Upperdeck Season 25 Amateur Draft Recap/Rankings
1.
Salem A 12.
Vancouver B- 23.
Richmond C
2.
Pawtucket A 13.Helena B- 24.Las
Vegas C
3.
Indianoplis A 14. Louisville B- 25.
Philadelphia C-
4.
Houston B+ 15.
Pittsburgh B- 26.
Chicago C-
5.
Boise B+ 16. Iowa
B- 27. London
C-
6.
Atlanta B+ 17.
Mexico City B- 28.
Montreal D+
7.
Detroit B 18.
Trenton B- 29. Scranton D+
8.
Jackson B 19.
Milwaukee C+ 30.
Baltimore D+
9.
Sacramento B 20. New Orleans
C+ 31. Minnesota
D+
10.
Anaheim
B 21.
Colorado C+ 32. Cincinnati D
11.
Buffalo B- 22.
Tampa Bay C
Top Five Best Players Taken: 1. Eddie Anderson (IND) 2. Douglas Wise (ATL) 3. Henry Pavano (PAW) 4. Gary Smith (SAL) 5. Lorenzo Cedeno (SAC)
Top Five Best Value Picks: 1.
William Harbin 20-660 (BOI) 2. Charles Erdos 22-708 (PAW) 3. Ronn Taylor10-319 (IND) 4. Dane Pimentel 7-223 (IND) 5.Eudy Mann 12-408 (RIC)
Top Five Biggest Busts: 1. Bill Brandt 1-4 (PHI-AL) 2. Daryl Glover 1-18 (TAM) 3. Herman Barber 1-2 (MON) 4. Julian Sucre 1-37 (PIT) 5. Stephen Medders 1-33 (PHI)
AL NORTH
Philadelphia/Rochester-jwperry 1st Rnd Picks
(4-28-30-33-41-42) (29 Years ML Service)
With 3
picks in the top 30 and 3 more picks in the next 12, JW looked poised to have a
huge draft year. The first three did play 29 years in the majors with Osvaldo Aguilar being the best of the three. Osvaldo is still currently pitching in the
majors and has passed over 1000 innings, all out of the bullpen. Jwperrys first selection (4th) was
how ever a big miss. Bill Brandt went
79-122 in his career twice losing over 20 games in a season. Ted Gentry didn’t
fair much better going 52-94 in his career with an ERA of 5.55. Picks 33, 41,42 only saw one player sign and
he never reached the majors
Draft Grade: C-, Aguilar was a solid pick at 28, but with
almost no value from the other 5 first rounders and no hidden value outside of
the first round, this draft has to be considered a huge failure.
Cincinnati/Sioux Falls-Kylo_Ren 1st Rnd Picks (39) (2 Years ML Service)
Kylo
selected an OF named Wandy Liz with the 39th pick in the draft. He
never reached the majors but with the 475th selection Yorman Guerrero was taken and did manage some time in the majors. In his 550 at bats
he hit 31 homers while batting 222, he also struck out 134 times.
Draft Grade: D, kylo choose the dark side this
draft and came up very empty as this marks three very drafts in a row for the
Cincinnati franchise
Minnesota/New Britian-dflom2008 1st Rnd Picks (12) (6
Years ML Service)
Picking 12th
overall dflom grabbed a catcher by the name of Wayne Fields. He played for
parts of 6 seasons usually hitting in the high teens for homers and twice he
finished over 20. He did however never have an OBP over .300 as he only walked
53 times in his 610 career games
Draft Grade: D+, Only one player made the
majors from this draft and he wasn’t all that great of a player, while this is
a slight upgrade for Minnesotas draft its still lacking
Pawtucket-Burk
1st
Rnd Picks (8-43) (29 Years ML Service Time)
With the 8th
selection overall burk was able to take a very smooth fielding 1st
baseman, Henry Pavano. He won a Gold Glove and had three seasons in a row where
he hit 30+homers as well as 100+ RBI. With the 43rd and 68th
picks Bryan Murphy and Heath Paulsen were selected and while they did play
their careers did not amount to much. Lenny Baker was drafted 452nd
overall and was a pretty solid CF’er, his career best season was in ’34 when he
smacked 29 HR-78 RBI and batted .261.
