[Westheim]

1981 AMATEUR DRAFT

I went into the draft with an eye on two infielders, 1B Danny Nichols and 2B/3B Orlando Lantan. Both remained in there through to my #4 pick. The Miners used their #1 pick to take SP Craig Hansen, who signed for $1.2M but had been scouted as merely above average by my scouts. Well, they have been wrong often enough.

The choice between Nichols and Lantan was not a too easy one (when has it ever been easy for me here?). I went with - … ah, just look below:

Round 1: 3B/2B Orlando Lantan, 22, from Veragua, Dom. Rep. – very high contact and gap hitting with a little power and good defense. Plus, he signed for slot.
Round 2: C Greg Thornburg, 17, from Bowdon, GA – ranked very well in catching abilities and in contact hitting, but with zero power, yet still has all it takes to make the majors in three or four years.
Round 3: LF/CF/RF Kelly Weber, 19, from Medford, OR – has many nice qualities, defense foremost, but his hitting should be enough to make the majors.
Round 4: MR Pedro Vazquez, 18, from Guacara, Venezuela – solid numbers projected, OSA has him even better
Round 5: CL Emerson MacDonald, 22, from Alvord, TX – could make the majors in some capacity, but certainly not as closer, though he’s grouped as such.
Round 6: 2B William Bray, 20, from Danville, PA – has only one position and his hitting does not promise a lot.
Round 7: C Andy Reed, 21, from Weslaco, TX – average catching abilities, good hitting (for a catcher)
Round 8: 1B/SS/3B/2B Dennis Jones, 20, from New York, NY – supreme utility infielder, zero hitting, AA level at best
Round 9: SP David O’Mulvey, 22, from New York, NY – AA level at best
Round 10: MR Carlos Delgado, 20, from Nueva Sabana Yegua, Dom. Rep. – AA level at best

I passed on Nichols and his 17/17/17 potential because OSA thought differently of him: 9/6/7. No thanks. While they also rated Lantan worse than my scouts, the difference was much smaller, four points at most in the contact category. OSA has not been always right either. Nichols still ended up in Oregon, drafted #17 by the Wolves.

We did not come around again until #44, and by then most outfielder were gone, as well as all hopeful starting pitchers. There were pen options, but none screaming. My #2 pick of a 17 yr old catcher speaks volumes.

All players were assigned to the A level team in Aumsville. No players were released this time, but I did some reshuffling, and there was of course a list of guys to be released at year’s end if their performance would not improve.