62.5- Did I Draft Any Whoppers, Or Just Chum?

[chicoruiz]

Well, once again the draft has come and gone, and I have cast my net wide and far in search of future Gamblers. Now that the nets are pulled back into the boat, let’s look and see whether I’ve harvested a bountiful catch, or just a few of those weird-ass fish with both eyes on the same side of their head…

My first round selection was starting pitcher Luis Durham. I had Luis as the third-best pitcher available in the draft, so I was happy to get him with pick #13. Luis has the potential for three plus pitches, plus a changeup that should be at least okay. He didn’t exactly dominate in college, but you can’t have everything. I’m going to start him out at full season A Long Island, and we’ll see how it goes. I expect him to be a future #3 starter at worst, with the potential to be maybe a little bit more than that.

Beyond the first round, my picks tended to fall into a few easily defined categories. Let’s take a look at them one by one (their draft rounds are in parentheses):

FIRST BASEMEN WITH THE POTENTIAL TO MOVE TO A MORE CHALLENGING POSITION: Rafael Herrera(2) can hit for average and be decent as a catcher right now. Like Durham, he’ll start in A-ball; unlike him, he killed it in college ball… Elmer Fisher (3) will be moved across the diamond to 3B. I don’t see him hitting for average, but there’s a bit of power there… Trong Tri Minh (7) can run and play multiple positions; I may start him at 2B… Alfredo Cruz (10) probably won’t hit enough to be an asset as a corner OF, but I’ll train him there just to add some versatility.

RELIEVERS WITH A GOOD FASTBALL AND ONE OTHER PITCH: Emilio Garcia (4) has a killer fastball and a meh changeup… Reynaldo Salgado (5) has a fastball just a tick below Emilio’s, but a better second pitch… Man-chae U has a cool name and another good fastball… None of these guys has any star potential, but in the immortal words of Judge Smails, “The world needs ditch-diggers too”…

STARTING PITCHERS TO FILL OUT A LOWER-MINORS ROSTER: Sergio Shupe (12) and German Martinez (13) have pretty much no chance of making it very far, but they’re not horrible, and you never can tell…

GUYS I APPARENTLY PICKED WHILE THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE: I was attracted to P Chris Wigginton (6) because he throws five pitches, but I must have read the scouting report wrong, because I thought he had starter’s stamina and he doesn’t. Oh well… P Warner Cole (9) has three good pitches that he throws in the general direction of where he thinks home plate might be located.

It will be fun to look back in a few seasons and see how wrong I was about these guys. Oh well; I spent a bunch of money on a pair of middle infielders in IFA, so I have a couple of extra chances to land a big fish or two.

[Krathan]

I like Durham quite a bit and his league had an ERA of 7.09. His 3.73 looks pretty good. So does his FIP- of 58.

[DugoutDesperado]

I like Durham as well.

The title gives me a stadium idea though