[Westheim]

As I have a little time left before I drop dead into bed, I will take a look at my picks from the first five rounds from every draft so far with a short summary. I have picked only once in all of those rounds, had no supplemental round picks, and forfeited the round two pick one when signing FA Pedro Hermundo.

1977

Round 1 - OF Daniel Hall – Well, you know him. He has become an anchor of the team, although his bat has not become 19/18/20. Is a .267 hitter with a 20-homer season, but is injured quite a lot.
Round 2 - SP Jaime Garcia – A total bust, he has never made it out of AA ball, and after missing 1981 injured, is back to A ball.
Round 3 - 1B Matt Workman – Made the majors last September and has the starting 1B job. Showed tremendous power in the minors, which is slowly coming through on the big league stage.
Round 4 - MR Miguel Bojorquez – Was with the Raccoons 1980-81 as situational lefty with a 7.25 ERA, and sent back to AAA. He has not pitched in almost a full year due to a torn UCL. Future highly uncertain.
Round 5 - SP/MR Jorge Rodriguez – Became a reliever that raced up to AAA ball, but never made the jump to the big team. Since 1981 he is in a bad decline, his 1982 ERA is over eight.

1978

Round 1 - MR Richard Cunningham – He developed a killer arm with a slight tendency to go wild. Joined the Raccoons in late ’81 and is a murder 7th/8th inning guy. Has almost 9 K/9 in the majors so far.
Round 2 - SP/MR Gary Simmons – He made it quickly to the majors, but most likely too quickly, while also being converted to a starter. It did not work out, he lost 21 games in 1981. He is back at AAA and being converted to a reliever again.
Round 3 - 1B Johnny Snow – Back then, I said murder bat with a small glove, but it turned out he had a small bat and a very small glove. Plays AA ball. Bust.
Round 4 - MR Marvin Large – Joined the AA team after the draft, but never got beyond that.
Round 5 - C Eric Gregory – He slowly rose through the ranks to AAA ball, but his bat is lacking too much to jump to the majors but as an injury replacement.

1979

Round 1 - MR Grant West – Local boy from Portland, he has become the Raccoons closer less than two years after being drafted. Has murder stuff and movement and is hardly hittable. Definitely one of my best picks.
Round 2 - SP Pepe Acevedo – Pitched in A ball all his career so far. He is the first in the list not with the Raccoons organization anymore, as he was included in the Pennington/Hermundo trade with the Cyclones in the winter of ‘80/’81.
Round 3 - MR Fletcher Kelley – He joined the AA team right away after being drafted and has shredded the opposition on his way to the majors, which he made in ’81. Is a pitcher similar in makeup to Rich Cunningham, just a notch less great.
Round 4 - LF/RF Gary Carter – Also joined the AA team after being drafted, and made the jump to AAA in 1981, but has never gotten a starting job there for lacking with the bat. His development was stalled.
Round 5 - C Dave Stewart – The “bit of power” we saw before drafting him has never materialized, his bat is very weak and he has never progressed past A ball.

1980

Round 1 - SP Carlos Gonzalez – The hype about him as died down some. He was rushed to AA too soon after the draft, and is now back there, 3-3 with a 4.57 ERA in 1982. I consider it highly likely that we won’t ever see him in the majors.
Round 3 - SP Ray Willis – He has not gotten out of A ball yet and has been severely rated down by scouting departments since being drafted.
Round 4 - 1B/2B Darren Campbell – He is making slow progress, but is only batting .231 in AA ball now.
Round 5 - LF Jose Perez – Made the transition to AA ball in 1981, but has been rated down harshly and looks like another bust in this drafting class.

1981

Round 1 - 3B/2B Orlando Lantán – A broken kneecap in his rookie season in A ball has put his whole career in grave danger. He is only batting .244 at the A level right now.
Round 2 - C Greg Thornburg – He is gifted with the ability to control a game and make calls in the best degree, unfortunately his bat is nowhere near where it would have to be. He sniffed at AA ball shortly, but is back with our A level club.
Round 3 - OF Kelly Weber – Moved up to AA late in ’81 and is playing very well there. Should be at AAA next year in any case.
Round 4 - MR Pedro Vazquez – Also at AA, he is a righty fireballer that could close out games, but so far has a tendency to go very wild.
Round 5 - CL Emerson MacDonald – Employed as the AA team’s closer currently, he is a less wild variant of Vazquez. He should definitely make the majors in some capacity by ’84 or so.

So, we got something out of every draft, but the 1980 one. That one looks really *really* bad. The only player drafted by the Raccoons that was picked past round 5 and made it to the majors yet was reliever Jason White, who was taken in the seventh round in 1977.