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ayaghmour2 · 03-28-2021, 03:08 PM

I had a little free time this weekend, so I decided to look back to my initial Cougar draft class and see how those players turned out 10 seasons later. Unlike our current 25 round drafts, this draft was only 15 rounds. There were a ton of undrafted FA's signed after, but I won't include those guys in this report.

1st Round, 4th Overall: 2B Bill Ashbaugh
You could say I hit on this pick. Sure, there were a lot of good and some better players then Ashbaugh in this draft, but Ashbaugh has quietly become one of the most effective hitters in the FABL. His 131 career homers are the most for any Cougar, and he owns an impressive .311/.376/.489 (135 OPS+) career batting line across 4,969 trips to the plate. Unfortunately, injuries have been common for the recently 32-year-old, who hasn't surpassed 140 games in the last three seasons after three straight of 150 or higher. Ashbaugh is a very patient hitter, with almost equal walks (478) as strikeouts (485) and while he's not as fast as he used to be, he did swipe double digit bags in '29, '30, and '31. Right now, he's our starting second basemen, but he'll have a lot of competition from one of our top prospects Ray Ford. Both have absolutely no defensive ability at second, but are extremely gifted hitters. 1936 will be year ten for our second longest tenured Cougar and I have no expectation to ever let Ashbaugh go somewhere else. Chances are his #9 might even end up in the rafters, as Ashbaugh has been one of the better Cougar players in their rather impressive history.

2nd Round, 20th Overall: SS Hank Mitchell
Trust me, all down hill after Ashbaugh. Mitchell was a guy my scout really liked, so I took the gamble on the switch hitter who could man almost any position. He toiled around in the minors for awhile before eventually debuting late in the 1931 season. He played just 3 games and failed to record a hit in 8 at bats. He's still hanging out in our system, and the 31-year-old hit .270/.346/.344 (80 OPS+) in 293 plate appearances with the Mobile Commodores. I used to really like Mitchell and thought he'd be a good future piece, but unfortunately, he never really ranked on our top prospect lists and turned out to be a minor league depth piece.

3rd Round, 36th Overall: LF Dick Fessel
He was featured a little bit in our early days as Dick Fessel started 71 games as a rookie in 1928. He held his own, hitting .273/.357/.349 (98 OPS+) with 3 homers, 8 steals, and 25 RBI's in 319 trips to the plate. An Illinois native, Fessel was our main starter in 1929 as well, with a pretty identical .306/.365/.394 (99 OPS+) line with 2 homers, 13 steals, and 40 RBI's in 359 trips to the plate. He lost his starting job in 1930 to John Dibblee, but had his best offensive season off the bench. He started just one of the 82 games he appeared in, but slashed .327/.373/.485 (120 OPS+) with a homer, steal, and 13 RBI's in 115 trips to the plate. That ended up being his last taste of the big leagues before retiring last year.

4th Round, 52nd Overall: C Ken Wyatt
I keep thinking I'm going to call Wyatt up to be our backup catcher, but it seems it never happens. Now 29, he's accumulated almost 4,000 minor league plate appearances despite stalling out in Milwaukee the last three years. Nothing special here, and my guess is he'll keep getting passed up on until he's cut or retired.

5th Round, 68th Overall: LHP Phil English
The first pitcher I selected, English didn't last too long in our system. He was part of a five player trade with the Stars in 1927, and then he debuted with them in 1928. He spent most of his time in the pen, but from 1928-1934 he tossed 423.2 innings with the Stars. They waived him last offseason when I placed a claim on him. Instead, the Wolves got him and he had an excellent rebound season. In 40.2 innings he was 3-4 with 7 saves, a 3.76 ERA (119 ERA+), 1.52 WHIP, 14 walks, and 23 strikeouts. For his career, English has a 4.28 ERA (108 ERA+), 1.48 WHIP, 194 walks, and 225 strikeouts. He's saved 51 games and is an even 29-29.