Then with the 708th pick burk grabbed Charles Erdos a Catcher
who actually made the All-Star team once while hitting 124 homers. He was also
the starting Catcher for 2 World Series winning teams.
Draft Grade: A, burk really stepped it up this year.
A first rate pick at #8 as well as two very strong sleeper picks.
AL EAST
Pittsburgh-cshake93 1st
Rnd Picks (29-37) (12 Years ML Service)
Picking 29th
overall cshake selected a pretty solid bat in Deven Veras. He spent most of his
career in RF and LF. He had a nice 4 year run in which he averaged 25 homers
and 75 RBI, his career finished with a respectable 178 homers and a 258AVG. Julian Sucre was drafted 37th but
never reached the majors. They did get 322 games out of the 65th
pick Melky Igeslias who was a good defensive LF and could steal a base when
needed.
Draft Grade: B-, not a bad draft for cshake considering he was drafting so
late in the 1st round.
Baltimore-Krisr
1st
Rnd Picks (20-49-56-59) (6 Years ML Service)
4 picks in
the first round with only 1 ever making the majors, that being the 20th
overall selection Neal Cedeno. He didn’t have a huge amount of success until
towards the end of his major league career when he went 22-25 over two seasons
and about 384 Innings with an ERA just over 4.00.
Draft Grade: D+, You can’t expect to get great
players every year late in the draft. But to only 6 years of major league
playing time out of 4 players taken before #60 is disappointing. This is three
straight poor drafts for this franchise.
Iowa City-rschaitkin 1st Rnd Draft Picks (27-52-57) (23 Years ML Service Time)
Only one of
Iowa’s three first rounders made the majors and that was William Stewart. He
won a Gold Glove and had a very solid season in ’34 going 13-10 with a 3.93 ERA
in just about 200 Innings. He went 66-86 for his career. Many picks later, 375th
to be exact, Iowa selected Clinton “Hawkeye” Blanton. A sometimes SP sometimes
RP that appeared in 290 games winning 43 while losing 67. With the 695th pick rsch selected
Henderson Curtis he played in Baltimore for parts of 4 years hitting 20 homers
in 306 AB’s but struggled fielding RF, his primary position.
Draft Grade: B-, none of these picks really blow me away but
sometimes a draft is all about getting useable pieces.
Indianapolis-egide10 1st Rnd Draft Picks (3)
(43 Years ML Service Time)
Drafted 3rd
overall, the future Hall of Famer Eddie Anderson has won almost every award
there is. Primarily a Short stop he finished his career with 523 homers, 354
steals and a combined 3200+ runs and RBI.
Drafting early in the 2nd round Leyson Osuna was selected but
the defensive minded catchers career never panned out and he finished his
career with 1567 AB. Another catcher
Dane Pimentel was selected in the 7th round. He won two gold gloves
while racking up almost 1500 career hits including 104 homers. Indy got one
more major leaguer with their 10th round selection. Ronn Taylor was
serviceable defender at 3rd base, he excelled when batting
though…136 career homers including a career high of 31 and two seasons later
hit .300.
Draft Grade: A, a hall of famer, and then two
of the best steal picks you could ask for. A huge draft for egide10
AL SOUTH
Mexico City-acerothstein 1st Rnd Picks (19-48-55-58-60) (25 Years ML Service Time)
Ollie Triunfelwas drafted 19th by acer and was about what you would expect from a
player at that spot. 116 Career wins, and about 2000 innings. Career best
season was in ’34 when he went 18-6, over 240 innings with a sharp 3.16
ERA. With the next 4 first rounds acer
got 13 more ML seasons, 1 bad one from Don Kershaw, 88 AB’s and 6 homers from
Catcher Neil Montague, then finally 8 from 60th pick Russell Featherston. Russ was a terrible batter,
hitting .206 for his career with 2 homers in just over 3000 AB’s. He did win a
Gold Glove at 3rd, and made 73+ plays between SS/3rd/CF/2nd
Draft Grade: B
I think acer got exactly what he wanted in this draft, a SP with more
Good seasons then bad and some pieces that played…if even not all that great at
times
Tampa Bay-jmaese 1st Rnd Picks (18) (16
Years ML Service Time)
Daryl Glover, who was drafted 18th by jmaese looked pretty good in his
rookie season. 10 homers, a 272 AVG and 759 OPS while playing CF and 2nd.
