[Westheim]

2028 AMATEUR DRAFT

While the team flew from Topeka to Indy on Thursday morning, me and our head scout, who had ID in some form, and I had probably seen it at some point, instead took the detour to New York for draft night on the Coons' off day. Again, it was highly unlikely that we would haul a Hall of Famer… but we had thought the same in 1995.

The Critters would have the #20 pick in every round, and here was that annual hotlist again of the young wannabe major league baseball players we were salivating over in varying degrees (*indicates high school player):

SP Adam Brochu (14/13/12) * – BNN #5
SP Matt Hose (13/15/12) * – BNN #4
SP Domingo Murillo (16/13/12)
SP Emilio DeClerk (12/14/14) – BNN #7
SP Chris Miller (13/13/11) – BNN #3
SP Darren Brown (12/11/10) *

CL John Woods (18/14/11)
CL Chris Wise (18/13/10)

C Bryant Raymond (11/10/9)

1B Jakobe Lambeth (14/9/8) *
INF Matt Locke (9/12/11)
INF/RF Justin Marsingill (10/8/9)

OF Kyle Beard (14/7/10) *
OF/2B Chris Russell (12/7/8) *

Normally we'd pray for a batter, but I hinted before at the fact that I was entirely not thrilled by the very most hitting prospects in here. If we could get one of the starting pitchers to fall into our lap, that would be daft, but still unlikely. However, there was more depth to be found in the category of starting pitchers.

I also mentioned that the Elks had still been hoping for a compensation pick for type A free agent Andrew Gudeman, but they would be disappointed (snickers), as Gudeman remained unsigned through draft day.

First poke with the 360-strong draft pool rested with the Blue Sox, who took SP Matt Hose with the #1 selection in the draft. Things went on with the Cyclones selecting Emilio DeClerk at #2, then the Loggers picking Adam Brochu at #3. Just like that, half of our hotlist starting pitchers were gone with the wind, and before long Chris Miller went #4 to the Falcons before the Stars selected another pitcher in Paul Williams that was not on the hotlist at #5.

And teams kept picking pitchers! The first *11* selections turned out to be starting pitchers, something I had *never* seen before! It wasn't until the Wolves picking at #12 that a position player was selected, then INF Elijah Williams. At that point, two of our six starting pitchers were still around, but Domingo Murillo vanished #14 to the Gold Sox, right after CL John Woods went at #13 to the Aces. Chris Wise fell to the Crusaders at #16, and the best catcher in the bunch, Bryant Raymond, to the Miners at #17. One hotlist starting pitcher remained, and since we hadn't come up with a smarter idea in the meantime, we selected Darren Brown as our top pick at #20.

While we were blowing steam out of our ears and saw the Titans GM launch a hammer at the Loggers GM, who shook his axe threatening to pick out of turn, Justin Marsingill went #23 to the Buffaloes, Chris Russell fell to the Miners at #31, Jakobe Lambeth was swept up by the Scorpions at #36, while Matt Locke fell all the way to #46 and the Knights. That was just two picks ahead of Kyle Beard being scooped by the Indians with the #48 pick, and with that the hotlist was dealt with.

By the fourth round we were already trying to find players that had the least amount of weaknesses. There was 1B/C Rich Zuza, who would maybe show power later in life, but was definitely obese and a defensive liability and a catcher in his dreams at best. There was defensive outfield whiz Manny Lopez, who would probably never meet a baseball with the wooden toothpick he was using for a bat. There was another outfielder in Chad Reinhardt that was not as great defensively, and still didn't show All Star potential with the stick. In the end, we settled on a third baseman with an all-around acceptable profile in Mike Sigler. The fourth round was a good round to draft a hot corner guy; Matt Nunley had been taken in the fourth round, many moons past. Of the four other guys in fourth round considerations, only Reinhardt was not around anymore by the fifth round. At that point we too the flyer on Manny Lopez. Zuza was still around for the sixth round, but our scout recommended we should get an *actual* catcher rather than a spherical bloat encamped at first base.

