Upper Deck: May 2022

Top Five Best Value Picks: 1. Trayce Alexander 11-365 (BOI) 2.Frank Cordova 4-147 (NYN) 3. Alex Martis 11-370 (IOW) 4. Alex Eusebio 8-278 (ATL) 5. Hong-Chih Hiro 11-381 (RIC)

AL NORTH

Madison Bombers (Rochester Redwings)-jwperry 1^st Rnd Picks (1^st-41^st) (28 years ML Service time)

1-1 Billy Ray Washington-Gold glover and an All Star, Wash is still kicking around actually hitting 354 last season in 79 AB’s with 7 HR and 20 RBI. With over 500 career homers and solid defensive numbers he might be bound for Cooperstown in a few seasons.

1-41 Luke Baltz- A solid table setter with 238 career steals. Didn’t have the glove to play CF or 2^nd but not really the bat to play anywhere else. Also he was born in North Pole Alaska so that’s pretty awesome.

2-60 Amp Casey- Made a run at ROY in ’35 going 13-8 with a 3.96 ERA After that he was nothing to write home about

Draft Grade: A- A pretty good draft for jw, grabbing a potential HOF’er and two other ML caliber players.

Cincinnati Boom Sticks (Sioux Falls Skywalkers)-Kylo_Ren 1^st Rnd Picks (0) (0 years ML Service Time)

Draft Grade: F No pick..again. They won the WS that year by going all in on Free Agents in back to back seasons. It doesn’t work forever however.

Minnesota Millers-dflom2008- 1^st Rnd Picks (51) (0 years ML Service Time)

1-51 Tom Dresden- Was a minor league beast, hitting 301 with a 927OPS. Could never make it to the show

Draft Grade: D- I mean they got a guy who almost made the majors…

Pawtucket Terriers-burk 1^st Rnd Picks (4-43) (13 Years ML Service Time)

1-4 Juan James- JJ was a pretty solid mid rotation started. Racking up 129 Career wins and even making a couple of All Star games. Tossing over 2000 innings and striking out over 1500 batters. A good but not great pick at #4

1-43 Lars Joy- Made 73 appearances in the majors but didn’t achieve much

3-97 Farmer Knotts- Pitched parts of 3 seasons winning 3 games with a 4.98 ERA

Draft Grade: B-, James was a solid pick but I think its safe to say at number 4 a lot more was expected of him.

AL EAST

Pittsburgh Pilots-cshake 1^st Rnd Picks (38-53) (14 Years ML Service Time)

1-38 Piper Simas-A scrappy 2^nd baseman that took 8 seasons to make it to the majors and when he did never amounted to much more then a somewhat versatile platoon player.

1-53 Aurelio Belisario-Auro burst on the scene by hitting 145 of his 159 career homeruns in his first 5 seasons. He also stole 109 bases and was a pretty solid Right Fielder. In his next two seasons hit 14 homers and was gone from the league.

10-343 Thad MacDougal- a solid power hitting catcher in the minors he only got 1 season in the bigs which saw him hit 3 homers in 84 games

Draft Grade: C+ A couple of solid if not spectacular players taken that late in the 1^st round is about all you can hope for

Baltimore Dry Docks-krisr 1^st Rnd Picks (19^th) (3 Years ML Service Time)

1-19 Raul Bennett- Nothing more then a bit player who didn’t hit, run or field well enough to make an impact.

Draft Grade: D, this is two less then stellar drafts for krisr. I am thinking he built this team through free agency?

Iowa City Small Bears-rschaitkin 1^st Rnd Picks (21^st) (19 Years ML Service Time)

1-21 Osvaldo Samuel- The Wiz was a solid all-around player with fairly good pop and speed. Also played 3^rd base fairly well.

2-81 Vidal Del Rosario- Won an MVP at AAA but couldn’t get it all together in the bigs where he was a 241 hitter with just average power in limited playing time.

11-370 Alex Martis- A very nice late pick, twice won 14 games while throwing at least 195 inning 5 times

Draft Grade: B+ Love the late round pick and Osvaldo was a solid player also drafted outside of the top 20

Indianapolis Swinging Hoosiers-egide10 1^st Rnd Picks (14-36-47-57) (33 Years ML Service Time)

1-14 Sammy De Paula- 170 career wins with a career high of 21 in his sophomore year. Several years later won 18 and was for the most part a very solid SP

1-36 Larry Reid- Larry “The Need for Speed” Reid was a blazer. 445 steals in just 7 seasons. Played most 2^nd base and was a pretty good fielder as well.

