PREVIEWING THE 1929 DRAFT
PART 2 - CATCHERS
It does not look like a very strong draft year for catchers. I would be surprised if any of them go in the first two rounds. Here are the 10 I would say are the best of the bunch.
1-WILBUR HODGES - St Patirck's: One of the best hitting catchers available, slashed .332/.408/.422.
2-DICK MILLER - Dickson College: slashed .307/.395/.488 with 10 homers. Defense might be a big of a concern with Miller though.
3-DAN GARDNER - Wisconsin State: hit .328 with a bit of power (7 HR) but threw out just 32% of would be base stealers.
4-MIKE BERNING- Lynn HS: Pretty good defensive catcher, threw out 56% of base runners. Had a down year at the plate, batting .281. Won't get a lot of extra base hits.
5-ANDY ROSS - Wichita HS: Has to be the best defensive catcher available. 78% CS and a decent CERA. Not bad as a hitter, slashing .261/.325/.304 but obviously will get even less extra base hits than Berning.
6-TOMMY HARDIN - Washington DC HS: Another very good high school defensive catcher but likely will have trouble contributing offensively with a .267/.325/.320 slash line. While his defense greatly improved, Hardin's offense regressed over his high school career.
7-JOHN BARTLETT - Milwaukee HS: slashed .286/.353/.364 in his only season playing high school ball. Looked pretty good behind the plate, 55% Caught stealing, good CERA as well.
8-CHUCK STEPHENS - Portland HS: hit over .300 in both of his high school seasons and hit 7 homers a year ago but just 1 in the same number of games this season. Decent defensive numbers though.
9-AL ROBERTSON- Commonwealth Catholic: Makes the list because he is about the only draft eligible catcher with some pop in his bat, belting 10 homers after getting 5 each of his two college seasons. Needs to make better contact though as he slashed .244/.322/.475 and defense might be suspect.
10-BUNNY HAIGH - Henry Hudson University: slashed .288/.383/.405 which was a big improvement from a .192 batting average as a sophomore. Had some power his freshman year when he hit 8 homers but dropped to 3 this season as a junior.