Team and Pitching Coaches Excited to Draft Yang - 64.06

[neugey]

“We got him!”, proclaimed Bauer on a non-descript Friday afternoon.

In a GBC draft where the pitching talent seemed generally weak, the Moscow scouting team identified one pitcher that clearly stood above the others. His name is Pang Yang. To the team’s delight, the hard-throwing righty fell to the twelfth overall pick and the T-Bears eagerly snatched him up.

“Other teams were likely a bit nervous about taking Yang because of his injury status,” explained Bauer. “But we’re confident this shoulder inflammation is something we can work through. We’ll be patient with it, and he should be able to start in A-ball in early/mid-August. That’ll give us about a month to evaluate Yang’s progress.”

The veteran GM then paused. “Scratch that, there’s nothing to evaluate. The kid already has a top tier fastball and curveball. We see him as the best pitcher in this draft. I can’t help that he’s a reliever and he’s ahead of these starting pitchers in their development. That’s the way it goes. His movement and control are already at a pro level and he chucks his pitches in there at 96+ MPH regularly. There’ll be no need to develop his control, increase his velocity or refine his pitch quality. He’ll just need about a year in the minors to get accustomed to facing better hitters and tune up mentally for what’s to come. We’re fully expecting Pang to sling it in the Moscow bullpen in a year or so. Outside of the current injury – which we expected our trainers to deal with effectively – this is as low-risk as it gets, landing a no-doubt major leaguer in the draft.”

Yang, despite never having set foot outside of China in his life, has extreme popularity in the city of Moscow. “We don’t know why the fans are indifferent to some of their fellow Russian baseball players, yet already regard Yang as their personal superstar,” remarked Bauer. “But it works, we’ll go with it, and we’re happy to be adding a player that the fans want to come out and see.”

Rounds 3-20 of the draft will continue during this weekend, and Bauer was asked about the players the team was targeting.

“We’ll keep that quiet,” Bauer remarked. “But I will say there are pockets of players in this draft we also really like. We also feel great about many of the young men we currently have allocated to our lower minors. We cannot wait to conclude the draft and maximize the quality and depth of our farm.”