We never picked that bloat that fell to the ninth round, the Cyclones, and the #209 pick. The last guy taken from the shortlist was CL Bill Bell, taken by the Condors at #217. With that, it was into the weeds.

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2028 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#20) – SP Darren Brown, 19, from Glen Rose, TX – right-handed groundballer with very finely moving stuff. The slider might be especially devastating to humanity. He also has the mean look for a villain to terrorize innocent batters. We would wish for a bit more velocity, but roughly 93mph isn't a problem, either.
Round 2 (#59) – LF/RF Steve Florence, 18, from Houston, TX – looks like a prototypical outfielder with decent contact and power potential and ordinary range, but he has a quick first step and is quite the terror on the base paths.
Round 3 (#83) – SP Travis Coffee, 21, from Collings Lakes, NJ – balanced 4-pitch mix for this right-hander that offers a 92mph heater with a cutter, slider, and splitter; very similar to Brown's arsenal, just not first-round worthy.
Round 4 (#107) – 3B Mike Sigler, 19, from Bessemer, AL – appreciable defense with a soft contact bat, but actually has some speed that could also be useful;
Round 5 (#131) – OF/3B Manny Lopez, 21, from San Juan, Puerto Rico – defensive outfield whiz that can get to any ball, now matter where you hit it. Himself, he challenges fielders considerably less. A steady-gloved second baseman that can turn two is all you're gonna need on him.
Round 6 (#155) – C Elliott Thompson, 18, from Pine Beach, NJ – good defensive catcher with a defensive catcher's bat, but maybe a wee bit of pop to spice up the .230 average?
Round 7 (#179) – SP/MR Joe Rudd, 18, from Weymouth, MA – this right-hander has an 88mph fastball and really only two pitches, but the second pitch is a spiffy curve that could come in useful.
Round 8 (#203) – 2B/SS Roy Werden, 18, from Lake Arbor, MD – reasonably quirky for a middle infielder, but his arm does not really scream left side of the infield; not much contact, little power, but a bit of speed for sure.
Round 9 (#227) – 1B Danny Vera, 18, from Livermore, CA – our experts on body and soul maintain that he generates enormous force when he goes full-swing and could be a real power force. Unfortunately he also seems to be blind as a bat with according holes in his swing. Definitely a flyer pick even in the ninth round.
Round 10 (#251) – 2B Matt Trull, 19, from Nether Providence Township, PA – softly poking switch-hitter with now power, little speed, but he doesn't seem too shabby on D…
Round 11 (#275) – SP Danny Sanders, 18, from Mandan, ND – this year's Nick Brown Memorial Pick throws four pitches, badly, and for loud contact. Doesn't sound remotely as indifferent as what we wrote about Nick Brown in this spot 33 years ago.
Round 12 (#299) – 1B Ed Sloma, 19, from Fountainbleu, FL – some contact, not a whole lot power… when defense is a first baseman's foremost attribute…
Round 13 (#323) – SP Alejandro Segura, 18, from Levittown, Puerto Rico – left-hander with what we assume is a curveball, language issues, attitude issues, and a weird mole with a long black hair growing out of it on the side of his neck. Lots to tackle here.

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With this influx of talent, it was time for an outflow of talent. "Talent".

Among the players canned at this point was 2022 seventh-rounder, right-hander Michael White, stuck with a 7+ ERA in Ham Lake; 2026 tenth-rounder Mike Joy, a right-hander stuck in Aumsville; 2024 12th-rounder Bill O'Toole, another right-hander struggling with everything; 2026 eighth-rounder C Ryan Clark, who was also still in Aumsville at age 24; 2027 12th-rounder OF Josh Cleveland, who seemed to have no bat at all… and a few more that fell out of one bus' wheelhouse or another.