1-47 Andre Hernandez- A decent LH bullpen arm that was never really good or really bad.

1-57 Kristopher Matthews- Was mostly a pinch hitter in the majors with 177 AB’s over 3 seasons

Draft Grade: B+ De Paula was solid pick and Reid was a “steal” at 36. A huge improvement over last season.

AL SOUTH

Mexico City Diablos-ACEROTHSTEIN 1^ST Rnd Picks (27) (14 Years NL Service Time)

1-27 DeWayne Thomas- DT was a pretty solid masher, with 7 seasons picking up over 20 homers he also hit more then 30 two times. Not a strong fielder he was capable of handling 3^rd base fairly well

6-216 Tom Spencer- After a solid rookie season, 10 homers 12 steals in just 349AB with solid defensive numbers, he faded away just two seasons latter.

Draft Grade: C+ A step down from last years strong draft, Thomas was a solid pick at that spot but beyond that nothing special

Atlanta Mental Patients(Oklahoma City Cowboys)-Rkdixon 1^st Rnd Picks (25-52) (24 Years ML Service Time)

1-25 Joe Borowski- Sometimes SP sometime LR, picked up 40 wins but lost 55 games while holding an ERA just under 4.70

1-52 Arlie Whithead- Solid power speed combo who could hit 10+ homers and steal 20+ bases. Was never able to put it all together on a consistent basis.

8-278 Alex Eusebio- Gold Glove Catcher in the minors was able to hit 14 homers one season and twice drove in over 50 runs in the majors.

23-758 Dave Gentry-Pitched parts of 9 seasons in the big leagues. Twice struck out over 100 batters while working mostly out of the bullpen. His career ERA was over 5 though.

Draft Grade: B-, had much better luck with the late picks getting 2 solid DITR

Tampa Bay Waterdogs-jmaese 1^st Rnd Picks (18-50) (31 Years ML Service Time)

1-18 Rafael Andrus- Not a bad pick, made one AS game as well as a winner of a World Series Ring. Good innings eater with almost 2500 career IP 123 Wins and 1800+ K’s

1-50 Doc Rose- Won 8 games in his rookie season but after that was pushed to the bullpen and was at best a mop up arm

2-78 Alen Green- Mostly a DH where in season 31 he swatted 46 homers with 105 RBI. Topped 30 homers several other times but as a career 255 hitter his value was limited.

20-655 Douglas Wells- Got called up in ’29 and actually played pretty well with 8 homers in 262AB’s. Since then has been in AAA and is still there today where he has been a 1^st rate catcher for 14 years.

Draft Grade: B+ With a solid early pick and some solid selections outside of the 1^st round.

Louisville Horseman (New Orleans) Geedub- 1^st Rn Picks (2) (23 years ML Service Time)

1-2 Nathan Harris- Sill going strong at 38, Nate has won 221 games and struck out almost 3000 batters. ROY/CY/GG and several All Star selections his plaque at Cooperstown is getting the finishing touches.

2-62 Tony Ferguson- A stop gap type CF that at his very best just good enough to play everyday. Stole 20 bases once and hit 12 homers. But was weak with the glove.

Draft Grade: B+, One hall of famer and a mid range player…cant always expect more

AL WEST

Salem Witch Hunters-Auggieward- 1^st Rnd Picks (13) (20 Years ML Service Time)

1-13 Joakim Bautista- A better then 500 record (94-85) with a 4.07 ERA A decent back end SP

3-106 Cla O’Leary- about 40% of his ab’s ended with either a Homer or a strikeout. A career 214 hitter

5-170 Dave Charles- Hit .149 in 303 At Bats. No amount of plus plays could make up for that

13-426 Ronnie Plawecki-Pitched for parts of 4 seasons. And while he did go 7-8 with 4 saves he sported a 5.26 ERA

Draft Grade: C, I love the effort but there really isn’t much here to write home about

Helena Roughnecks/Albuquerque-Tomcecil-1^st Rnd Picks (30-39-55) (23 Years ML Service Time)

1-30 Lyle Mesoraco- Solid rookie season saw him hit 14 homers as a part timer. Hit 15 more the next season but only a 176 AVG

1-39 Howard Mecalfe- did get 223 AB’s but hit only 211 with limited power and suspect defence

1-55 Joe Dunham- Best of the 1^st round picks by Helena, won a GG and made one All Star team. Overall not a great player but for this late in the 1^st round he was a steal.