Only hit 13 more homers in his next 900
AB’s or so. Almost making up for that
was Lawrence Stokes, he was drafted 302nd but managed to hit 102
homers, all while being a solid Major League Catcher
Draft Grade: C, a big swing and a miss in the
first round is almost redeemed with a solid pick in the 9th. The
usually solid drafting franchise took a small step back this season .
Atlanta/Oklahoma-rkdixon 1st Rnd Picks (9) (20 Years ML Service Time)
Still
firing away in the majors, this 5 time All-Star was drafted 9th
overall. Douglas Wise has a shot at the Hall Of Fame when its all said and
done. Currently has 267 wins, 2866K’s,
and incredible 120 complete games. Maybe the best pitcher taken in this draft? Dixon got one more major league player, Von McGehee, in the 10th round. He had one solid season when he hit 11
homers and stole 25 bases while playing a very good 2nd. His other
two seasons were very forgettable.
Draft Grade: B+, anytime you can get a
potential Hall Of Famer, especially with the 9th overall pick you
did well. But without really any more value this draft comes up short of being
great
Louisville/New Orleans-geedub 1st Rnd Picks (11) (13 Years ML Service Time)
For a time
Clyde Hoover the 11th player selected may have been the most
dominant closer in the game. His season in ’33 was epic, saving 44 games with 6
wins, His WHIP was 0.88 and ERA was 1.77. Finished his career with a very solid
288 Saves in almost 750 games.
Draft Grade: B-, Hoover at 11 is a very solid
pick, but nothing else made the majors keeping this grade low.
AL WEST
Salem-Auggieward 1st Rnd Picks (14-46) (25 Years ML Service Time)
Gary Smith,
14th was Auggies opening selection. And for good reason, a 2 X All
Star as well as hitting for the cycle twice. He had some huge offensive
seasons, including two 30-30 seasons and 8 seasons in a row to start his career
with 100+ runs scored. Was also a tremendous 1st baseman, averaging
around 15+ plays a season there. With his last pick in the 1st Round
Auggie selected Howard Carr (46th). He won 3 Gold Gloves at SS and
made the All-star team twice. Did hit 20 homes one time, but his career avg was
just 232. 188+ plays at SS for his
career is one of the higher totals in this world. Auggie got 5 more solid
seasons out of the 714th selection Willie Heving. The DITR catcher
crushed 91 homers in less then 2000AB’s including 21-23-33 in an every other
season stretch. I am actually a little surprised he didn’t get to play
more/longer
Draft Grade: A, Great value picks made by
Auggie. I think Smith could have been a HOF type player with 3-4 more years
like he had, and the late pick of Heving was great. A nice bounce back draft for Salem.
Helena/Albuquerque-tomcecil 1st Rnd Picks (22) (28 Years ML Service Time)
Tomcecil
started off strong with the 22nd pick in the draft when he selected
Aubrey Presley, he spent equal times as a reliever and as a starter/opener type
pitcher. His best season cam in his second last when he went 14-8 with 3.33 ERA
in almost 180 innings. He finished 62-64 for his career and a 3.89 ERA. In the 8th round
tom grabbed Gerardo Feliz, a free swinging catcher who made 1 all-star team. He
struck out about 25% of his at bats but did hit 90 homers with a high of 19 in
’34. Much later in the draft with the
562nd pick, another catcher, Morgan O’Sullivan, who also made 1
all-star game, hit 97 career homers with a high of 18 in season ’37.
