[Westheim]

We jump ahead in time to Draft Day, which is on Tuesday. I played the first two Blue Sox games right on Wednesday, but was all mush in the brain from the heat yesterday and declined playing with the Coons. Well, it’s still too hot to live, but let’s at least bugger away the draft and maybe finish the week around the draft tomorrow…

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2049 AMATEUR DRAFT

Head scout Pat Degenhardt and the Raccoons’ fluffiest GM flew out to New York from Nashville on Tuesday morning to grab the Critters’ share of the youngest crop of fresh talent. We would have picked at #19, but that pick had gone to the Loggers (on a detour), forfeited for the now ridiculous signing of Dave Hils. The Raccoons’ top pick was thus a supplemental round pick, #34, compensation for the loss of Jake Jackson.

I had a hunch that meatier drafts were to come in the next few years…

Players shown with projected stuff/movement/control slash contact/power/eye and their BNN rank if in the top 10; * denotes high school players:

SP Josh Wilson (12/14/12)
SP Josh Mayo (11/10/10) *
SP Bill Lawrence (10/13/15) – BNN #3
SP Ben Karst (12/16/11) * - BNN #8

2B/SS Adam DeRosia (13/14/14) *
1B Travis Parker (7/18/13) *
1B/RF/LF Willie Jenkins (8/18/16)

OF/1B Phil Steinbacher (12/10/12) – BNN #10
OF Brandon Fellows (10/14/13) – BNN #9

This list did not even include the wicked P/C/3B Jeff Kelly, who was somebody that I might be tempted to pick in the supplemental round for the sheer wickedness of it all.

Well, the #34 pick was still far away. The Loggers not only had our old first-rounder, but also the first pick overall, and they took Phil Steinbacher with it. The Warriors went on to grab Adam DeRosia, before the #3 pick by the Wolves was right off the hotlist, starting pitcher James Murdock. Same for #4, outfielder Ethan Whitehead to the Falcons, while the Crusaders took Brandon Fellows fifth overall. Willie Jenkins then was picked by the Pacifics at #6.

So far untouched, the pitching contingent of the hotlist then began to get ravaged, starting at #7, three of them went in order to the Aces (Wilson), Buffos (Karst), and Knights (Lawrence), while #11 was Nick Lillard, who had also been under also-rans in our initial draft projections. Lillard was grabbed by the Capitals. Travis Parker was then also made a Warrior with a compensation pick at #13, which left only Josh Mayo from that hotlist. The Loggers would go on to select pitcher Steve Lyon with our original #19 pick. Mayo however was entirely passed over in the first round, annoyingly making me get my stupid old hopes up.

…and then Mayo fell all the way to the Coons. The Rebels at #33 took one of the two two-way players we had on our shortlist – Justin Reese, NOT Jeff Kelly, so that option was also still there. And Mayo was still around. Pat Degenhardt looked surprised, but no less committed to stick to his guns, and I liked myself a little lefty anyway. Josh Mayo was made a Raccoons prospect at once!

…which ended up passing on Jeff Kelly, who was taken by the Blue Sox with the #40 pick, still in the supplemental round. I sighed and flipped over the first page of our draft book; you know, the one which I had all adorned with little red hearts.

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2049 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Supp. Round (#34) – SP Josh Mayo, 19, from Manhattan, NY – southpaw with a mighty zinger for a 96mph fastball, and a promising assortment of curve, slider, and changeup; plenty of stamina, and for his age quite decent control
Round 2 (#62) – 1B Scott DiPiazza, 22, from San Antonio, TX – boilerplate first-sacker: decent contact, stiff defense, slower than glaciers, but it was the power potential that made you pay attention
Round 3 (#86) – OF Edwin Archevald, 19, from Lancaster, NH – there was a nice mobile outfielder with a decent throwing arm, solid contact and power characteristics, and at least a bit of speed … if you could look past the utter lack of plate discipline…
Round 4 (#110) – C/1B Jonathan Rhodes, 18, from San Francisco, CA – switch-hitter with the ability to wear out a pitcher with a great eye at the plate; power potential was also there, as was the typical catcher/first baseman body type which made him no joy to watch on the bases.
Round 5 (#134) – SS/3B David Cunningham, 18, from Tracy, MN - promised to be a very adept fielder on the left side of the infield, with good speed and stealing prospects; was definitely hitting like a shortstop though with rather little to offer in terms of power
Round 6 (#158) – 3B/SS Amari Williams, 20, from Porterville, CA – promised to be a very adept fielder on the left side of the infield, with good speed and stealing prospects; was definitely hitting like a shortstop though with rather little to offer in terms of power …… what? Are we not allowed to draft a carbon copy from the guy in the previous round?
Round 7 (#182) – SP Matt Spurgin, 21, from Columbus, OH – left-hander with six different pitches, all of which were being hit for distance occasionally, and his stamina was on the low side too…
Round 8 (#206) – 2B/LF/SS Tyler Colley, 19, from Early, TX – if all goes well, an average middle infielder with average contact, average speed, and no power…
Round 9 (#230) – SP Jason Pollard, 17, from Oregon City, OR – best lefty Oregon City has to offer! They had … two, I think. Four pitches, all crummy, very much including the 85mph fastball. But he can throw that thing all day long…
Round 10 (#254) – LF/RF/1B Jordan Franklin, 22, from Schuylkill Haven, PA – lefty-hitting kid with no power, playing power positions. Good eye and throwing arm, though.
Round 11 (#278) – SP Bobby Turner, 19, from Moultonborough, NH – probably a second cousin of our third-rounder, given that New Hampshire is not all that big; throws only a 86mph fastball and a sinker to any effect, and struggles with control too, but not every lefty taken in the 11th round can make the Hall of Fame…
Round 12 (#302) – C Ramiro Ramirez, 18, from Rio Grande, Puerto Rico – there was quite a bit of contact potential, a good old eye, and a good story teller here, but unfortunately he was also wider than a bus and just as slow, and wasn’t working well with pitchers either…
Round 13 (#326) – INF/LF Kenny Dillard, 20, from Parkland, FL – really good defense, weighed down by no stick, no sense for timing a stolen base, and no real will to work on that..

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With such a haul, there was of course also a purge in the system going on. Since we did not draft a lot of hot pitching, most bombs dropped onto position players, although one high-profile release was certainly that of Alejandro Gutierrez, who was four single-A seasons and three major elbow surgeries into his professional career since leeching $160k from the Coons in the July 2045 IFA period, and all that for a 5.45 ERA in Aumsville. The “damaged goods” label was applied and the 20-year-old Venezuelan was shown out the door. 2046 10th-rounder Vinny Ellis and 2044 Nick Brown Memorial pick Nick Alix were also released off the Beagles’ roster.

For position players (that were at least mentioned once before, plus others) the Raccoons parted with AAA C Andy Boyette (2043, 6th Round), AA 1B Mark Watts (2045, 6th Rd.), AA 3B/OF Justin Benne (2043, 4th Rd.), A 1B Edward Skinner (2048, 12th Rd.), A LF/RF Ben Kupferberg (2045, 8th Rd.), and A LF/CF Trevor Gillespie (2046, 4th Rd.);

Baseball is cruel, loves no one, and doesn’t care for their feelings, mine, or yours.