[illeracula]

First-Year Player Draft: Ellicott City, Milton, Seaford, Virginia Beach and Salisbury have the opportunity to really make some organization-altering changes today. Their GMs have been huddled around the conference room all night, playing over scenarios with the scouting staff, arguing out the merits of every possible scenario they can fathom. Who they pick might set their clubs up for ten years of quality baseball or it might mean ten years of languishing as an also-ran. BNN experts have concluded that these ten young men should be picked at the top of the draft:

1. Ron Melton, 18 year-old catcher out of high-school.
2. Ryan McCoy, 20 year-old starting pitcher out of college.
3. Calvin Pittman, 18 year-old third baseman out of high-school.
4. Henry Rojas, 20 year-old catcher out of college.
5. Ed Arrington, 19 year-old starting pitcher out of high-school.
6. Andrew Myers, 18 year-old starting pitcher out of high-school.
7. Steven Ray, 22 year-old starting pitcher out of college.
8. John White, 19 year-old starting pitcher out of high-school.
9. Gordon Purkis, 21 year-old shortstop out of college.
10. Ryan Sutton, 19 year-old center fielder out of high-school.

The Ellicott City Express will be drafting #1 this year, breaking a 4-yr streak of #1 picks by the Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs. The Express also drafted 1st in 2016 and drafted an Silver Slugger catcher, will they duplicate that success in 2023? Only time will tell...

Being the top pick in the draft puts a lot of pressure on and not all of the #1's have become the stars they were predicted... Here is a look at the past #1's and how their careers have gone...

2013 - Jorge Moran (SP), Chesapeake Blue Crabs, Columbia University
Debut: 2013
Current Team: Lewes Braves
Awards: Golden Arm 2019, All-Star 2016, 2019, 2020
Career: 140-70 3.09, 1 SV (301 G, 282 GS)

2014 - Gabriel Santos (SP), Norfolk Cavaliers, High School
Debut: 2019
Current Team: Salisbury Ports
Career: 6-8 3.59, 31 SV (186 G)

2015 - Phil Carlson (SP), Lewes Braves, High School
Debut: n/a, pitched 2 years in AAA
Current Team: retired 2023
Career: 70-56 4.62, 2 SV (209 G, 189 GS)

2016 - Will Riley (C), Ellicott City Express out of Vanderbilt U
Debut: 2017
Current Team: Ellicott City Express
Awards: Newcomer of the Year 2017, Silver Slugger 2021, All-Star 2020, 2021, 2022
Career: .315-176-615 (882 G)

2017 - Cornell Pearson (SP), Seaford Blue Jays out of Creighton
Debut: 2018
Current Team: Norfolk Cavaliers
Awards: All-Star 2021
Career: 60-46 3.43 (152 G, 140 GS)

2018 - Pablo Garcia (SP), Salisbury Ports, Oral Roberts University
Debut: 2019
Current Team: Salisbury Ports
Awards: All-Star 2021
Career: 56-45 3.29 (143 G/GS)

2019 - Shunen Koyama (SS), Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs, U of New Mexico
Debut: 2020
Current Team: Viriginia Beach Surf Dawgs
Career: .264-49-207

2020 - Will Hayes (3B), Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs, Farleigh Dickinson College
Debut: 2022
Current Team: Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs
Career: .220-6-28 (87 G)

2021 - Steve Cole (SP), Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs, High School
Debut: n/a
Current Team: Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs (A-Ball)
Career: (A) 8-12 3.87 (28 G/GS)
Prospect: #19/DBL, #2/Surf Dawgs

2022 - Brooks Carlson (SP), Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs, High Shcool
Debut: n/a
Current Team: Virginia Beach Surf Dawgs (A-Ball)
Career: (A) 6-7 3.69 (24 G/ 23 GS)
Propsect: #99/DBL, #6/Surf Dawgs

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Norfolk Cavaliers #1 Pick History:

And as I have said in the past, my drafting isn't the best. For the most part I let the scout do the picking, but sometimes we end up at odds and I override him. I should of marked down the ones I picked versus our scouts, but either way, a few of these guys turned out pretty good... Here is the history of my #1's drafted as the Cavaliers GM.

