Season 5 Draft Recap

1. Arizona – SS Arthur Davenport
Makes solid contact, with good power. Hits both RHP and LHP well. Above average eye. Decent speed. Great glove. Great arm accuracy. Below average range and arm strength.
hurricane384’s take:
Although he doesn’t project as a SS, he is definitely going to hit for average and have some power to go along with it. Definitely could provide above average production out of the 2B slot.

2. Louisville – 1B Terry West
Great power. Dominates LHP and is good against RHP. Has a great eye. He makes good contact. Is definitely a 1B.
hurricane384 on West:
I feel like I got the best hitter in the draft. He could make his ML appearance this season and not embarrass himself, although obviously I hope he doesn’t make his appearance for a few more seasons. His power and eye fit perfectly with my offensive philosophy.

3. Atlanta – LF Dario Rath
Makes great contact. Solid power. Above average at driving the ball. Decent eye. Great speed and baserunning ability. Good range. Poor glove. Not too durable.
hurricane384’s take:
This is a solid pick as Rath could jump into the majors tomorrow and not struggle too much. As it stands now, he could develop into a premier lead-off hitter. The range is there, but the glove worries me out in LF.

4. Little Rock – RF Britt Rowan – has not signed

5. Colorado Springs – SS Rich Eaton
Great at making contact. Good power. Dominant against LHP and very good against RHP. Average eye. Below average range and glove. Great arm. Lacks accuracy. Not too durable. Good speed.
hurricane384 says:
Definitely not a SS, but has the potential to be a Silver Slugger and Gold Glover at 2B or 3B. Could play CF depending on team need. He’s going to hit and hit a lot with proper development.

6. Montana – CF Darrin Rossy
Below average range. Great glove. Makes great contact. Better against RHP than LHP. Very good power. Average eye. Very good speed. Lacks ideal durability.
hurricane384 says:
He might produce enough offense to off-set his woeful range in CF, but he could be a Gold Glove winning LF, who leads off and hits 30+ HRs.

7. El Paso – P Guy Gipson
Great control. Does not let batters get good wood on the ball. Solid pitches. Great velocity. Groundball stuff.
hurricane384 says:
He’s a bit of a tweener, not enough stamina to be a #1 starter, but definitely has the stuff. He could be a super-setup man or even a 2-3 inning closer who dominates. Look for 100+ IP from this guy.

8. Florida – 2B Todd Liefer
Great power. Average at making contact. He’s better against RHP than LHP. Great eye. Good speed. Durable. Doesn’t have top-notch defensive skills.
hurricane384 says:
This is a good pick. He could hit 50-60 HRs and play passable 2B defense or high quality COF defense without sacrificing any offense. He can even get by at 3B if needed.

9. Jacksonville – P Rich Brown
Good stamina/great durability. Very good control. Dominates LHB. Good against RHB. Good velocity. 3 plus pitches…not a groundball pitcher.
hurricane384 says:
His stuff doesn’t project to be an ace, but he definitely will provide some bang for his buck when it comes to the #9 pick. Unfortunately for Jacksonville, Brown has decided to go back to school.

10. Syracuse – LF Willie Sivilla
Makes good contact. Hits for great power. Struggles at driving the ball consistently. Good eye. Solid defensive ratings. Durable, healthy, and fast.
hurricane384 says:
Although I would like to see those splits be higher, his other ratings are high enough to intrigue me. When was the last time that you had a guy who could legitimately be a 40/40 guy who produces .300/.400/.500. Sounds like a helluva leadoff hitter.

11. Pittsburgh – CF Chase Brow
Great range. Below average glove. Durable, healthy, and fast. Makes decent contact and has decent power. Will struggle against RHP. Great eye.
hurricane384 says:
He’s got the range, but will make some errors and his offense isn’t good enough to offset this. Seems to me like it is a bit of a reach at #11…but it is doubtful that he would’ve been around with PIT’s 2^nd rd pick.

