[Ruwisc]

2023 Draft

I mentioned a few players that I really liked when the pool was revealed, with my favorite player of all being SP Bobby Padin. I dunno why I even bothered TBH, since our first pick in the draft is at #47. The top ten went as follows:

1. Colorado Rockies: SP Bobby Padin, Troy University
2. Nashville Stars: CF Thomas Knotek, Univ. of Alabama
3. Arizona Diamondbacks: SP Brent Whiting, Univ. of the Pacific
4. Los Angeles Angels: SP Andrew Perry, William & Mary
5. Boston Red Sox: CF Mike Cornwell, Texas A&M
6. Hartford Oaks: RP Alex King, Univ. of Portland
7. Austin Violets: 3B Miguel Arteaga, Woodland HS (IL)
8. Portland Beavers: RP Rodger Rivera, Stephen F. Austin
9. Tucson Saguaros: SS Kelly Richman, Maple Hill HS (NY)
10. Syracuse Blizzard: SP Dan Long, St. John's

Padin, Knotek and Arteaga were all players I had identified from the draft pool, and my other favorite, SP Jon Green, was drafted 14th by Reno. Alex King is a fascinating player at #6 with Hartford... my head scout already views him as a 4-star reliever, with potential to be one of the all-time great closers, but it's always hard to pick a guy that you know is gonna be in the bullpen long-term since that limits value a lot. Gonna have to track him as the years go along - there's a possibility he skips the minors entirely, although Hartford doesn't have a ton to play for here in 2023.

Enough about players I didn't pick, and on to the ones I did! There were still a lot of pitchers still on the board that I liked at #47, and I selected 21-y.o. SP Michael Ross from Mercer University in Georgia. He looks like he'll have the ability to really stick a plus fastball, curveball or forkball exactly where he wants it.

Our next few picks were:
R2 (#127): SP Malik Davis, Collinwood HS (TN)
R3 (#191): SS Eric Atwell, Boylan HS (IL)
R4 (#252): 3B/OF Theo Bender, East Lansing HS (MI)
R5 (#312): RP Kevin Cramer, Cal State-Fullerton
R6 (#372): 1B Jeremy Currier, Joshua Christian HS (TX)
R7 (#432): CF David Crocker, Oregon State
R8 (#492): RP Eric Youngquist, Michigan
R9 (#552): CF/RP Rob Wall, Palatine HS (IL)
R10 (#612): CF John Allen, South Shore HS (IL)


Quite happy with this haul overall. I had only identified about 20 players that I was really, really intrigued by, but Ross, Davis and Atwell were all on that list.


Time will tell if we can sign all of these fellas - Youngquist was very highly rated but may not be signable, for example. If there's a late-round gem in this bunch, it'll be 3B Jared Jones out of the University of Miami. He was listed as a pitcher in the draft list so everyone passed over him many times, including myself - I grabbed him in the 17th round. We're gonna see if he can learn to play 2B - his defensive ratings fit the 3B archetype but there's no real path for a 3B in this organization at the moment, understandably. Funnily I found out he's a real kid, but instead of going to Miami he's actually a freshman at the University of Texas.