second base and the corner outfield spots.
Round 2 (#61) – RF/LF/1B Bill Balaski, 19, from Burlington, Canada – high-average bat with some power and speed but questionable defense all around.
Round 3 (#85) – CL Chris Womble, 20, from Avondale, AZ – right-handed groundballer with fastball and curveball that offered up quite some potential.
Round 4 (#109) – SP Jim Norton, 18, from Rayne, LA – right-handed finesse guy; he was only throwing an 88mph cut fastball, but nibbled corners well enough with slider and splitter to drive high school players into a fit of rage, so maybe there was something to him after all.
Round 5 (#133) – 2B Aaron Segall, 18, from Manhattan, NY – quirky middle infielder with a weak arm that could not realistically play the left side of the infield. Good speed with some solid OBP qualities; for some reason or other OSA and 23 other teams hated him, but our scout guy (Menendez? Marquez? Mendez? Whatever.) liked him very much.
Round 6 (#157) – OF Jordan Gonzalez, 17, from Kissimmee, FL – another player rated highly by only our scouts. We saw good contact potential and maybe a fit for centerfield with good range. No power in this bat; and no love from OSA, either.
Round 7 (#181) – C Brad Selleck, 21, from Phoenix, AZ – smart, defensive-minded catcher. Maybe someone could teach him how to hold a bat, too.
Round 8 (#205) – INF/LF Steve Nickas, 20, from Fort Worth, TX – none of the questions were about his defense, which was very good at several positions, or his speed, which was good enough to swipe double digits with ease….. if he’d ever make it on base.
Round 9 (#229) – MR James Waller, 21, from Washington, DC – righty with a 90mph fastball, goodish slider, and absolutely no plan which zip code to throw it to.
Round 10 (#253) – MR Tyler Ellerbe, 21, from Tonawanda CDP, NY – from the same mold as the former; right-hander throwing 90, curveball, abysmal control. Both are part of the dime-a-dozen offer in the second half of the draft.
Round 11 (#277) – SP David Bentley, 18, from Indianapolis, IN – left-hander (of course!) with a fastball, slider, and a changeup we’d ask him to leave at home before coming to camp.
Round 12 (#301) – INF/RF Brandon Bill, 18, from Dora, AL – alright-enough defense at multiple positions, some speed, paltry contact, and little power.
Round 13 (#325) – 1B/3B/RF/LF Ryan Hutchins, 19, from Baltimore, MD – his positions remind you of Mark Dawson, but that is already everything that reminds you of Mark Dawson. Good throwing arm. Period.

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I like to take a 17-year-old extreme-longshot pitcher in the last round, but in an odd quirk the draft was entirely stripped of pitchers by #325. 28 players were left over, all position players, and in fact Hutchins is a leftover from last year. He was actually the last guy on the shortlist (only Bentley was drafted while not being on that); I doubt he was on last year, when our scout guy was much more in line with OSA’s rough prediction of 5/3/6 potential. I doubt he’s actually seen something missed by every other team twice and passed on by every other team 25 times.

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All draft picks were assigned to the Beagles. Of course there was also culling going on at the same time. Axed players included, but were not limited to (there is always the odd trash heap, minor-league signing given out that doesn’t make it into the report):

MR Joe Rudd (2028, 7th Round), walking 8.3/9 in AAA last year… and 10.4/9 this year; MR Drew Byrd (2032, 5th Round), completely out of control; MR Scott Milano (2032, 9th Round), just plain bad; MR Mitch Hajduk (2031, 11th Round) after three full year of walking 7+ per nine innings in Aumsville; 1B Justin Julien (2032, 12th Round), can’t hit, flat-out; C Jeremy Larson (2032, 7th Round), can’t hit just the same; OF Jose Pena (2030 FA signing), again, no batting going on here;

More cuts were going to be made in terms of infielders in the lower levels. We had an absolute glut of well-fielding third basemen and shortstops, none of whom hit anything…