Off Topic
Like the rest of the BBA movers and shakers, the Yellow Springs Nine front office is off in some exotic place making selections that will restrict the professional freedom that several young players will be able to exert for the next decade or so of their lives. Draft day is always a gala event, filled with a mix of bravado and despair usually made in equal parts—with some, however, suggesting this class my be more on the despair and less on the bravado.
Time as always, will tell.
Fervent Nine fans can’t be bothered to wait for time, though, which is good for us because then we can rake in the big bucks by selling this swill we’re calling a draft review.
Enough with the pre-game festivities, though. There’s a pool out back, and a margarita with my name on it waiting.
Let’s take a look at the Nine’s “haul,” moving now to the fourth round:
Jesus, God … A Guy Who Played Games!
ROUND 3 SELECTION: Jim Ray (SP/RP)
Apparently unable to find another high schooler who hadn’t actually played baseball in school, the YS9 front office emerged from their alcohol-besotted vacation draft offices to announce the selection of 6’2” native of Minneapolis, Jim Ray as their fourth round pick. Ray Jim joins Edgar Gary in the two-first-names gang, which immediately suggests the club sees this as a chemistry pick. It’s said that Ray was also able to obtain a discount on battery recharge services from the Shell Solar Power company that supports the high school closer’s school.
Ray had a successful career at Shell High, if by success you mean he actually appeared in some games. Otherwise, it’s probably not such a good idea to look at his numbers.
Buzz from the club says that they view Ray’s general lack of success against high school hitters on the idea that the team’s manager didn’t use him properly. “The manager is a distant relative of Loserville GM Stephen Shaw, so if you get the idea that he spent most of the team’s games drinking scotch and smoking Cuban cigars you’re probably not far off,” said one Nine scout. Word is that despite its lack of a real fastball, the club sees his three-pitch repertoire as something of value and intends to see if they can stretch Ray out into a starter.
For his part, Ray’s advisors say the team may have wasted the pick, since Ray will be extremely hard to ink unless the club poines up “slot money.” Originally, the team seems to have interpreted it as requesting the standard money that a player taken in that draft position would command, but recent videos have emerged of Shaw sitting at a slot machine over this draft weekend, pulling the leaver and screaming “Gimme a goddamned Bourges!” So some doubt is being cast on that original phrasing.
Stuff Movement Control Velo STM Inj Type 3/5 3/6 3/5 91 MPH 3 Normal Normal
Repertoire Scouted Cutter 5/7 Curveball 5/7 Slider 5/8
Projection: It’s clear Ray is going to need some help from either the baseball gods or perhaps those connections his manager has in order to make it in the big leagues. That said, when we squint we can see him having some success as an inning eater in low leverage situations.
Last Word: Despite being 18 years old, Ray appears to be somewhat developed, which suggests to the club that he might start his professional career in Short-A with the Cat Island Pirates. This idea seems good to Ray. “I’ve always wanted to play baseball on an island owned by Mikki Manning,” he recently said.