7-251 Dean Lewis-Played 1 full season (all 162 games in season 30) hit 21 homers with a 659 OPS. Was a solid defender behind the plate. A little surprised he didn’t get more of a shake in the majors.

10-347 Clarence Olmos-String armed RF’er (10 assists in 288 games) Hit 21 and 22 homers in his best two seasons but only 15 in his other three.

Draft Grade: C, so much promise with the 3 first round picks. Best player selected came all the way in the 10^th Round.

Boise Potatoes/Fresno-Hofstad 1^st Rnd Picks (16) (42 Years ML Service Time)

1-16 Alex Severino- Big time slugging 1^st baseman. 514 career homers. Also hit 30 more in the post season as he was part of 3 WS winning teams

2-76 Malcolm Siegrist-Just made his first All Star team as he saved 36 games at the age of 37. Amazingly only has 39 saves for the rest of his career.

11-365 Trayce Alexander- One of the truly great openers in this world. Has pitched in 832 games making 347 Starts. In his almost 2000 innings has managed to keep his ERA at 3.79 with a 1.23 WHIP.

Draft Grade: A, great draft, Severino was a huge bat and the two later picks have been very solid major leaguers for a long time

Vancouver Hikers/Honolulu-kkrab 1^st Rnd Picks (3) (15 Years ML Service Time)

1-3 Bart Drese- After a big miss in last years draft, kkrab came through with the 3^rd pick this season. Drese hit 516 homers and stole over 300 bases. Never played a full season in which he didn’t reach double digits in both those stats. Good fielder at 3^rd, great at RF/LF.

Draft Grade: A- Just the 1 ML Player but he is a Hall of Famer

NL NORTH

Detroit Motors/Chicago-Alogman1 1^st Rnd Picks (8-34) (41 Years ML Service Time)

1-8 Patrick Wolf- Took a few seasons to get going but once he did was one of the leagues better all around hitters. 390 career homers with more walks then k’s

1-34 Bud Whelan- Dynamite rookie season, 18 homers 33 steals 827 OPS. Kicked around for a several seasons after that never really getting a chance to play. Finally in his last season hit 12 HR with 23SB and a 788 OPS

2-66 Curt Ardoin-2 fairly strong seasons as a SP then 5 decent seasons out of the bullpen. Solid pick

2-68 Danny Norton-Was a pretty horrible 3^rd baseman but had some big seasons with the bat. 119 homers in his last 3 full ML seasons

3-101 Elier McDonald- Was a solid fielder but his bat had a pretty big hole in it, 229K’s in under 1000AB’s

8-261 Johnny McMurtry- Pitched 1 solid season 79 games 123IP with a 4.02 ERA, but has never gotten another chance, despite pitching 845 Minor league games and almost 2000 Innings.

Draft Grade: A-, Wolf and Norton are a solid 1-2 hitting combo. The other players are just extra added value

Chicago Fighting Owls/Dover-Gogogiants 1^st Rnd Picks (6-44) (22 Years ML Service Time)

1-6 Joey Sappelt-Never had a season with an ERA under 4.08 but did win 104 games with a single season high of 15.

1-44 Yohan Telis-Once he got settled in become a pretty solid bullpen arm. Best season was in ’34 when he threw 101innings with an ERA of just 1.78

Draft Grade: B-, I like the pick at 44 much more then the pick at 6. Sappelt all things considered was a bit of a bust

Syracuse Stars-Hatton98 1^st Rnd Picks (5) (19 Years ML Service Time)

1-4 Wilt Schimpf-Just got voted into the HOF after a few years of being on the ballot. Finished his career with over 2500 hits, 830+ of them for extra bases. Also stole 429 bases for good measure.

2-65 Jackie Lowe- Used mostly as a long relief he was never any good and finished his playing time with a 5.86 ERA and WHIP of 1.79

Draft Grade: A-, Once again another HOF player selected this draft, Much better then last season when Hatton selected 5^th and got almost nothing.

Montreal Smoked Heaters/KC-urbanwarrior 1^st Rnd Picks (10) (18 Years ML Service Time)

1-10 Ernest Anders- Won a respectable 119 games, but lost 167 games at the same time. More of a back end rotation pitcher as he had a career ERA of 4.36

2-70 Tim Vandenhurk- 177AB’s over 4 seasons with a .192 AVG and 1 HR it was probably too many at bats

Draft Grade: C-. Anders pitched a lot of innings, but with all the Hall of Famers being selected this draft is another bust for urbanwarrior

NL EAST

Trenton JakeJokers/Charlotte-DWobble 1^st Rnd Picks (7-28-33) (37 Years ML Service Time)

1-7 Joe Page- Threw a perfect game in his rookie season but went 9-15 that year with a 5.33 ERA. 84-100 for his career

1-28 Rob Riley- Smooth fielder at 2^nd and CF where he won Gold Gloves at each position. Not much of a hitter but did steal 322 Bases.