12. Las Vegas – P Chief Creek
Durability/Stamina combination is good. Better against RHB than LHB. Great velocity. Good pitches. Groundball pitcher. Great control.
tk21775 on Creek:
With our first pick in the draft we selected closer Chief Creek. We expect him to handle the 8th and 9th inning for us someday at the majors and he has high durabilty/stamina combo. He looks to have great control and solid splits, along with a nice groundball rating and great 1st pitch. Happy that we found our future closer.
hurricane384 says:
Creek is going to be a good closer someday. With proper development he could be a 2-inning pitcher who will miss more bats than he hits.

13. Cheyenne – P Trenidad Gonzales
Great durability/Good stamina. Great control. Average velocity & groundball. Solid pitch combination. Better against LHB than RHB.
hurricane384 says:
The best overall pitcher taken thus far, Gonzales might not strike out many, but he will give you 32+ starts and 190+ IP.

14. Jackson – 3B Wilt Ford
Average defensively. Average contact and power combination. Good eye. Above average speed. Drives the ball consistently. Solid durability.
hurricane384 says:
Ford’s splits ought to make up for his average contact/power, and his eye should put him on base often enough to be a very good asset for the Mallards.

15. Toronto – CF Daniel Uribe
Great range and glove. Durable. Average contact and below average power. Good eye. Very good against RHP and average against LHP. Solid speed.
mtorabdaddy on Uribe:
projects to be a solid defensive CF with a strong split vs Righties. Should arrive in 3-4 seasons.
hurricane384 says:
This is a good pick considering the draft…will play great defense, while not being terrible offensively. Could be ready in a couple seasons.

16. Rochester – 2B Taylor Hutton
Solid at making contact. Decent power. Better against LHP than RHP. Good eye. Average range, good glove, weak arm. Decent speed.
bonk36 on Hutton:
We think Taylor will be a solid contributor for us at 2b in the future, his well balanced offensive game should translate well to the Majors.
hurricane384 says:
This is a solid pick, who, even if he doesn’t end up at 2B, should contribute for quite a while at one of the COF slots.

17. New York (NL) – P Damion Wang
Much better against LHB than RHB. Good control. Solid stamina. Average durability. Average velocity. True GB pitcher. 2 good pitches, but repertoire drops off after that.
hurricane384 says:
Any time you can get a #2/#3 pitcher this late in the draft, you have to consider yourself fortunate.

18. Texas – P Bob Tulowitzki
Great stamina. Average durability. Dominates RHB. Average against LHB. Great velocity. Good GB pitcher. Solid pitches. Lacks ideal control.
hurricane384 says:
His lack of control will hurt him to a degree, but his peripheral ratings should more than make up for that.

19. Los Angeles – P Allan Seaver
Average durability. Below average stamina. Great control. Dominates LHB and is average against RHB. Great velocity. Great GB. 2 Great pitches, an average pitch and a terrible pitch.

crb2 on Seaver:

I was very surprised to see Allan Seaver land at 19 for me. We’re very high on him. The rest of the draft, eh, not so much. It would be nice if one of these seasons I could draft a position player that had a prayer of making it to the major leagues. Besides a catcher.
hurricane384 says:
He is a quality pitcher, but could struggle to make an impact as a starter with the low stamina.

20. Syracuse – SS Wil Sefcik
Below average eye. Solid power. Great splits. Good durability. Lacks ideal range for a SS (has been switched to 3B). Great glove. Good arm.
hurricane384 says:

Could be a solid 3B for the Orange.

21. Las Vegas – 2B Nigel Waner

Good power. Solid contact. Average splits. Good eye. Good range. Lacks ideal glove and arm for 2B. Great durability. Good speed. Healthy.
tk21775 on Waner:
With our 2nd 1st Round Pick we selected Nigel Waner. We'll keep an eye on his defense to see if he'll be able to handle 2B for us, which if he could we really like this pick. If not he still has a solid bat that putting him in LF or 1B won't bother us. Great speed with nice power makes him a solid pick where we got him at.
hurricane384 says:
This was a very nice pick. I’m jealous. He can definitely hold his own at any of 4 positions if need be.

22. Cleveland – 2B Brent Drabek
Makes good contact. Good splits. Good eye. Average power. Solid defensively. Great speed. Durable.
hurricane384 says: This is a nice pick this late in the draft. He can solidify 2B/3B/COF/1B…he’s a jack-of-all positions, who can be an all-star at any position. His speed will help a lot.