6th Round, 84th Overall: SS Clyde Hinzman
A personal favorite of mine, Hinzman was once ranked the 64th best prospect in the FABL, and he more or less helped us win a pennant. He was the return for Cy Bryant, who did an excellent job out in center for the 90+ win Cougar teams. He did debut with us in 1930 before the trade, and with us and the Wolves he owns a .251/.330/.346 (85 OPS+) batting line with 7 homers and 91 RBI's. He's appeared in 268 FABL games, including 80 or more in both '33 and '34 before just 1 this year. I brought Hinzman back last year to play short for us, but the 28-year-old spent most of this year in AAA learning first, second, and third. At once it appeared Hinzman could be a big league starter, but now he profiles as a perfect off the bench utility player. He's still got two options left, so it may be a while before he returns to the big league roster, but he'll get a shot to earn one of our bench spots this season.

7th Round, 100th Overall: 2B Rabbit Forrest
Johnny Douglas is the worst... Not only did he cost us John Lawson, but I had to use Forrest to get some sort of value from him. After being traded in July of 1929 to the Keystones, Forrest was named the 72nd best prospect next season. As a rookie in 1930, he made 649 trips to the plate and hit .342/.388/.422 (114 OPS+) in an excellent rookie season. He's lost playing time recently to Buck Sargent, but the switch hitter manned third for the Keystones during most of the 1930-1934 seasons. He's tallied 2,786 FABL plate appearances and hit .307/.360/.396 (105 OPS+) with 322 RBI's and a single FABL homer. He's likely to hang out on the Keystones bench, but he does have the talent to start for an FABL team.

8th Round, 116th Overall: RF Ralph Collier
From 1928-1934, Collier was in our minor league system. He made just 5 starts between 1932 and 1934, and just 88 with us. He is with the independent San Antonio Gunslingers, but Collier never amounted to much and likely will be out of the league in a season or two.

9th Round, 132nd Overall: RHP Dan Smith
A Chicago kid! Smith actually looked good year one, going 15-7 with a 3.65 ERA (120 ERA+), 1.22 WHIP, 84 walks, and 246 strikeouts in 219.2 innings with the Legislators. Then for some reason I waived him before the 1927 season, and the Foresters claimed him. He won a 1928 championship with the Toledo Tornados and tossed a no-hitter in 1930 back down in A ball, but it was all down hill after there. He bounced around the independent circuit before hanging up the cleats this offseason.

10th Round, 148th Overall: RF Curt Ross
Ross barely played in 1927 and 1928, but he kept grinding. It took all the way until 1931 before he got out of the low minors and in 1933 he got a cup of coffee with the Cougars. Ross was 0-for-4 in a start and bench appearance, but was then waived the following season. The Kings claimed him, but released him in July. Since then he's been with the San Antonio Gunslingers, 130 games over the past seasons and a half.

11th Round, 164th Overall: 1B Luke Nixon
Technically, I didn't make this pick, but he's actually one of the more successful ones. Nixon spent three seasons in Lincoln, with a 155 and 157 OPS+ in '27 and '28. He skipped AA, raked in AAA for 37 games, and then got his contract purchased. He spent 88 games in Chicago, batting a nice .328/.375/.467 (119 OPS+) with 5 homers, 11 steals, and 51 RBI's. Nixon was then part of one of our most important trades, joining three other Cougar prospects to acquire Max Wilder and Russ Combs from the Foresters. Nixon spent parts of the next three seasons in Cleveland, but made just 430 trips to the plate. We grabbed him off waivers during the 1932 postseason, and he got a cup of coffee with us in 1933. He's been stuck in the minors since, and now with Leo Mitchell entrenched at the first base position, I don't expect him to rejoin our big league club.

12th Round, 180th Overall: LF Earl Johnson
A Chicago HS grad, Earl Johnson was sent with Lou Gaffin July of 1930 for Dick Leudtke in another trade that worked out really well for us. Johnson was 22 at the time and hitting an impressive .320/.381/.524 (147 OPS+) with 8 homers, 16 steals, and 37 RBI's in one shy of 300 plate appearances. I think he was stuck behind Vince York, so I was willing to part with him. Unfortunately for the Gothams, neither him or Gaffin did much to help them, with Johnson hitting .222/.311/.315 (73 OPS+) in 61 PA's, most coming in 1933. He's in the Lone Star Association with the Waco Wranglers now, but my guess is Johnson's FABL days are numbered.

