[Westheim]

1995 AMATEUR DRAFT

The Raccoons will have the 13th pick in every round, but the first. We forfeited that pick by signing David Brewer. In addition to that we will the 11th pick in the supplemental first round, so we will first pick 35th overall. Whatever will remain at that point…

But at least the pitching side of the draft has been scouted as utterly unthrilling. Vicente Guerra has not identified a single surefire starting pitcher, and only few reliever types. The batting half of the player pool has some much better talent available, the biggest of which might be these boys:

LF Jose Ramirez (20/18/15)
1B/2B Bob Butler (20/19/13)
RF/LF Ricco Ghiberti (20/12/11)
1B Henry Harmon (17/11/12)
LF Manuel Villa (15/9/13)
OF Luke Black (10/16/11)

But, like I said, we forfeited our first round pick, and won’t pick until #35. Funny side note: although our pick went to the Canadiens, it ended up with the Blue Sox in the end, when the Canadiens signed one of their players (and somehow I can’t find out whom).

The Blue Sox also had the first overall pick and selected SP George Richardson, 21, who hailed from West Hempstead, NY. Of our top 6 up there, Ramirez went 2nd overall to the Falcons, Butler 7th overall to the Canadiens, Ghiberti 12th overall to the Aces, Black 23rd overall to the Bayhawks, Harmon 27th overall to the Gold Sox, and Villa fell to us. This was a no-brainer. In our evaluation chart, he was up and ahead of every other player left in the pool, minus a reliever from New York, Pat Clark, who had the typical high school relief pitcher stats. It was obvious that Clark had stuff, but we saved consideration for him for the second round of the draft. (This didn’t come to be, the Condors taking him eight picks later at #43) The pool was picked thin by the time we got our second pick, when only one player with more than three stars potential remained, and we took that boy and then went from there.

1995 RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Supp. Round (#35) – LF Manuel Villa, 20, from Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. – rated well above average in every offensive category but power (average), Villa also has great defense. His stock could go up if he can learn to play right field competently.
Round 2 (#77) – RF Cory Stanford, 18, from Coral Hills, MD – also above average, including power, however he has a nasty habit of hacking at everything, which will have to be beaten out of him
Round 3 (#101) – MR Bill Coles, 21, from Montreal, Canada – brutal changeup from the righty, but his fastball his dead straight
Round 4 (#125) – SP Julio Romero, 20, from Villalba, Puerto Rico – also a righty with a changeup, but not too much stuff overall
Round 5 (#149) – 1B/2B George Morris, 22, from Mesquite, TX – better D at first, but no home run power to speak of, also little speed and a weak arm
Round 6 (#173) – MR Tristan DeWinter, 18, from Moneka, IL – circle change to kill, but his fastball is really weak and he gives up lots of fly balls
Round 7 (#197) – INF Zach Muller, 18, from Montrose-Ghent, OH – more of a versatile infielder type with decent hitting, could once become a utility guy
Round 8 (#221) – OF Jason Kent, 21, from Sparks, NV – plays all positions in the outfield, but hacks like a maniac and still has no power
Round 9 (#245) – LF/RF Pacio Neira, 21, from Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela – here we enter the depths of no upsides
Round 10 (#269) – C Alan Scott, 23, from Mililani Town, HI – nice work behind the plate, but no hitting
Round 11 (#293) – MR Nick Brown, 17, from Halawa, HI – lefty with a slider
Round 12 (#317) – MR Ramiro Manuel, 18, from Meridian, ID – another righty with a changeup

Not a particularly rich harvest for us. Our top 2 picks are … what is the opposite of versatility? All our picks were assigned to the A level.