[Westheim]

2009 AMATEUR DRAFT

The Raccoons held four first and supplemental round picks including the compensation received for free agents Craig Bowen and Juan Barrón, with their top pick at #14, and their second and original first round pick coming at #21.

The Raccoons had a hotlist of 15 players, and a 106 boys long list of players that were at least in some remote way interesting. Below again, just the top 15:

SP Bryant Roberts (12/12/13)
SP Jim Fortman (11/13/14) – BNN #7
SP Ian Van Meter (11/14/12)
SP Tony Harrell (13/16/10) – BNN #6
SP Mike Stank (10/14/11)
SP Milt Beauchamp (12/15/12) – BNN #10; college pitcher
SP Rich Hood (11/11/10) – college pitcher
SP/MR Chris Elenbaas (11/10/14) – short on the third pitch, and nobody can errorlessly say his name

CL Tim Edmonds (17/11/9)

2B Josh Downing (13/12/11) – BNN #2; looking for a 5-tool second baseman?
SS Erik Janes (15/2/10) – BNN #1
1B Jonathan Marsh (10/10/12)

LF/RF/INF Devin Hibbard (12/8/14)
LF Corey Martin (11/12/16) – BNN #9
OF Geoff Allen (10/5/9) – potential Gold Glover

I was looking at a starting pitcher for sure. You can always use a starting pitcher prospect, right? My favorites – shall I say them? Some other team will hear it and pick them away from us! – might be Van Meter and Hood. Well, my favorite pitcher was actually Bryant Roberts, but Whitebread said he’d be the first overall pick unless the Loggers were stupid. Josh Downing would also be a sweet yield, but there was no way he would be around at #14.

Whitebread said a whole lot more besides how the Loggers would be stupid by not drafting Bryant Roberts, and well, apparently they’re stupid, because they made SP Tony Harrell the first overall pick in the 2009 draft. After that, the Aces took Josh Downing #2, and the Knights picked Devin Hibbard at #3. The top 5 were completed by Ian Van Meter going #4 to the Rebels and Jim Fortman #5 to the Buffaloes. Erik Janes followed that as #6 to Oklahoma. Bryant Roberts wasn’t selected until #9 (Gold Sox). Whitebread shook his head. So did I, looking at Whitebread.

The only players of our hotlist that were still left over when our first pick came up were pitchers Mike Stank, Rich Hood, Chris Elenbaas, and Tim Edmonds, first baseman Jonathan Marsh, and outfielder Geoff Allen. My earlier preference hadn’t changed, and Rich Hood it was. After all these years, I was longing for another Neil Reece, so when Geoff Allen was available seven picks later, we picked him. Only Marsh and Elenbaas were left over at our third pick and Elenbaas didn’t really have a good third pitch or even any potential third pitch, while Marsh was a first baseman. Period. Elenbaas went a few picks later, and our next choice with the hotlist depleted, SP Jonathan Toner, was claimed by the Cyclones one pick ahead of us.

2009 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#14) – SP Rich Hood, 22, from San Diego, CA – left-hander with four pitches that doesn’t throw too hard, but mixes his arsenal well. His best out pitch is a sharply dropping curveball that has the potential to earn him a ton of money.
Round 1 (#21) – OF Geoff Allen, 22, from Seattle, WA – everything athletic, you name it, Allen masters it; he runs like a leopard, he hurls balls like a howitzer, and he has a good eye for flight paths and is hardly ever fooled by a ball. The bat is a work in progress, and he won’t lead any home run columns, but if he can learn to lay off more junk, he could be an amazing, even if primarily defensive, centerfielder for many years.
Supp. Round (#43) – 1B Jonathan Marsh, 19, from Pomona, CA – while he has speed, he is so massively built that he is really not any good in the field, but he has a decent power potential and figures to be more or less the prototypical first baseman.
Supp. Round (#54) – INF/OF Brock Hudman, 19, from Glassport, PA – this strange beast has a high average/on-base bat without much power. He runs well and has good range, but a weak arm. He has played all over the place in high school and on exhibition teams, but he doesn’t really fit any position except perhaps leftfield and second base.
Round 2 (#80) – SP Lance Meyer, 21, from Huntingdon Beach, CA – right-hander with good stamina, three good pitches, but a control issue to beat out of him, and he seems to be a bit prone to the long ball
Round 3 (#104) – OF William Quinn, 20, from Miamisburg, OH – good defensive abilities, quick runners, unfortunately no home run power at all
Round 4 (#128) – SP Mark Grimes, 19, from Brooklyn, NY – there are four pitches, ill control, and a concerning tendency to allow hard, deep drives for this right-hander, who needs to get many things in order to climb the ladder
Round 5 (#152) – LF/2B Pat Rouse, 18, from Hawthorne, CA – another “have glove, will move around” player with a track record at five positions, but much like Hudman he doesn’t excel anywhere. He is an excellent base stealer and runner, and has a good eye, which might be aiding the slash line of this powerless switch-hitter.
Round 6 (#176) – C Ken St. Pierre, 18, from Brooklyn, NY – slightly obese and clumsy, this right-handed bat makes good contact and knows how to lay off crap. No power at all, though.
Round 7 (#200) – CL Chris Roberts, 21, from Moore’s Mill, AL – right-hander with a 92mph fastball, a slider, and bad enough control to walk more than five per nine innings for Long Beach State.
Round 8 (#224) – INF Dustin Tobin, 18, from Coconut Creek, FL – fits a bit of a utility mold, playing three positions around the infield competently, also runs a little bit.
Round 9 (#248) – SP Chris Mathis, 22, from Warminster Heights, PA – fastball, curveball, and really not much else, and he will probably move to the bullpen right away.
Round 10 (#272) – OF/1B Aaron Ellis, 20, from Charlotte, NC – good defense all across the outfield, sadly with no hitting skills whatsoever.
Round 11 (#296) – MR Andy Hackney, 20, from Jacksonville, FL – there’s a left-hander with a slider that likes to bite in on hitter’s ankles – unintentionally.
Round 12 (#320) – C Jordan Cole, 18, from West Melbourne, FL – another catcher with suspect defense. He has a good eye and being a switch-hitter going for him, although if you’re hacking like him and miss fat strikes, it’s not quite relevant from which side of the plate you’re doing it.

All guys will get their start at the A level in Aumsville. I don’t think our top picks, despite being college guys, should go to AA right away in this case. We also released a few guys, though no top picks, although 2004 first-rounder C Erik Ruff is pretty close to getting pelted. He’s in AA and sucks tremendously.