June 5, 2053
Yellow Springs, OH – The Yellow Springs Nine are proud to announce the signing of all 20 of their draft picks. They are listed below with some commentary by GM Rob McMonigal.
1st Round: C Jim Kantor. A graduate of the Amoco Torch, where he hit .270 with 9 home runs in his final year, Kantor brings his large frame (6' 2", 200 lbs) to the Nine organization. Originally drafted by Lousiville out of McDonald's, Kantor went to college and improved his draft stock considerably. His 2052 line of 15 HR, .263 average and 1.026 OPS definitely caught the attention of the Nine's scouts. There are some concerns about his framing, which currently sits at a negative number, -6.1"We needed some offensive spark in our minors," said McMonigal, and Jim's a power-hitting catcher with the tools to grow into being behind the plate. Jim's only 20 after all. He's also got a good eye, which helps keep his strikeouts down. We're happy to have him and look forward to the day he's wearing a Nine uniform, which I expect will be around 2056. He'll start in the rookie league, but I expect a promotion during the season unless he struggles, which he won't."
"Everyone talks about this draft having 'lesser' talent but I'm not sure I agree with that assessment. You look at someone like Abdul-Halim and you see a player who's getting better year over year. You see him reducing his walks, improving his strikeouts. That's the type of player we want in our system."
3rd Round: 1B Leonardo Arevalo. Just 16 but with a lot of pop in his bat, the 16 year old hit 13 home runs in his final year of high school. Scouts like his ability to hit for average and power. There are some rumours of instability, but his potential led scouts to remain high on his ability to make the majors some day.
"I'm a little worried about his maturity, not going to lie. But those muscles are so strong now and he's only got room to grow. He's a giant at 6' 7", too. The question is whether he can handle the competition with men who are often five years older."
4th Round: IF/OF Sergio Torres. Torres, 20 and 6' 2", 190lbs, is a jack of all trades style player, getting time at both second, short, and the corner outfield positions. It's flexibility that helps go along with a .841 OPS at Manila. Not exactly numbers that shriek out at you, but his arm strength and ability to turn a double play turned heads.
"What we liked about Sergio was that he has some positional flexibility along with the ability to hit the ball. We aren't saying he's pidgeonholed as a role player, but we also would be very happy to have a roleplayer as good as he projects to be."
5th Round: P Ryan Edwards. Another younger player at just 16, the 6' 1" groundball pitcher has an amazing curveball that, if he ends up moving to the bullpen as expected, will serve him extremely well. The US Steel alum may not have a fire arm, throwing in the high 80s, but his k/9 of 10.9 in his final year shows he mixes up his pitches well.
"Going this young is always a risk, and honestly his grades showed he was not going to be college material. But I liked that he had no obvious holes in his game, and the progression of his metric stats from year to year convinced us we should pull the trigger, as we didn't expect to see him in the next round.
6th Round: P Erik Johnson. A starter with an insanely good changeup, control issues are his big bane, with a bb/9 around 5. He'll need to improve on that to stick in the majors.
7th Round: P Ignacio Garcia. He made strides in his final year at Jakarta, but the lack of strong stuff and only 2 pitches means a path to the majors is unclear.
8th Round: P Marc Holtby. A 21 year old lefty who throws 6 pitches, but none of them expertly. He struggled to begin with at Manila, but put it all together in 2053 as a swingman, with a sparkling 1.14 WHIP and k/9 of 7.6. "I was shocked he was still there in the eighth round. Shocked, but happy. This is the kind of kid who can go far if he puts his mind to it, and he's already showing signs of being a leader in the locker room. Is it weird for me, who did the drafting, to call this a sleeper pick?"
9th Round: IF/OF Jeremiah Rivers. The 20 year old can play everywhere except first base and catcher and can probably do those, too, if you asked. Not much of a bat "He couldn't hit a homer if they moved the fences into little league level" quipped a scout once, but the glove and ability to slide in anywhere should provide a path forward.
10th Round: P Steve Frakes. 2 pitch reliever with some control issues, he's most likely just filler for the organization.
11th Round: P Bill Beals. The tall, lanky (6' 4", 175 lbs) 17 year old has had solid, if unspectacular numbers in high school, walking around 4 players per nine innings and striking out 8 to 10 in the same average. A likely move to the bullpen could give him time to make his curveball even deadlier.
12th Round: P Terry Helton. Another 2 pitch reliever, said to have good control but has a bb/9 of 4.5 to 5 yearly. Running out of time to figure it all out, but he'll get the chance with the Nine's reportedly excellent training staff.
13th Round: IF/OF Manny Galindo. Versitile but no bat. Best year was .231 in high school.
14th Round: If Ange Muller. One of the oldest selected by the Nine at 22, Muller's able to play all 3 infield positions and is said to be an instant leader in any dugout. He'll need that to overcome a career college batting average of .203.
"Muller isn't foolish. He knows he's unlikely to make it. But what we liked was his ability to be unselfish, work his ass off to be better, and to convince all the kids around him to do the same. He'll do a lot for us that's intangible, I hope."
15th Round: OF Bill Gerlach. The 20 year old was was a part timer for Chevron with a decent bat (around .250 average) and can play both left and right.
16th to 20th Rounds. P James McGaughey (22, only one year of college, major issues with movement), P Orlando Barrios (21, hard worker with 4 pitches but walk rates of 6 or more per nine yearly), P Frank Harding (17, strong curveball but not much else), P Gary Weekley (20, 4 pitches but another high walk rate of 6+ per nine), and P Daniel Contreras (17, again issues with walking batters but with high k/9 of 11.1 in 2053).
"Overall, I'm extremely happy with my first draft, given how far down in the selections we were and with the scouts coming back with conflicting information on so many players. But the real test will be in the games that star here in a few days. That's when we'll see who can meet or exceed their talent."
All players will begin on either the Rookie or Short A teams. None were made available for interview.