Draft Grade: B-, a pretty solid draft for tom, Presley was
a solid arm and to get two potential All-Star quality DITR catchers is a ok
draft.
Boise/Fresno-Hofstad_c 1st Rnd Draft Picks (24-51) (29
Years ML Service Time)
Drafting 24th
overall Hofstad grabbed a work horse bullpen arm who is still plugging away.
Brian Hernandez is approaching 800 games and just over 1100IP. At number 532 in the draft Asdrubal Valdes was drafted, he went 6-17 in his career in 45 starts with a 4.41 ERA. Very late
in 660th overall in fact, maybe the best late pick who some how
wasn’t a DITR was selected. William Harbin was a SS/3rd who actually
was a strong defender at the hot corner. He finished with 224 homers, 283
Steals, 1764 hits and a 263 AVG
Draft Grade: B+,
Harbin might go down as one of the sneakiest picks in a draft of
all-time.
Vancouver/Honolulu-kkrab 1st Rnd Draft Picks (7)
(23 Years ML Service Time)
Drafting
early (7th) kkrab got a very solid fielding 3rd baseman, Mickey Ramirez, 1 Gold Glove, 78+plays for his career. Not a bad offensive player, 295
homers and 148 steals while batting .258. While a solid player not a superstar
was he. With the 99th
selection kkrab got about 300 at bats out of Hipolito Vargas a smooth fielding
(11+ plays 2nd/SS) spark plug (5’5-169lbs). In the 15th round a DITR catcher,
Fred Hill, was drafted. A pretty generic batter and fielder he nonetheless hung
around for 1000+ games batting .251 for his career.
Draft Grade: B-, Vargas and Hill are nice additions for
picks outside of the 1st round, and while Ramirez wasn’t a bad
player, more would be expected out of a top ten draft pick.
NL NORTH
Detroit/Chicago-alogman1 1st Rnd Picks (5) (16 Years ML Service Time)
With the 5th
selection in the draft alogman handpicked the recently retired Casper “TheGhost” Lewis. He was a borderline hall of famer who somehow never won and
hardware and was only selected for two all-star games. He won 214 games for his
career, twice winning over 20, including a career high 22 in ’33 when he could
have won the Cy Young with a 2.79 ERA over 213 IP.
Draft Grade: B, just the one Major League
Player taken, but Lewis was a very solid pick and was capable of carrying the
draft all by himself.
Milwaukee/Syracuse-Hatton-98 1st Rnd Picks (15-36) (14 Years ML Service Time)
The 15th
selection in the draft, Kerry Reuter, didn’t reach the majors until ’31, but
between ’32 and ’37 he averaged 29 homers and about 90 RBI with a 300avg and
360 OBP. After that he had 178 at bats
and his career was over. 21 picks later Hatton grabbed Bernie Pagan who
pitched in 199 games going 36-49 with 4 saves and an ERA just over 5. In the 10th
round he picked Bo Griffiths who pitched one season ’29 going 3-7 with a 6.83
ERA.
Draft Grade: C+, not a bad draft, Reuter was a solid player
with a short career. But after that it is pretty downhill.
Chicago/Dover-GoGogiants 1st Rnd Draft Picks (10-31-34-44)
(14 Years ML Service)
Yangervis Lucano was a starting pitcher drafted 10th overall, he never had a
great season, even though he did go 14-11 with a 4.66 ERA. For his career he
went 69-100 with a 4.64 ERA. At 31 gogo
got Jairo Delgado a decent little 2nd baseman who in his final
season hit 13 homers while batting 282. He didnt play major league ball after
that. With 34th and 44th
picks, Geovany Rojas and Jean Meacham where drafted but had very little of an
impact in the bigs.
Draft Grade:
C-, with four first round picks you would hope for more then a backend
SP
Montreal/Kansas City-Urbanwarrior 1st Rnd Picks (2) (9 Years ML Service Time)
Most years
we talk about the top 1-5 picks as being hall of famers, Herman Barber was not
a Hall Of Fame Player. He did play parts of nine season, mostly in RF. He did
hit 168 homers and stole 159 bases but for the most part is not the type of you
want at the 2nd overall pick.