1-33 Felipe Falu- Was an okay Back up middle infielder who could swipe a bag or two. But not a great pick at 33

2-61 Gerald McInerrney- Won 3 World Series, in his best season hit 32 homers with 112 RBI. Had 204 more homers over the length of his career

6-196 Yean Carlos Stevens- Had 1 great season, winning 13 games out of the pen while throwing 124 Innings

Draft Grade: B-, If the first three picks had more value those could have been a great draft for dwobble

New York Empire/Cincinnati-tommymax 1^st Rnd Picks (22) (31 Years ML Service Time)

1-22 Victor Feliz- Became a star closer in the second half of his career. 3 X Allstar and a fireman of the year in ’38 when he saved 49 games

3-115 Caleb Millar- peaked with 71 homers in a three year period but only managed 40 more ib his other 6 seasons.

4-147 Frank Cordova- Won 2 Gold Gloves while also being a pretty solid hitter. 136 homers and 268 steals. Best season was in ’38 when he 21hr-74RBI-28SB with a 295/350/522 slash.

Draft Grade: B+, No superstars but three very solid players that exceeded their draft positions.

Scranton Schrutes/New York-tedwilliams1 1^st Rnd Picks (29-54-58-59) (16 Years ML Service Time)

1-29 Yunesky Mota- Looked like a future star after his 2^nd season 28 homers and 71 RBI, wasn’t a great fielder and struck out too much, about 25% of the time

1-54 Randall Thebeau- was a RL All-star in ’25 but never reached the majors

1-58 Bum Roosevelt- His mom took a risk naming him Bum, was actually a pretty good reliever for most of his career pitching 465 games with a 3.99 ERA

1-59 Joey Granger-4 minor league seasons and nothing more

Draft Grade: C+, Welcome back Ted, I was excited when I saw the 4 first rounders as I am sure you where when prepping for this draft. Best laid plans and such though…not a great return at the end of the day.

Philadelphia Pennquakers/Boston-Xtrahits 1^st Rnd Picks (17-23-26-37-40-49) (60 Years ML Service Time)

1-17 Bill Rogers-Most of his time in the majors was spent pinch runner stealing 33 bases in 37 tries. The Spaceman mostly took up space on the bench

1-23 Jon Bay- Gold Glover and All-star finished career with 202 homers and 1700 hits. A solid pick

1-26 Hansel McDowell-Another All-star player this time at Catcher. Also hit 202 homers but with only 1515 hits. A very solid career and a nice pick

1-37 Robinson Cruz- Never reached the majors

1-40 Eduardo Alberro- Has had three seasons with over 20 saves and sports a solid 3.63 ERA in almost 800 games

1-49 Kid Ramsey-Has had a some truly incredible seasons. 43 saves with a 1.33 ERA, and an All-star game in ’35 being the peak

6-206 Ken Ford- A great AAA player, All-star, Gold Gloves, but in the majors couldn’t ever get it going but did manage to hit 10 and 12 homers in his two full seasons.

Draft Grade: A-, more of a quantity over quality grade here. No superstars but several players that were very good major leaguers

NL SOUTH

New Orleans Breeze/Mexico City-Feamster 1^st Rnd Picks (15-48) (33 Years ML Service Time)

1-15 Boone Johnstone- Winner of 2 Gold Gloves for his fine play in CF, was not much of a hitter and even worse on the base paths where he stole 9 bases while being caught 38 times.

1-48 Darby Delaney- I think someone screwed up and never gave this guy a chance to play. 366 homers and a 302 AVG mostly in AAA he batted a solid 264 with 9 homers in 254 AB’s in the majors. Could have been someone…

2-75 Milt Robinson- Pretty solid SP for the bulk of his career, with an outside shot at 2000 K’s. Winner of double digits 11 times.

3-108 Nicholas Henry- This guy was pretty solid when given a chance. 9-2 with a 3.60 ERA in 80 career innings. Shame he didn’t get to pitch more often

8-268 Yean Carlos Franco- The second Yean Carlos drafted (see Trenton) finished up his career with 2 pretty good years averaging 12 homers 18 steals and a 263 avg.