13th Round, 196th Overall: RF Ed Rhoden
Known for the glove, Rhoden debuted for us in 1930 and also spent a little time in the big leagues in 1931 before being sent to the Kings in May of '32 for Arnold Bower. Bower had a hot start to his Cougar career, but for the Kings, Rhoden hit a weak .148/.190/.167 (-4 OPS+) in 58 plate appearances with the Kings. They cut him prior to the 1934 season, and he hooked on with the Galveston Gunners and spent the last two seasons there.

14th Round, 212th Overall: CF Sam Reeves
Believe it or not, Reeves is still hanging around in our system. He hasn't gotten serious playing time since 1932 where he hit pretty well with the Commodores, but Reeves never really showed much big league potential. Now 28, he's nothing more then minor league depth. He doesn't play much center anymore, mostly hanging around first or a corner outfield spot.

15th Round, 228th Overall: 3B Frank Johnson
Despite never getting above Lincoln, he hung around until the 1932 season. Since he's been in independent ball, currently with Chink Stickels' former team, the Denver Plainsman. There's nothing too exciting when it comes to Johnson and it's a little surprising he still has a job.

Well, there you have it, my first FABL draft class. I 100% had no idea what I was doing, it was my first taste of stats-only gameplay, but I gotta say it could have been much worse. Ashbaugh was a legit star when he first came up, and I got a lot of decent prospects I was able to flip. Sure, just Ashbaugh actually did much for us, but we were able to indirectly get Russ Combs, Max Wilder, Dick Leudtke, and Cy Bryant. Rabbit Forest was still a hit and even Phil English wasn't too bad. There were a lot of really good pitchers in this draft, but I missed all of them. Still, can't complain too much with the results as it was no where near our worst class so far.

