[gehrig38]

The draft is sort of my thing. I love the minutiae. It's where you build something truly long lasting and with depth.
I have about 5-10 reports a day coming in from our scouts trying to get as much insight into the talent this year.
Believe it or not winning the lottery might not have been the boon it looked like. There is so much top end talent this year that I would prefer to have a choice removed rather than everyone available if that makes sense. Every mock draft has us taking HS 1B Mike Johnson. Our scouts, on their 1-20 scale, have hit potential at 18 Contact, 20+ Power, 20+ Gap power and 20+ eye. Literally Frank Thomas. He's 6'5” 220 today, now, as a HS senior. The makeup is good. His only negative tool is speed. He projects to be an above average 1B. He's likely ready for A ball after the draft. He's local, from Belleville, HS right here in Illinois.
The dilemma begins right here. I currently have not one prospect at short in the entire system and the answer isn't on the big league roster. Most scouts, outside of ours, have 18 year old Shortstop Chris Nicholson from Avon, Iowa as the top prospect in the draft. A potential + defender (OSA has him as a 18/16 at 2B/SS and scouting director Chris Romano has him a tick lower at 16/14). A + runner and no one sees the bat as a problem. His Power and Eye Romano has at 20+, the most raw power in the draft. But his hit tool our guys have as a top end 11 and the league does not disagree. So where Johnson will likely be a legitimate .300+ guy every year with an OBP mid .400 or higher, Nicholson will not hit for the average.
But is the position difference an equalizer? I can find a 1B pretty much anywhere. The SS thing is huge, you win up the middle.
There are some other options but those two bats are likely to go at the top.
Then there's the pitching. The OSA has 24 pitchers, starters, rated 4.5 stars or better, our guys have 17.
Our current top choice, and that's not really likely to change, is Chris Andrezejewski, a 22 year old East Carolina pitcher. He's 6'4” 200 pounds with an electric arm. He's probably ready for AA today. He's the 1st pitcher I've ever seen, and the only one in the draft, who our scouts rate all 4 of his pitches as 20+ potential. His stuff is already IBL average with a projection of it being ++, same with his movement. His control can and will improve but he won't be a liability pitch count wise. He sits mid 90s right now and keeps the ball on the ground. He projects to be a triple digit guy in the near future. Got stamina for days. Only drawback is he's an “old” senior, at 22. He's gone 39-4 with 555 K's in 393 innings of college ball with 88 walks allowing just 271 hits allowed. His makeup is a huge plus, as he works to be better even now and he's a fan of the organization apparently. His ask is nothing major.
Rare is the opportunity to fill the top of the rotation with a true 1, and one that can be the guy in October. This is that opportunity.
There are enough arms that I think I could nab one of the bats at 1 and still get a 5 star guy with our 2nd pick. The concern is that there are 38 picks in the 1st round, 6 compensation picks in there and then 5 supplemental picks before round 2. Pittsburgh gets the 1st pick in round 2 so we're at 1 and 45 and then the 2nd pick from Utah is at 79.
Maybe the strategy is taking the generational bat at 1 in Johnson, and then using the next 2 for pitchers. We pick at 86 next, for some reason Austin has a compensation pick that is sandwiched in between Pittsburgh and our 3rd rounders.
Our next pick is 112 in the 4th round.
So in this deep draft we'll have 2 of the top 45 picks, and 4 of the top 86 with a total of 5 of the top 112. Giving us 5 picks in the first 4 rounds. We do not pick in the 5th or 6th rounds.