[Westheim]

2045 DRAFT POOL ANALYSIS

First of all, the Raccoons had signed away their top pick (#22) in the upcoming draft when they inked Armando Herrera away from the Wolves, so the whole point of a hotlist of a dozen or so prime players to find in the upcoming draft was kinda moot, but we’re routineers at going through the motions over here, so I had Scout Pat Degenhardt compile one anyway.

Our first pick would not come up until #37, the compensation pick for Sal Ayala, and then we’d only get another turn at #70 …!

Meanwhile, this was very much a position players draft. We had 116 players on the shortlist, of which only 40 were entered as pitchers (and two more Josh Rella candidates that were entered as hopeless hitters). There were a few very interesting pitchers in the draft, none of which would fall to us, which was entirely regrettable, because I’d have loved nothing more than a top prospect named Jameson “Midnight Toaster” Monk. Sigh! At least we got a ring for our bothers …!

The hotlist (players with * are high school boys):

SP James Powell (12/15/10) *
SP Jameson Monk (13/15/12) * – BNN #6
SP Cory Ellis (12/12/13) * – BNN #1
SP Mike Kipp (11/13/11) *
SP Jameel Williams (12/12/14) * – BNN #5

CL David Pittard (17/13/10)

C/1B Jason Schaack (10/15/10) * – BNN #2

SS/3B Prince Gates (13/8/9) – BNN #3
1B David Worthington (12/15/10) – BNN #7
1B Willie Kersh (9/13/11) *
2B Rich Seymour (13/4/12) *

LF/RF Adam Magnussen (12/14/17)
LF/RF Tim Duncan (16/13/8) * – BNN #10
OF Alberto Cabazos (11/18/12) * – BNN #9

Weirdly, most of these swatting prospects appeared to have only token defensive capabilities. The exception was perhaps Prince Gates, who instead had plenty of attitude. He wasn’t even a major leaguer yet, and was already sporting a thick (probably fake) gold chain with a paw-sized dollar sign on it, which was even weirder for a kid from provincial South Dakota.

Plenty of interesting kids there – and, well, we still only have the #37 pick.

I’ll try to produce the next weekly update during the simultaneous deathmatch in MLB tonight (but there is the threat of running into my bedtime…). Rooting for a 4-way tie in the AL, and for the damn Elks to be quiet while in Portland…