A's 2011 Draft Notes

[Giants]

Two things, first I'd like to preserve my thoughts for posterity when I laugh at my failures in this draft in a couple of years, second I'm in the mood to procrastinate from applying for internships, these two things lead to me starting some more detailed musings on my picks.

1 (24): "The White Prince Fielder" Dan Vogelbach 1B Cubs - REEEACH, perhaps as far as his monster power. Check out the show he put on at the International Power Showcase (508 ft home run!) here. As an aside, this video is almost as awesome as Yoennis Cespedes's from a ludicrous overproduction perspective. From the video you can see that the big (pun intended) question is about the size, so the White Prince moniker is an obvious comp, but apparently he lost a ton of weight leading up to the draft, and has shown the kind of commitment to maintain at least a non-embarrassing weight. He's already a 1B anyway, has legit light tower power, and I really believe in the bat.

Tullar, FYI, its your fault that I picked him here, since I know you were looking for 1B prospects, you were picking three times between this pick and my next pick, and I've got Vogelbach as pretty solidly the best 1B prospect on the board at this point. Did I have this one pegged or would he have gotten to me at 52? Either way, the most fun prospect in the draft for me, I would have been very unhappy if I didn't get him.


2 (52) - Jackie Bradley OF Red Sox Bradley being here made me feel a lot better about passing on Springer in favor of Vogelbach. Still got a high ceiling college centerfielder, albeit with more risk. Not much more to say about him beyond what I put in the draft chatter thread. He does get major bonus points in my book for getting a cross-racial comparison (Jim Edmonds) from MLB. You don't see that very often.

I got this pick for Santiago Casilla, so we'll see how it plays out but I think it's a reasonable trade.

3 (54) - Tyler Anderson LHP Rockies Pitchability. Love that word. Anderson is a good solid high floor pick, should be in the Rockies rotation soon if all goes well. Boring-ish, but should have 3 average pitches, and the difference between Coors and Oakland should really benefit me having him as a sim guy. Also fun to say that I got the last real life first round pick at 54 (outside of Beede).

4 (56) - Kyle Crick RHP Giants And upside. Was hoping for Susac here, but that's OK. Crick was the highest rated prep pitcher in Texas according to some sources, which is a pretty solid pedigree, and even better the Giants have been pretty awesome developing high school pitching from the South (Cain, Bummy, etc). Best case scenario Crick is another Matt Cain, big body, hard thrower, solid slider. Since 2001 the Giants record taking pitchers in the 1st and Supplemental round is pretty damn impressive, check this list out:

2001 - Brad Hennessey (pretty solid pitcher gave the Giants 300 non-embarrassing innings then 40 awful ones in 2005) and Noah Lowry (really nice lefty until injuries derailed his career)

2002 - Matt Cain (stud)

2003 - David Aardsma (solid closer before TJ, in the record book for his name), Craig Whitaker (only bust, couldn't stay healthy)

2004 and 2005 - Giants begged out of the draft, didn't pick until the 4th round either year. Wonder why the team sucked for awhile? However Jonathan Sanchez came out of 2004 and Sergio Romo (apparently the best reliever in baseball) came out of 2005

2006 - Tim Lincecum (stud)

2007 - Madison Bumgarner (stud) and Tim Alderson (used his top prospect status to net a useful player on a world series team)

2008 - No pitchers, but Surkamp was drafted in round 8

2009 - Zack Wheeler - Carlos Beltran d'oh

2010 - No pitchers.

Pretty solid record overall, looks good for Crick. This pick I got in exchange for Ryan Doumit (hence giving Susac the look), so we'll see how it plays out.

5 (84) - Josh Osich LHP Giants - Was really hoping I could get Tyler Goeddel here because it would be fun to have both brothers (I knew them when they were kids), but Osich is not a bad silver medal. My system is trending really young right now, so to had a hard throwing college lefty with some ceiling here is pretty sweet. Osich is a TJ survivor who throws hard, and outpitched Trevor Bauer tossing 15 Ks in a no hitter this year. He is probably a reliever, but he has potential to be outstanding, and even if he doesn't get a chance to start he should move quickly and contribute soon.

6 (174) - Eric Haase C Indians - Probably a good idea to have some young catching in the system, and Haase looks like a good one. Played in a cold weather town and didn't really get much of a look from scouts because he was the only draftable player in his league, but he looks to have the potential for plus power and a plus glove. Cleveland gave him a nice over slot bonus and he will now compete with Alex Lavisky for catcher of the future honors in that system. To my (admittedly untrained eye) his swing looks pretty smooth, and I expect we'll hear more good things about him in the next couple of years.

7 (204) - Kylin Turnbull LHP Nationals - He's really my last pick, another college lefty, another Pacific Northwest guy. Pitched last year at Santa Barbara CC, where they moved him into the rotation for the first time in his career (he didn't pitch in high school and pitched in relief in 2010). He responded with a great year, he's 6'3 and sits low 90's. He may end up a reliever, but he has mid rotation upside and I think he's a real sleeper. Looked pretty good on the video that I could find, and the Nats have done pretty well with churning mid rotation SP out of the system then trading them. Hopefully Turnbull has that same kind of success.

[Nationals]

I had Anderson on my board but then I remembered what happened when I picked Greg Reynolds...and Casey Weathers. No more Colorado-drafted pitchers!

[Giants]

And who knows what happened to Christian Friedrich. Probably the reason he fell to me here, but too much value to pass up.

[Giants]

Updated to reflect being done with the draft. My grade for myself is A followed by six plusses

[Giants]

Reviewing and such:

1. Dan Vogelbach 1B CHC - I still really like his future. Rizzo is a giant roadblock, but Vogie will hit somewhere for a long time. That being said, the next pick was George Springer. D'oh!

2. Jackie Bradley Jr CF BOS - I think he'll be in CF for me for the next decade. No complaints about this one and makes missing Springer hurt a little bit less.

3. Tyler Anderson LHP COL - Traded shortly thereafter to the Royals to try and plug a 2B hole with Brian Roberts during the 2 weeks he was healthy that year. Around the same time I acquired Andrew Chafin from the Tigers in the Jose Valverde deal, and I think of Chafin as being the guy in this spot. Chafin found some control at the expense of K's in AA, still in interesting prospect.

4. Kyle Crick RHP SFG - Now this was a home run pick. Traded Crick to Seattle for the Panda this year because there really are so few good 3Bs and I still have concerns about command, but for a late 2nd rounder you have to be happy to get a guy with this much upside.

5. Josh Osich LHP SFG - Couldn't stay healthy, moved to the bullpen, moved off my roster.

6. Eric Haase C CLE - Hasn't hit, have to be patient with catchers which is hard to do with our roster format (cue Jag asking for more roster spots)

7. Kylin Turnbull LHP WAS - Flyer, didn't pan out, next...

[Giants]

All of the interesting pieces of since been traded. Bradley looks like a glove only CF, he went in the Bogaerts trade, Crick went in the Sandoval trade and I think until he learns how to stop walking people he's going to end up a high leverage reliever (but as a Giants fan I obviously hope for better). Vogelbach actually hit in the FSL last year, we'll see if they ever find a space for him in Chicago, I got a pretty good year of starting out of Edwin Escobar and then he was part of one of my trades with Pat.

Big Yawn on everyone else