Draft Grade: D+, this is another big miss for
the Montreal franchise. With a pick that high you need to get a star.
NL EAST
London/Philadelphia-xtrahits 1st Rnd Picks (16-47-54)
(14 Years ML Service Time)
Of the
three first round picks only one, #16, Christopher Park reached the majors. He
pitched almost 2000 innings and won 115 games. He did also lose 126 games while
sporting a 4.46 ERA. Had a handful of decent seasons including one in which he
pitched mostly out of the pen and went 11-4 with 4 saves and a 3.02 ERA in 113
innings.
Draft Grade: C-, not a failure by any means.
Park was a solid major league pitcher, but the other two picks, one never
reaching and the other going unsigned hurt the grade.
Trenton/Charlotte-Dwobble 1st Rnd Picks (6) (16 Years ML Service Time)
Taken 6th
overall Rudy Coke might be one of the higher drafted relief pitchers ever
taken. He was selected twice for the all-star team as well as twice saving over
40 games. He was for his a career a very good swing and miss type pitcher,
racking up 866k’s in his almost 1000 innings on the bump. At #98 dwobble selected a very free swinger,
Bobby Herrman. He hit 55 homers in his two seasons while also striking out
almost 300 times in just 1100AB’s
Draft Grade: B-, Coke was a solid closer but
not the impact type player usually taken so early in the draft.
Scranton/New York-tedwilliams1 1st Rnd Picks (38) (5 Years ML Service Time)
Claude Conewas the only player selected by ted to make it to the bigs. He was a terrific fielder winning a Gold Glove for his work at 3rd
in ’31. He made 100+ plays there across 731 games. He was not as smooth when
batting however and finished his career with a 243 AVG and a 660 OPS.
Draft Grade: D+, I guess getting a major league
player at 38 is pretty good, but Cone was his one and only success and not a
great one at that.
Buffalo/Scranton Willkes-wxscott 1st Rnd Picks (17) (14 Years Ml Service Time)
Scott only
had one first round pick, and only one player he drafted made it to the majors,
both were Victor Estrella. Vic was a multi tool player that one gold gloves, silver
sluggers and made 5 all-star teams. His
game mostly revolved around using his speed (395 stelas) but was also a pretty
solid hitter 269 homers. And a 280 AVG. His best all-around year was ’35 when
he went off for 29 homers-102 RBI with 114 Runs scored, while batting a career
high 319.
Draft Grade: B-, three years in a row this team
has been in the B range. Estrella is great player for 17th, but with
no other players having an impact its just a slightly better then average
draft.
NL SOUTH
New Orleans/Mexico City-Feamster 1st Rnd Picks (26) (10 years ML Service Time)
Feamster
was drafting late in the first round but did manage to get a decent bullpen arm
in Yasmani Pena. He pitched for parts of
11 seasons, mostly as a set up guy but did have great season closing in ’35
when he went 30 for 33 in save chances while sporting a 3.19 ERA. He would
finish his career with a 3.44 ERA and I am sure most would want him as member
of your bullpen but he wasn’t really much to write home about
Draft Grade: C+, Not a bad draft, you get what
you can drafting that late. But once again no surprises or late picks keep this
grade down .
Houston-andyr104 1st Rnd Picks (13-35-45)
(28 Years Ml Service Time)
Taken 13th
overall, Paul Zavada peaked in ’33 when he tossed a No-Hitter, he would go 14-8
that season, his only one where he would reach 200+ innings. He would also
strike out a career high 178 batters while keeping his ERA down at 3.17. His
career would finish at 144-114 in just over 2300 Innings. 22 picks later Houston got themselves a
stellar closer. Matt Bryant saved 304 games in his career, 3 times going above
40 in a season. Over 726 games he kept his ERA at 3.06
Draft Grade: B+
Borderline stars taken with the first two picks but nothing after that.
