[gehrig38]

IBL DRAFT
Martin Cintron is an outstanding scout in every way, legendary in others. He highly favors ability in his players and I need to plan accordingly.

2012
FYI The first 4 picks go like this:
1) NH Fisher Cats take LF Manny Espinoza
2) Tulsa selects SP Antonio Rodriguez
3) The NY Knights go with SP Ray Anderson
4) Baltimore selects CF Barton Tinker

Martin tells me to take SP Anthony Martin, which I smile, as I know, and he knows I know, this is his grand son I know him well enough to know this is not a paternity thing, this kid can pitch and his ceiling is legit. His 1.6m ask is well below the slot bonus of 2.03m for the 5th pick.

So with their first ever draft choice the Iron Pigs of Chicago do in fact select SP Anthony Martin out of Oakwood Friends HS.

PICK 2
I am STUNNED to see my top 4 players still on the board here. My first bet is that Pennington, being a middle reliever, will keep, no need to jump yet. With Raul Feliz still here, and his demand being about 170k over slot I have a problem to work through. But Martin throws me a literal curve ball. He’s recommending SP Chris Blanchard out of Rice here. I need the pitching for sure, but I worry he won’t develop the command needed to anchor a rotation. I am thinking if I can finagle with Martin to save the dough I can use it to sign Feliz in this spot. I do hate to pass on pitching at this point. In the end Feliz is just too good to pass up. A 17 year old franchise cornerstone in rd 2. Never expected him to get here.

Pick 3
Martin and I are in mind meld right now. Ryan Pennington and Sandoval are still on the board and I’m thinking pitching, so is he. Interesting to note David Farley remains on the board and I expect his 4.4m bonus demand means he’ll end up going to college.

PICK 4
No 5th pick so I need to make this one count! Martin is leaning towards Ka-byong Song, a 21 year old south Korean SP. I am not seeing the ceiling to be a 4th pick. When asking him to give me another option he calls out 21 year old RF Jeff Payne out of Tougaloo College in Missouri. Average competition and the kid hit a little bit. A good average insanely fast kid with what appears to be a good eye for the zone and decent discipline. I happen upon Jeff Bentley, a 22 year old SP out of Wichita State. Martin has him as a 2 star guy, and one ready for at least A ball right now. If he hits high end he’s a 4 or 5 with outstanding control. I go with Bentley

PICK 6
Big bonus demands keep a few 3.5-5 star guys in the draft here in round 6. Martins first choice here is Jesus Fuentes a 22 year old 1.5 star potential catcher. Already above avg behind the plate his bat projects as decent with 40 2B pop. He’ll walk little and punch out a lot. I end up taking Hector Guzman, a 17 year old Santo Domingo kid with a bowling ball sinker. His command is horrid but my hope is we can harness that in the coming years.

7) Carl Walker 21 LHSP Florida Atlantic
8) Jesus Fuentes 22 C LHH New Orleans
9) Eduardo Alarcon 18 LHSP Tech Charter, Atlanta, GA
10) Jesus Mercado 20 C Switch Mississippi
11) Ivan Rea 21 LF LHH LSU 1 star
11) Eric Green 17 IF RHH St Marks HS, Wilmington, DE 3 star
12) Troy Graham 21 1B RHH St Peters, Jersey City, NJ 1 star
13) Paul Mcclellan 17 LHRP Catholic Central, Lansing, MI
14) Greg Leach 19 3B Switch Benilde-St Margarets, St Louis Park, MN
15) Nikodem Krasinski 18 OF RHH Danville, OH
16) Francisco Reyna 17 C LHH 4 star!!
17) Steve Leblanc 20 RHSP UNC, Chapel Hill, NC
18) Jack Durham 18 RHRP .5 star
(just realized all the players left are 17, I think I had roster settings at 18, which may have hosed the crap out of this first round! That being said there are a butt load of 17 year old players left so it’ll spread the talent!)
19) Julio Perez 17 LHSP 3.5 star who is looking for 1.1m to sign
20) Clancy Watts 17 RHSP Valencia, Placentia, CA
21) Pablo Diaz 17 RHSP Comanche High, TX
22) Conrad Peterson 17 2B RHH Grady High, Atlanta, GA
23) Louis Miguel Esquibel 17 RHRP
24) Steven Grubb 17 3B RHH
25) Manuel Gallardo 17 LHRP