[illeracula]

I was looking at our current roster and I noticed that we didn't have many "home grown" players on the 40-man roster and even less that are big-league ready... By "home grown" I mean they were drafted or signed by us and brought up through our minor league system. The list of players below are our "home grown" group who have played with the Cavaliers in 2018:

Jesus Rivera - Drafted during the Inaugural Draft, Round 16 - debut 2013
Augusto Rodriquez - Drafted during the Inaugural Draft, Round 17 - debut 2015
Arturo Ramirez - 3rd Overall Pick of the 2013 1st-year player draft - debut 2017
Dalton Whitaker - Drafted during the Inaugural Draft, Round 21 - debut 2013
Vaughn Griffith - 3rd Round pick in 2014 1st-year player draft - debut 2018
Byung-Hyun Chong - Signed as an Intl free agent in 2017 - debut 2018
Luis Gonzalez - Signed as an Intl free agent in 2017 - debut 2018
Bryan O'Neil - Drafted during the Inaugural Draft, Round 59 - debut 2017

Our scout, Antonio Diaz, was hired prior to the 2016 season and I am waiting for him to make some noise, we have been through 3 drafts with him and hopefully this season will be the season that one of those picks makes our top prospect list. Diaz is sign through next year, so the decision to move on or keep him aboard is coming...

Antonio Diaz Profile:
Scouts Majors: Good, Minors: Excellent, International: Good, Amateurs: Excellent
Projection: Favors Ability, He is signed through next season.
Age: 56
Expenses:
Scouting: $2,000,000
Draft: $7,500,000
Player Dev: $6,000,000

Before coming to Norfolk, he was the Scouting Director for the New Castle Colonials. He does have some impressive finds on his resume, from his Colonials days. #1 being Peter Peters. He is in his third season as the Cavaliers scout and I am waiting for one of his guys to make a move. Is it the scout? The Coaches? Financial Allotment? I don't know. Our drafting hasn't been impressive and my patience is running thin. Of our top 10 prospects, only 5 have been developed internally: 1 drafted prior to Diaz, 1 signed prior to Diaz and 3 drafted with Diaz as the SD. Jamie King was drafted by the Colonials in 2013 and Diaz did give him high marks when we pulled off the trade for him.

Outside of the guys listed above the next wave is a bunch of guys we traded for, with only one being a "home grown" player; Joe Chambers, 20 years old, playing in AA and could possible be big-league ready in 2 years (2016 Round 2). We currently have 26 players in our international complex with only 3 of them being 3* or better prospects. We do have one guy that was signed by Diaz who just made his minor league debut this year at 19 years old. He is a 4.5* prospect out of Venezuela, Lancarote Hall, who is hitting .265-5-35 in A-ball. I am going to pay attention to his development over the next year, as well as Michael Heathcote, Ben Sanford and some of the lower round picks like Artie Knight and Chris Brownwell. I think we have fallen asleep on our internal development and need to get back to it. Maybe try to bring in some better coaches, problem is the coaching pool is lacking.

I don't deny some of these issues are my fault, since I have traded away a quite a few guys in my 7 year tenure here. Guys that we just couldn't afford, and a lot of the times it meant including picks or prospects to pull of the deal. Coming this off-season i am going to try to reel it in some and when I ship off guys this off season I will not include prospects, at least I will try not to. Overall I'd like to some more Norfolk "home grown" guys show up on our prospect list or our big league roster. You can only make so many trades and what happens when you lose your trade pieces?

Here is a look at our draft picks from 2013 to 2018 and where they currently stand. Players in bold have reached the big leagues with the Cavaliers.

2013
1) Arturo Ramirez (SP) (#3 Overall) 23 - Norfolk 15-2 2.21 3.4 WAR 4/4*
2) Maurice Noble (CF) 23 - AAA .314-1-29 0.3 WAR 1/1 *
3) Jack Dooley (OF) - did not sign
4) Bobby Myers (P) 26 - AAA 23 GS 4-9 6.52, 1.5 WAR 1/1*
Rule 5 Draft 2017 pitched in 3 games with Blue Hens and was returned / 0-0 2.08
5) David Harrison (CF) 24 - AA .329-10-48 4.5 WAR 1.5/1.5*
6) Francisco Correa (SS) 24 - AAA .245-5-35 -2.5 WAR, 1/1*
7) Raymond Prigent (C) 26 - AAA .275-7-58 1/1*
8) Jeremy Pittman (CF) 25 - AAA .271-4-27 -1.3 WAR 1/1*
9) Vincent Ayers (C) 27 - A .265-1-9 0.2 WAR
10) Stephen James (C) 26 - AA .321-2-10 0.3 WAR 1/1*

Notes on this draft: David Harrison and Maurice Noble have both been on and off our internal prospect list, they just never developed the way the club thought they would.

2014
1) Gabriel Santos (SP) (#1 Overall) - Traded to Balitmore Barons
2) Jeremy Jones (SS) - Traded to Balitmore Barons
3) Doug Nelson (SP) - Retired due to injury 03/26/2015
3) Vaughn Griffith (SP) 21 - AAA 10-5 4.09 4.8 WAR 3.5/4.0*
4) Joseph Kearse (1B) - did not sign
5) Donald Matthews (2B) - did not sign
8) Vern Sanchez (SS) 25 - .260-3-22 0.0 WAR 1/1*
9) Gary Lee (3B) 22 - AA .270-0-9 -0.2 WAR 1/1*
10) Bertrand Balkwill (SS) 23 - AA .289-0-6, A .240-3-12 -0.3 WAR 1/1*

Notes on this Draft: Santos will have a future as a closer, his stamina never developed. Current in AAA closing, but should be a big leaguer soon. Doug Nelson was a top 100 prospect before injury took his career. This was probably our strongest draft.