Solid draft again for Houston.
Jackson-berrysboys 1st Rnd Picks (23) (21 years ML Service Time)
At 23rd
berrys got a workhorse Catcher that would play for parts of 16 seasons. Paul Minor only once had over 450AB’s but did manage to hit 297 homers, including a
career high of 40 in ’39 in just 449 ab’s.
He was solid platoon catcher his entire career in Jackson. Darby King was picked with the 339th
pick and in his first three season had double digit homers and steals every
season. Flamed out after that only
hitting 13 more homers and stealing 14 bases.
Draft Grade: B, I really like Minor, every team needs a guy
like that.
Richmond-trubrecrew 1st Rnd Picks (53) (11 Years ML Service Time)
The 53rd
pick Turner Kennedy, did which the majors for 13 games and 18.2 innings but they didn’t amount to
much. However in the 12th round (408th) trube grabbed
Eudy Mann, a very dependable reliever. He once saved 29 games but in his best
season, ’37 he went 7-7 with 4 saves pitching to a 2.66 ERA over 128 innings
with 107K’s.
Draft Grade: C, Nice DITR pick up late, but
with only obe player reaching the majors this draft is just average. Still
their best draft in three seasons.
NL WEST
Anaheim/Santa Cruz-bigpop34 1st Rnd Picks (21-50) (22 Years Ml Service Time)
At 21, the
franchise at the time located in sunny Santa Cruz selected a smooth fielding 1st
baseman, Elvis O’Day. He won two gold gloves and hit 312 career homers. Was
pretty quick stealing 83 bases, but struggled to hit for a good average (249)
or get on base all that much (321 OBP). Bigpop
would also get some solid ML time from his 369th pick Don Thomas and
his 497th pick Maximo Buss.
Thomas pitched 318 games all out of the pen, sporting a career record of
16-22 with 7 saves and a 4.31 ERA. Buss
was slightly better, even winning 13 games in his rookie season while throwing
204 innings and having an incredible 0.98 WHIP and 2.64 ERA.
Draft Grade: B, the best draft by this team while not
amazing, had some solid players
Sacramento/Oakland-brianplath 1st Rnd Picks (1) (21 years Ml Service Time)
Finally we
get to the #1 pick, Lorenzo Cedeno. He burst onto the scene going 15-12 in his
rookie season. Winning 206 games for his career and striking out just over 3000
batters. His career ERA (3.09) and WHIP (1.12) where both very good. With the 1st
pick in the second round, Ismael Abad was selected. He stole 110 bases in a
fairly short 757 career games.
Draft Grade: B, Cedeno is pretty good, but not the best
player taken in the draft and that is what you want from the 1st
pick.
Las Vegas-jtpsops 1st Rnd Picks (25) (8
Years ML Service Time)
Jt got two
players that played in the majors, the 25th pick Robinson Jamison
and the 437th Buddy Lockart.
The later pick actually had a better major league career hitting 142
homers over 6 seasons with a career high of 38.
Jamison only played for parts of three seasons and was better known for
his speed, stealing 45 bases with a single season high of 19 in his rookie
year.
Draft Grade: C, Lockhart saves this draft but he doesn’t make
a good one.
Colorado/Scottsdale-alexkluge 1st Rnd Picks (32-40)
(29 years ML Service Time)
Ozzie Porzoi was drafted 32nd and while never a star did pitch in 487
games, saving 32 and winning 64 with a career high of 10 in his rookie
season. The 40th, 88th,
92nd picks Mike Roache, Willard Lewis and Alex Funaki played for
parts of 5 years in the majors never really having much of an impact. However at 636th another one of
the DITR catchers was selected, R.A. Griffith. He would win 2 gold gloves, 3
World series rings, he was a 270 hitter in the post season with 11 homers in
267 AB’s. In the regular season was
solid with the bat but unspectacular hitting 111 homers and sporting a slash
line of 257/320/385.
Draft Grade: C+, alex, grabbed bodies in this
draft but honestly non of this bodies make this grade better then average