{ Back after short vacation. The tables, as always, are easier to read at https://wbl.dmlco.com/wp/2023/11/28/...t-the-preview/ . }
Alright, here it comes ... the first year player draft in the WBL is a big deal, especially this year as a mixture of additional talent and the dissolution of some independent leagues has really elevated the talent pool.
The goal was to make the first 5 or 6 rounds all contain potentially worthy players.
Each team may make up to 4 "free" picks, meaning they can select anyone remaining in the game. For the rest of their selections, they are limited to players historically attached (meaning, a significant amount of their playing time) to their franchises.
Here are the teams, listed in the draft order, and their number of picks per round in the draft for the first 10 rounds (rounds 11 and 12 are unchanged, with each team having 1 pick):
Code:
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tot
PHI 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 12
MCG 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 11
KCM 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13
HOM 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 14
OTT 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 12
MEM 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 13
SFS 1 1 1 1 1 1 8
LAA 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 14
IND 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 15
BRK 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 12
HOU 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 13
NYY 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 11
HOD 1 3 1 2 2 1 1 13
BBB 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 15
POR 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 13
CLE 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11
NYG 3 2 1 1 1 10
CAG 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 10
DET 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10
BAL 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 10
Portland also has a supplemental pick after Round One for the loss of Gavvy Cravath via free agency.
A few things jump out from that:
- San Francisco clearly made a mess of the season, finishing both with the 7th worst record on the season and having traded away most of their draft capital in deals in June when they still looked to have a shot to contend.
- Birmingham, tied with Indianapolis for the most picks, did so while still making the playoffs.
- Kansas City, Homestead, and the House of David each have 4 picks over the first 2 rounds.
Here's how the AI sees the top twenty prospects, along with the franchises that are eligible to draft them.
Code:
# Name Pos Age Franchises
1 Bullet Joe Rogan SP 27 KCM
2 Vladimir Guerrero OF 19 LAA,OTT
3 Ed Delahanty 2B 20 PHI
4 Al Orth SP 23 NYY, PHI
5 Mickey Hughes SP 20
6 Hugh Duffy OF 20 BBB
7 Kyle Tucker OF 18 HOU
8 Edgar Martínez 3B 20 OTT
9 Clayton Kershaw SP 18 BRK
10 Chuck Klein OF 22 PHI
11 Doc Newton SP 21
12 Joe Torre C 20 BBB,KCM
13 Tim Lincecum SP 21 NYG
14 Ralph Kiner OF 19 HOM
15 Ichiro Suzuki OF 28 OTT
16 Steve Brodie OF 20 BAL
17 Ben Tincup SP 19 PHI
18 Carlos Baerga 3B 18 CLE
19 Earl Averill OF 24 CLE
20 Josh Beckett SP 20 MEM.MCG
That is, of course, a really odd list in places (Mickey Hughes, anyone?). So here are the next 20, in no particular order and according to me.
Code:
# Name Pos Age Franchises
1 Trea Turner 2B 20 OTT
2 Darren Daulton C 18 PHI
3 Ad Gumbert SP 18 HOD
4 Julio Rodríguez OF 19 OTT
5 Joe Cunningham 1B 21 KCM
6 Lenny Dykstra OF 20 PHI,LAA
7 Aubrey Huff 3B 21 MCG
8 Noah Syndergaard SP 21 LAA
9 Matt Morris SP 21 KCM
10 George Selkirk OF 24 NYY
11 Walter Ball SP 26 CAG
12 César Cedeño OF 17 HOU
13 Jimmy Dykes 2B 20 SFS
14 Charlie Ferguson SP 19 PHI
15 Zack Greinke SP 19 HOU,BRK
16 Bryan Harvey RP 22 LAA
17 Pink Hawley SP 20 HOM
18 Jack Kramer SP 18 BAL
19 Jim Maloney SP 19 IND
20 Max Scherzer SP 23 OTT,DET
Results for each team are listed in their
Season Review pages, coming soon.