2015
1) Joseph Kearse (1B) (#18 Overall) - Traded to Chesapeake Blue Crabs
2) Arhippa Skytta (SP) - did not sign
3) Chuck Champman (LF) - did not sign
5) Markus Lee (SS) 23 - AA .255-1-31 0.4 WAR 1/1*
6) Ed Jones (SS) - did not sign
7) Peter Alexander (C) 23 - AA .317-7-42 1.3 WAR 1/1*
8) Rich McIver (SP) 24 - AA 42 G 3-1 5.25 -0.4 WAR .5/.5*
9) Rick Ford (2B) 21 - A .243-1-22 0.6 WAR 1/1*
10) Sixto Alvarez (SP) 21 -A 19 GS 9-4 4.47 1.8 WAR 1/1*

Notes on this draft: We liked Kearse so much from 2014 we drafted again. then promptly traded him away a year later. He made his debut with the Blue Crabs this year, but currently destroying AAA pitching. He is the #28th prospect in the game. Peter Alexander might be the only big-leaguer on this list still on our roster, he is full developed, but could make a decent back-up one day. Other than that this was our worst draft, not signing 3 of our top 5 hurt.

2016
1) Ben Sanford (SP) (#14 Overall) 21 - AA 50 G 3-3 24 SV 2.17 0.4 WAR 1.5/5*
2) Joe Chambers (SS) 20 - AA .240-13-60 0.8 WAR 2/4.5*
3) Ricardo Vasquez (1B) 21 - A .256-7-20 0.5 WAR 1/1*
4) Artie Knight (SS) 20 - A .264-8-46 1.6 WAR 1/1*
5) Lowell Haas (SP) 21 - AA 61 G 2-1 1 SV 6.08 -0.8 WAR .5/2*
8) Jamie Renteria (SP) 22 - A 42 G 2-1 5.95 0.7 WAR .5/.5*
9) Bill Etheridge (SP) 20 - A 32 G 8 GS 6-1 1 SV 3.39 1.5 WAR .5/.5*
10) Johnny Rush (SP) 20 - A 31 G 9 GS 3-5 11 SV 3.60 1.4 WAR .5/.5*

Notes about this Draft: Chambers and Sanford are future big-leaguers assuming they continue to develop. Sanford could branch out to long-relief or starter, but he only has 2 pitches. Just like most pitchers he needs to add some control. Chambers is possibly the brightest star of the bunch, he hits, shows some power, has a good glove and can run. We could see him next year.

2017
1) Ramon Grandados (CF) (#12 Overall) 24 - AA .311-12-63 4.4 WAR 2/4.5*
2) Bernardo Velez (2B/P) (#20 Overall) 19 - A .267-7-45 2.0 WAR 1/1*
3) Tom Dundee (CF) 19 - A .256-6-35 -0.1 WAR 1/2*
4) Chris Brownwell (SP) 21 - A 18 GS 5-1 2.50 3.4 WAR .5/2*
5) David Lowe (SS) - did not sign
6) Ron Reason (CF) 19 - A .201-3-17 -1.1 WAR 1/1.5*
7) Bill Brown (SP) - did not sign
8) Jimmy Jones (SP) 20 - A 6 GS 0-5 5.91 0.4 WAR .5/.5*
9) Bob Watson (2B) 20 - A .279-0-13 -0.1 WAR 1/1*
10) Justin Wills (SS) 19 - A .213-0-12 -2.2 WAR 1/1*
11) Gil McDaniel (SP) 19 - A 15 GS 3-9 6.87 1.0 WAR .5/.5*

Notes about this draft: Grandados was just recently moved up to AAA, he thinks he should be in the bigs now, so we will see how he hits AAA first. He can fly, just needs to hit. Bernardo Velez and Dundee could have careers as long as they develop. We really like Velez as a future IF'er, possible super utility man. Brownwell is one of my guys, so I am keep tabs on him. Due to injures he is now pitching in AA.

2018
1) Michael Heathcote (SP) (#18 Overall) 23 - 10 GS 5-3 2.61 2.6 WAR 1/4.5*
2) Vernon Tilly (RF) 17 - A .244-1-11 -0.7 WAR .5/1 WAR
3) Tim Rodriquez (SP) 19 - A 16 G 0-2 1 SV 6.19 0.4 WAR .5/2.5*
4) Sergio Beltran (SS) - did not sign
5) Jorge Gonzalez (CF) 20 - A .217-1-9 -0.2 WAR 1/1.5*
6) Ronnie Ludwick (SS) 20 - A .313-2-17 1.2 WAR .5/1*
7) Willis Randall (3B) 20 - A .205-0-3 0.2 WAR .5/1*
8) Ken Giles (SP) 18 - A 23 G 0-2 14 SV 3.65 -0.2 WAR .5/1*
9) Manuel Reyes (1B) 18 - has not played yet .5/1*
10) Alberto Sanchez (SP) 19 - 23 G 2-3 12.81 -0.1 WAR .5/1.5*

Notes about this draft: After 2015, we pledged to sign our picks, and its paid off. We never really thought Beltran would stay with us, plus we already had 3 1st rounders. Heathcote is now in AA due to injuries after pitching really solid in 10 A-ball starts. Other than Heathcote we don't know what to expect from the rest of this group. Tilly and Rodriquez are both young and have time, so we will see what happens. The verdict is still out.