Draft Grade: B, 5 solid players who if they had been given a better chance could have bumped this grade up.

Richmond Brewers-Trubrecrew 1^st Rnd Picks (32-56) (7 Years ML Service Time)

1-32 VicJ ohnson- Won a gold glove in the minors but never played in majors

1-56 DJ Randall- Was a reliever I guess, also never reached the majors

11-381 Hong-Chih Hiro- Made the All-star game in ’34 when he pitched 110 innings with a 2.78 ERA out of the pen. All in all a pretty solid bullpen arm for his career.

Draft Grade: C-, Nice late DITR pick but two wasted 1^st rounders, two years in a row with lackluster drafts

Houston Colt 45’s-andyr104 1^st Rnd Picks (12) (22 Years ML Service Time)

1-12 Farmer Wall-Was a very good fielder, 2 gold gloves at 3^rd base. Could steal a base (234) but was really only an average hitter.

2-72 Anthony Sweeney- Was a masher for a very short window. 127 Homers over a 4 years period out his career total of 184. Was a horrible fielder however

Draft Grade: B, I like Wall and Sweeney but they probably will never be considered game changing players

Jackson General-berrysboys 1^st Rnd Picks (9-45) (37 Years ML Service Time)

1-9 Albert Duff- Won himself a Cy Young award and has been an All-Star several times. Still pitching today and could maybe find his way to Cooperstown some day soon.

1-45 Bill Colbrunn- Not as acclaimed as Duff, but none the less a solid bullpen pitcher. 1200+ Innings and 3.65 ERA

22-710 Vin Bravo- Pretty amazing for a player taken this late to make it to the majors but he did…wasn’t a bad 4^th outfielder for a few years but nothing more.

Draft Grade: A-, big step up in the draft for berrys, A potential Hall of Famer and a really solid reliever

NL WEST

Anaheim Anteaters/Santa Cruz-bigpop34 1^st Rnd Picks (24) (17 Years ML Service Time)

1-24 Jonas Hodges-Solid platoon catcher that even won a Home Run Derby and a Gold Glove. 282 Career homers with a single season high of 36 the year that he won the derby.

2-84 Cody Olsen- A middling bullpen arm that had his moments of being okay

Draft Grade: C, better then last season but still nothing to write home about…but feel free to right about it on a blog

Sacramento Stingers/Omaha-wxscott 1^st Rnd Picks (11-35-46) (14 Years ML Service Time)

1-11 Tony Marquis- Monster season in ’35 45 doubles 24 homers, 107 RBI while stealing 19 bases. Was mostly just an average player in every other season

1-35 Wendall Ventrella- Was a great minor leaguer from what I can but never reached the majors

1-46 Walter Smith- another top tier minor leaguer but couldn’t crack the AAA ceiling

2-71 Travis Ball- dynamite rookie season 104 IP with a 3.11 ERA, finished his career 4 seasons later with a 4.52 so do the math.

Draft Grade: C+, Marquis and Ball are fine players but the other two 1^st rounders are a waste

Las Vegas Desert Dogs-Jtpsops 1^st Rnd Picks (20) (19 Years ML Service Time)

1-20 Trayce Cartwright- Better pitcher than his record indicates, 138-162, only twice pitching better then .500. Had a career 3.76 ERA with over 2000 strikeouts. A very good workhorse

2-80 Brian Ryan-What happened here, 153 homers over 4 seasons with a season best of 52. Was also a really good 1st baseman, not sure why his career at the major league level ended so soon?

Draft Grade: B, Cartwright is better then his numbers show and Ryan was probably not as good as his numbers would make you think.

Arizona Werewolves/Scotsdale-alexkluge 1^st Rnd Picks (31) (27 Years ML Service Time)

1-31 Ernie Lowe- Best known for being a slick fielding SS, also hit well enough to make a few All Star games. 4 times he popped over 20 homers was pretty quick (147 steals) but got caught a fair share of times as well (82). Still a great pick at 31

2-92 Darrel Henley- Just saved 39 games last season, a career high. Spent most of his career as a long reliever, working many seasons over 100 innings and will pitch in his 1,100^th game sometime this year.

17-572 Charles Strong- Finished his career with an ERA close to 7.00 in 65 games

Draft Grade: B+, considering how late he was drafting in each round alex did a great job of getting two very solid players

Upper Deck

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Season 24 Draft Rankings and Recap

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