23. Chicago (AL) – P T.J. James
Below average control. Solid stamina. Average durability. Very good against LHB and average against RHB. Great velocity. 3 solid pitches.
hurricane384 says:
Tough to assess. His lack of control might relegate him to a bullpen role, but that is one which he could excel at. Might walk too many people to be a starter.

24. Richmond – LF Alfredo Keisler
Great contact. Good power. Good splits. Decent eye. Slow. Lacks ideal range. Has moved to RF. Lacks ideal durability.
hurricane384 says:
He’s going to hit, the question is what position to play him at. Does not have the range to play COF, and would be a GG 1B.

25. Anaheim – SS Vic Giles
Great range and glove. Lacks arm strength, but is accurate. Durable. Fast. Can’t hit. When he makes contact against LHP, he does a good job at driving the ball. He’s knowledgeable about the strike zone.
hurricane384 says:
He’s likely destined for a utility role in the bigs, if he makes it at all. He doesn’t have the arm strength to justify putting him at SS full-time, and doesn’t hit well enough to put at any other position.

26. Toronto – SS Stuart Hearn
Projects to be a Gold Glover. Dominant defensive SS. He has decent speed and is durable. He makes contact and has some power. Does struggle at squaring the ball. Terrible against LHP. Decent eye.
mtorabdaddy on Hearn:
For all of his offensive deficiencies, he makes up for this with a projected spectacular glove in the mold of Paul Janish. Projects to be a solid defensive replacement.
hurricane384 says:

If you can afford to give up an out more often than not, Hearn could be somebody’s answer at SS. Will play spectacular defense and won’t strike out too much.

27. Ottawa – SS Russell Romero
Great defensively. Makes great contact. Lacks much power. Struggles against LHP. Above average against RHP. Decent eye. Average speed. Above average durability.
mlhutch on Romero:
Terrible overall draft but Romero will at least be functional at the ML level as a defensive SS/platoon guy. Given the circumstances, that is a win in my book.
hurricane384 says:
This is a steal. He’s not going to embarrass himself offensively while providing top-notch defense night after night. Could be a platoon player to limit his vulnerability against LHP.

28. Honolulu – P Victor Alomar
Great durability. Great stamina. Great control. Good at keeping the ball out of the hitting zones. Great velocity. 1 excellent, 1 above average, and 1 average pitch. Struggles at keeping the ball on the ground.
hurricane384 says:
Alomar has good talent, it is just a matter of him getting into a park that takes advantage of his deficiencies. Honolulu might help.

29. New Britain – CF Rolando Seneca
Great range. Poor glove. Decent durability. Great speed. Decent contact. Average at driving the ball upon contact. Good power. Above average eye.
hurricane384 says:
Seneca can get to the ball when it is hit, but whether he can catch it is another story. Solid late pick, who may very well be a good role player for a team.

30. Columbus – SS Ricardo Bocachica
Average range. Great glove. Average arm. Durable. Fast. Doesn’t strike out often. Won’t work many walks. Struggles against RHP. Above average against LHP.
hurricane384 says:
Solid role player. Can be a defensive replacement or vsL platoon SS. Would be perfect to match up with #27, Russell Romero.

31. New Orleans – P William Lorraine
Lacks ideal stamina. Average durability. Great control. Average against LHP. Slightly worse against RHP. Does not get groundballs. Decent velocity. 2 great pitches, 1 good, and 1 average.

balance71 on Lorraine:
William Lorraine doesn't have particularly good stuff. We hope he'll make up for it by playing the Zydeco way: dirty.

hurricane384 says:
Not sure what to make of this guy as his low vsR is likely to prevent him from the majors.

32. Seattle – CF Paulie Jacobsen
Strikes out a lot. Lacks ideal knowledge of strike zone. Very little power. When he does make contact, he makes solid contact. Great defensively as a 2B/CF. Very fast.
hurricane384 says:
A pure role player. He could serve as a PR/DR who spots starts here and there. Isn’t going to contribute offensively.