03-28-2021, 03:08 PM	#398
ayaghmour2 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 3,028	Looking back at the 1925 Draft Class I had a little free time this weekend, so I decided to look back to my initial Cougar draft class and see how those players turned out 10 seasons later. Unlike our current 25 round drafts, this draft was only 15 rounds. There were a ton of undrafted FA's signed after, but I won't include those guys in this report. 1st Round, 4th Overall: 2B Bill Ashbaugh You could say I hit on this pick. Sure, there were a lot of good and some better players then Ashbaugh in this draft, but Ashbaugh has quietly become one of the most effective hitters in the FABL. His 131 career homers are the most for any Cougar, and he owns an impressive .311/.376/.489 (135 OPS+) career batting line across 4,969 trips to the plate. Unfortunately, injuries have been common for the recently 32-year-old, who hasn't surpassed 140 games in the last three seasons after three straight of 150 or higher. Ashbaugh is a very patient hitter, with almost equal walks (478) as strikeouts (485) and while he's not as fast as he used to be, he did swipe double digit bags in '29, '30, and '31. Right now, he's our starting second basemen, but he'll have a lot of competition from one of our top prospects Ray Ford. Both have absolutely no defensive ability at second, but are extremely gifted hitters. 1936 will be year ten for our second longest tenured Cougar and I have no expectation to ever let Ashbaugh go somewhere else. Chances are his #9 might even end up in the rafters, as Ashbaugh has been one of the better Cougar players in their rather impressive history. 2nd Round, 20th Overall: SS Hank Mitchell Trust me, all down hill after Ashbaugh. Mitchell was a guy my scout really liked, so I took the gamble on the switch hitter who could man almost any position. He toiled around in the minors for awhile before eventually debuting late in the 1931 season. He played just 3 games and failed to record a hit in 8 at bats. He's still hanging out in our system, and the 31-year-old hit .270/.346/.344 (80 OPS+) in 293 plate appearances with the Mobile Commodores. I used to really like Mitchell and thought he'd be a good future piece, but unfortunately, he never really ranked on our top prospect lists and turned out to be a minor league depth piece. 3rd Round, 36th Overall: LF Dick Fessel He was featured a little bit in our early days as Dick Fessel started 71 games as a rookie in 1928. He held his own, hitting .273/.357/.349 (98 OPS+) with 3 homers, 8 steals, and 25 RBI's in 319 trips to the plate. An Illinois native, Fessel was our main starter in 1929 as well, with a pretty identical .306/.365/.394 (99 OPS+) line with 2 homers, 13 steals, and 40 RBI's in 359 trips to the plate. He lost his starting job in 1930 to John Dibblee, but had his best offensive season off the bench. He started just one of the 82 games he appeared in, but slashed .327/.373/.485 (120 OPS+) with a homer, steal, and 13 RBI's in 115 trips to the plate. That ended up being his last taste of the big leagues before retiring last year. 4th Round, 52nd Overall: C Ken Wyatt I keep thinking I'm going to call Wyatt up to be our backup catcher, but it seems it never happens. Now 29, he's accumulated almost 4,000 minor league plate appearances despite stalling out in Milwaukee the last three years. Nothing special here, and my guess is he'll keep getting passed up on until he's cut or retired. 5th Round, 68th Overall: LHP Phil English The first pitcher I selected, English didn't last too long in our system. He was part of a five player trade with the Stars in 1927, and then he debuted with them in 1928. He spent most of his time in the pen, but from 1928-1934 he tossed 423.2 innings with the Stars. They waived him last offseason when I placed a claim on him. Instead, the Wolves got him and he had an excellent rebound season. In 40.2 innings he was 3-4 with 7 saves, a 3.76 ERA (119 ERA+), 1.52 WHIP, 14 walks, and 23 strikeouts. For his career, English has a 4.28 ERA (108 ERA+), 1.48 WHIP, 194 walks, and 225 strikeouts. He's saved 51 games and is an even 29-29. 6th Round, 84th Overall: SS Clyde Hinzman A personal favorite of mine, Hinzman was once ranked the 64th best prospect in the FABL, and he more or less helped us win a pennant. He was the return for Cy Bryant, who did an excellent job out in center for the 90+ win Cougar teams. He did debut with us in 1930 before the trade, and with us and the Wolves he owns a .251/.330/.346 (85 OPS+) batting line with 7 homers and 91 RBI's. He's appeared in 268 FABL games, including 80 or more in both '33 and '34 before just 1 this year. I brought Hinzman back last year to play short for us, but the 28-year-old spent most of this year in AAA learning first, second, and third. At once it appeared Hinzman could be a big league starter, but now he profiles as a perfect off the bench utility player. He's still got two options left, so it may be a while before he returns to the big league roster, but he'll get a shot to earn one of our bench spots this season. 