2013 - Arturo Ramirez (SP)
Made his debut with the Cavaliers in 2017 and was impressive in 2 starts. In 2018 had his best season at 21-3 2.41 and walked away with the Newcomer of the Year award. Was traded to the Baltimore Barons in 2020, after a series of injuries. With the Barons he was injuried for the season, and lost his staminia, and is now their closer. He is a 4-time All-Star.
Career: 58-17 2.83, 40 Saves (177 Games, 92 Starts)

2014 - Gabriel Santos (SP)
After 1.5 seasons in the Cavaliers organization Satnos was sent to the Baltimore Barons. In 2019 he made his debut as a reliver for the Barons. He came back to the Cavaliers in the trade in which Ramirez was sent to the Barons. The Cav's were happy to have him back, but after a slow start in 2022 he was shipped off to the Salisbury Ports. He is currently on the DL and will miss the 2023 season after tearing his UCL.
Career: 6-8 3.59, 31 SV (186 Games)

2015 - Joseph Kearse (1B)
After failing to sign as a Cavaliers 2nd round pick in 2014, the Cav's made Kearse their first round pick a year later. Their relationship didn't last long, as he was deal to the Chesapeake Blue Crabs a year later. He made his debut with the Blue Crabs in 2018, and his currently the Blue Crabs back-up 1B/DH.
Career: .247-17-121 (284 Games)

2016 - Ben Sanford (SP)
Running out of options and with a lack of control the Cavaliers shipped Sanford off to the Christiana Blue Hens in 2021. The Blue Hens were happy to have him and made his debut in 2021. He has since become a solid starter despite his control problems.
Career: 21-16 3.64, 5 SV (95 G, 50 Starts)

2017 - Ramon Granados (OF)
After 3 seaons in the minors, Ramon got the call in 2020 and played in a career high 114 games. The past 2 seasons, he has played primarily as the back-up CF to Javier Janchez and this year began playing 2B. He is now the Cavaliers starting 2B.
Career: .290-27-134 (351 games)

2017 - Bernarod Velez (2B)
The Cav's second first round pick in 2017 made his big-legue debut last season with a september call-up, going 1-10. The plans were to give him the reigns at 2B this year, but a slow spring adjusted those plans. Velez is now back on the Cavaliers roster, due to injuries, and is serving as the back-up 2B and defensive replacement.
Career: .196-2-7 (24 games)

2018 - Michael Heathcote (SP)
Michael was traded to the Christiana Blue Hens alogn with Ben Sanford in 2021. This was a big blunder on my part, as I thoguht I was trading a different player. Heathcote made the Blue Hens and had a solid rookie campaign. He was traded to the Chesapeake Blue Crabs last season, where he is now a fixture in their bullpen.
Carrer: 11-11 3.85, 6 SV (149 games)

2019 - Mark Bolton (C)
After sitting in A-ball for his first 1.5 seasons, I decided to trump my coaches and moved Mark to AAA, where he hit the ball all over the place. In 2021, back in AAA, he had a solid season, which made me think twice about signing John O'Donegon to a long-term deal. After another decent start in 2022, and the emergence of Alejandro Diaz, John O' was made expendable. After a 2022 September call-up it was obvious that he could handle the bigs. John O was traded and Bolton was given the back-up slot in 2023. A decent catcher, who makes a solid back-up combo with Diaz.
Career: .273-2-14 (37 games)

2020 - Michael Russell (OF)
After 2 seasons in the Cavaliers organization Russell was shipped off to the Salisbury Ports, where is currently in A-ball. He started the season in AA, but a slow start sent him back down to A.
Career: A-ball: .262-44-184 (348 games)

2021 - Ben Gibbs (2B)
Ben is now in his 2nd season A-ball and isn't playing as much as he'd or I would like. He hasn't been very impressive during his 2 seasons, but we still hold faith that he could end up making the big-league roster as a back-up one day.
Career: A-ball: .224-9-81

2022 - Doug Phelps (SP)
Phelps is currently on the mend after rupturing his ulnar collateral ligament, after making 8 decent starts in A-ball last season. He will be returning to the mound in 3 weeks and I am anxious to see how he returns. The biggest question mark regarding Phelps is his velocity, who is a righty who throws in the high 80's.
Carrer: A-Ball: 3-4 4.50 (8 starts)

Ben Gibbs and Michael Russell are looking to be busts, and the jury is still out on Doug Phelps. I am looking forward to his return from the DL and to see how he recovered from missing a year of ball. Based on his latest development report its not looking all that great, as his potential dropped from 2.5 to 2.0...

On to the 2023 draft... The Cavaliers will be drafting 21st in the first round, and then we have the 7th pick in the 2nd round, and the 13th and 20th in the 3rd. Hopefully we can some solid players with those 5 picks...