First Round Selection
SP Justin Alexander, Jr. : The oldest son of Hall Of Fame pitcher Justin Alexander, The Bison were tickled pink to have the opportunity to select Alexander with the 3rd pick of the draft. We have sent him to AA Anderson, and have coupled him with hopeful long term teammate SP Mike Swanson. We have super-high expectations for Justin, and we hope to see him in Buffalo by the time September of 2013 rolls around. Maybe that won’t happen, but if it does, we will be pleased.
Second Round Selection
SS Edward Allen : A converted 3B, we are hoping that Edward can learn the ropes of the SS position in AAA without too much damage to his psyche. It’s been a rough go of it so far, with him recording a whopping 25 errors in 36 games, but we have faith in his skills with the glove. His bat had started off pretty hot and has cooled off some, but we know that both some discipline as well as some power will come into play with time. Depending on how quickly he can pick up the SS position will determine how long it takes for him to move up to Buffalo. Clearly, the sooner the better, but we won’t rush him when we have other gloves capable of playing, even if they can’t hit as well as Allen will eventually.
Third Round Selection
SP Francisco Bafana : Bafana has started to show signs of progress in Thunder Bay, although it sounds like he thinks he should be in Anderson. Well, sorry Charlie, not yet. A little better control, and you will be there next season though. He has 5 pitches and great stamina, which means that he has a couple opportunities to makes it to the bigs. Which path is his, we are not sure yet. Another arrow in the quiver.
Fourth Round Selection
2B Rodrigo Márquez : We have learned to covet slick fielding guys who have plenty of range and can turn a double play. In the fourth round, we took one of those players in Márquez. While not blessed with the most speed in the draft, he is a very smart runner, can move a runner along with his bunting abilities, and as we mentioned before, he is a very fine fielding defensive second basemen. If his bat ever gets a bump and he learns to make a bit better contact, Rodrigo has a great chance to show up in Buffalo. Without some solid offensive development, Winnipeg might be as far as he makes it.
Fifth Round Selection
CF/RF Arturo Ledesma : Speed and defense are less likely to slump, and while much of what you read above in the description of Rodrigo Márquez, we look at Ledesma slightly differently. Drafted one round later, Ledesma’s current potential might not be enough to break into Buffalo, but his defensive acumen and his descent pinch running ability might earn him a late season call up just based on those abilities alone. We would have to be very desperate for that to happen, but he can go out and run down almost every fly ball more than 20 feet behind the 2nd base bag.
To be Continued...