[Westheim]

2043 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

The 2043 amateur draft was merely two weeks away at this stage and the Raccoons had dutifully sorted through the Youth of America once more and had found 117 players for the shortlist (including three listed as both pitchers and hitters), and how could we do without the annual hotlist of about a dozen or so players that we’d take in a heartbeat. Players with * are high school standouts.

SP Kellen Lanning (12/12/9)
SP C.J. Benjamin (12/12/12)
SP Luke Schwartz (12/12/12)
SP Jeremy Baker (12/12/13)
SP Joe Wilson (12/12/11)
SP Garrett Guistino (11/13/13)

SP Barry Montgomery (16/16/12) *
CL Brian Grohoski (18/14/7)

C Nick Samuel (10/12/13)

UT Mike Proffitt (9/11/10)

OF/1B Mike Harmon (9/13/12)
OF Jim Vesey (8/12/8) *
OF Brent Cramer (13/8/9) *
OF Tony Lopez (12/12/12)
OF/1B Ken Crum (10/12/11)

Yes, it was more of a pitcher year, and some of our reports by Scout Guy were not necessarily in line with OSA or with the kids’ batting stats. The infielder selection was particularly dire, with Proffitt being of the super utility sort. But if you looked for a shortstop with any sort of bat, you’d be disappointed.

Montgomery was entered into the draft as a starter, but lacked a third pitch and looked more like a lights-out closer to me. Stamina and everything else was there, but was he worth the toss of the dice in the first round? OSA was particularly enthusiastic about Lanning and Benjamin, who were rated about 14 on average. The former was a righty, the latter a lefty. Neither had much stamina, but Benjamin was rather on the low end, rated at 6.

We’d have the #7 pick in every round in the draft, so one off this list was guaranteed to fall to the Critters.