7th Round, 100th Overall: 2B Rabbit Forrest Johnny Douglas is the worst... Not only did he cost us John Lawson, but I had to use Forrest to get some sort of value from him. After being traded in July of 1929 to the Keystones, Forrest was named the 72nd best prospect next season. As a rookie in 1930, he made 649 trips to the plate and hit .342/.388/.422 (114 OPS+) in an excellent rookie season. He's lost playing time recently to Buck Sargent, but the switch hitter manned third for the Keystones during most of the 1930-1934 seasons. He's tallied 2,786 FABL plate appearances and hit .307/.360/.396 (105 OPS+) with 322 RBI's and a single FABL homer. He's likely to hang out on the Keystones bench, but he does have the talent to start for an FABL team. 8th Round, 116th Overall: RF Ralph Collier From 1928-1934, Collier was in our minor league system. He made just 5 starts between 1932 and 1934, and just 88 with us. He is with the independent San Antonio Gunslingers, but Collier never amounted to much and likely will be out of the league in a season or two. 9th Round, 132nd Overall: RHP Dan Smith A Chicago kid! Smith actually looked good year one, going 15-7 with a 3.65 ERA (120 ERA+), 1.22 WHIP, 84 walks, and 246 strikeouts in 219.2 innings with the Legislators. Then for some reason I waived him before the 1927 season, and the Foresters claimed him. He won a 1928 championship with the Toledo Tornados and tossed a no-hitter in 1930 back down in A ball, but it was all down hill after there. He bounced around the independent circuit before hanging up the cleats this offseason. 10th Round, 148th Overall: RF Curt Ross Ross barely played in 1927 and 1928, but he kept grinding. It took all the way until 1931 before he got out of the low minors and in 1933 he got a cup of coffee with the Cougars. Ross was 0-for-4 in a start and bench appearance, but was then waived the following season. The Kings claimed him, but released him in July. Since then he's been with the San Antonio Gunslingers, 130 games over the past seasons and a half. 11th Round, 164th Overall: 1B Luke Nixon Technically, I didn't make this pick, but he's actually one of the more successful ones. Nixon spent three seasons in Lincoln, with a 155 and 157 OPS+ in '27 and '28. He skipped AA, raked in AAA for 37 games, and then got his contract purchased. He spent 88 games in Chicago, batting a nice .328/.375/.467 (119 OPS+) with 5 homers, 11 steals, and 51 RBI's. Nixon was then part of one of our most important trades, joining three other Cougar prospects to acquire Max Wilder and Russ Combs from the Foresters. Nixon spent parts of the next three seasons in Cleveland, but made just 430 trips to the plate. We grabbed him off waivers during the 1932 postseason, and he got a cup of coffee with us in 1933. He's been stuck in the minors since, and now with Leo Mitchell entrenched at the first base position, I don't expect him to rejoin our big league club. 12th Round, 180th Overall: LF Earl Johnson A Chicago HS grad, Earl Johnson was sent with Lou Gaffin July of 1930 for Dick Leudtke in another trade that worked out really well for us. Johnson was 22 at the time and hitting an impressive .320/.381/.524 (147 OPS+) with 8 homers, 16 steals, and 37 RBI's in one shy of 300 plate appearances. I think he was stuck behind Vince York, so I was willing to part with him. Unfortunately for the Gothams, neither him or Gaffin did much to help them, with Johnson hitting .222/.311/.315 (73 OPS+) in 61 PA's, most coming in 1933. He's in the Lone Star Association with the Waco Wranglers now, but my guess is Johnson's FABL days are numbered. 13th Round, 196th Overall: RF Ed Rhoden Known for the glove, Rhoden debuted for us in 1930 and also spent a little time in the big leagues in 1931 before being sent to the Kings in May of '32 for Arnold Bower. Bower had a hot start to his Cougar career, but for the Kings, Rhoden hit a weak .148/.190/.167 (-4 OPS+) in 58 plate appearances with the Kings. They cut him prior to the 1934 season, and he hooked on with the Galveston Gunners and spent the last two seasons there. 14th Round, 212th Overall: CF Sam Reeves Believe it or not, Reeves is still hanging around in our system. He hasn't gotten serious playing time since 1932 where he hit pretty well with the Commodores, but Reeves never really showed much big league potential. Now 28, he's nothing more then minor league depth. He doesn't play much center anymore, mostly hanging around first or a corner outfield spot. 15th Round, 228th Overall: 3B Frank Johnson Despite never getting above Lincoln, he hung around until the 1932 season. Since he's been in independent ball, currently with Chink Stickels' former team, the Denver Plainsman. There's nothing too exciting when it comes to Johnson and it's a little surprising he still has a job. Well, there you have it, my first FABL draft class. I 100% had no idea what I was doing, it was my first taste of stats-only gameplay, but I gotta say it could have been much worse. Ashbaugh was a legit star when he first came up, and I got a lot of decent prospects I was able to flip. Sure, just Ashbaugh actually did much for us, but we were able to indirectly get Russ Combs, Max Wilder, Dick Leudtke, and Cy Bryant. Rabbit Forest was still a hit and even Phil English wasn't too bad. There were a lot of really good pitchers in this draft, but I missed all of them. Still, can't complain too much with the results as it was no where near our worst class so far.