I'll take all the COF'ers!
Last off season, we talked a lot about the River Monsters needing one or two big lefthanded hitting bat who can play corner outfield. The team stuck out on signing Wilson Prieto and Callum Mckay and pivoted to signing George McCoy and Don Moore. While these decisions already look great, neither McCoy nor Moore are long term options for a team with high expectations. While nothing has been confirmed, Twin Cities has also been linked to a couple of young lefty sluggers via trade. But the fact that a deal has not been made says everything about those... rumors.
So heading into the draft, our dream scenario was to have a big lefty corner outfielder fall to us. As soon as the draft started, I took a peek. Pedro Aguilar immediately jumped off the page. 60 potential 7/7/7/5/8 lefty bat with positive splits versus RHB. On top of that he is an average defender. He is even the number 5 bat in all of college ball. Ok, stop peeking. No way he falls to number 29.
After seeing pitcher after pitcher drafted in the first round, Twin Cities dream scenario came true. We couldn't hit the "select player" button fast enough.
Aguilar immediately slots in as the teams Right Fielder of the future. He'll start off in Single A, gaining confidence in a homer friendly park, while playing for the greatest team in all of A-ball. The Billings Cowboys.
If Twin Cities happens to be in a playoff race, Aguilar could be called up to replace McCoy in RF. This move would have a ripple effect as it probably moves McCoy to LF, Raul Gallehos to 1B, and Mathew Malone to DH. Drastically improving defense throughout the diamond.
On the offensive side of things, Aguilar will slot in at # 3 in the order. Behind Miller Shed and Malone, in front of Gallehos. This will put him in a great spot with lots of runners on base and lots of pitches to hit.
In the second round we decided to pick another corner outfielder named Vince Guin. Guin isn't quite the offensive force that Aguilar will be, but should slot in nicely as the number 5 hitter in the afore mentioned lineup. He is also a plus defender in left.
And in round 3, we tripled down and took Daniel Ramirez. Well, ok, maybe he is a stretch as an outfielder as he is more of a DH. But we like that he has 8 contact, 7 eye and has bumped drastically over the past year or so. At just 17 years old, with great work ethic and a semi developed base talent, he should play well in rookie ball and S-A over the next couple of seasons and we'll see how it plays out. A couple of trips through the d-lab and his defense/speed could look batter than it does now. This is a bit of a project pick.
The rest of the draft is filled mostly with pitchers with blue pitch ratings. Like we've said on discord, We're banking on an uptick in pitcher stuff in the next few years and most of our picks are guys who we think will benefit from that.
