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Old 05-12-2019, 10:49 AM   #2845
Westheim
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2030 AMATEUR DRAFT

Maybe this draft had more significance for us than those in more recent years because the lean years were not only on the horizon for the Coons… given the barren farm that allowed little hope (except for a few starting pitchers that were emerging – more on that later) drafting a goodie was imperative, but we would have to do it with the #16 pick.

And for those among the fanbase that erased not only the memory of recent results with an unhealthy dose of booze, here is the hotlist again (*indicates high school player):

SP Chris Turner (15/14/12) *
SP Joe Murphy (13/15/8) * - BNN #8
SP Adam Swint (13/12/12) * - BNN #2
SP Jim Batson (14/13/10)

CL Tim Thewatt (19/14/9)

C/1B Sean Ebner (12/14/10) *

3B/2B Ben Freeman (14/16/13) – BNN #9
3B Dan Hutson (11/15/11) – BNN #6

RF/LF Troy Greenway (12/14/13) *
OF Ed Hooge (9/12/9)
OF Andrew Barker (13/12/11) * - BNN #1

As pointed out before, we were especially interested in Chris “Tuba” Turner and Ben “Nine Fingers” Freeman. Our chances to get hold of either one were more or less squid. Of course we were still likely to get a hotlist selection – rarely ever was it picked clean before a second-half selection in the first round – but … well, I just wanted to politely voice a wish to the baseball gods. Not that they ever listened. That’s because gods of all kinds listen to little kids’ prayers first, y’know, and somewhere in Canada there’s got to be an ugly little boy that keeps praying for the damn Elks to get all the good picks and the Coons to get nothing but gunk. Ugh, kids!

“Nine Fingers” Freeman went first overall to the Rebels, so there went half my hopes and dreams. Didn’t take long for the other half – the Falcons took “Tuba” Turner at #2. At that point, I simply longed to be able to go to bed… The third overall pick would be Troy Greenway, taken by Sacramento. The top 5 were completed with hotlist picks – Andrew Barker at #4 to the Loggers, and Dan Hutson at #5 to the Blue Sox. After that, outfielder Nick Baker went #6 to the Gold Sox, the first selection not off the hotlist. What relief.

Further hotlist selections were poor Joe Murphy being taken at #8 and drafted into the Stars fold and their Texan bandbox; fellow starting pitcher Adam Swint going #10 to the Crusaders; the only catcher on the hotlist, Sean Ebner, who was probably also better served with a move to first base, went #13 to the Knights; and that was it – SP Jim Batson, CL Tim Thweatt, and OF Ed Hooge were all who remained.

We ended up going with the outfielder – the power promise was too tempting to resist. Hooge profiled for capable play at all three positions, but lacked the arm to be a threat in right in our opinion. He had some speed, but not a defining amount. Thweatt didn’t figure to be an elite closer – he looked a lot like a young Ron Thrasher, which was not inherently a bad thing, but Ron Thrasher had not reached that elite echelon either. Batson was still working hard on that third pitch, a changeup. Some analysts saw him as a career reliever. We didn’t, but then again the slight doubts made us go for the power outfielder.

Thweatt would fall to the Indians at #18. Jim Batson on the other hand fell all the way through the first round, through the supplemental round, and then still further to the Crusaders’ pick in the second round, which only came at #51. That cleaned up the hotlist.

The next two picks would go to righty starters with all the second-tier hitting prospects off our shortlist also gone by the time we got to pick again. Overall, after the best boys were taken, I found that this draft pool became pretty thin pretty fast…

2030 PORTLAND RACCOONS DRAFT CLASS

Round 1 (#16) – OF Ed Hooge, 20, from New York, NY – good range in the outfield, some speed, decent contact, but there is significant power potential in this left-handed batting youngster, and who doesn’t like power?
Round 2 (#57) – SP Jason Lucas, 20, from Winston-Salem, NC – right-hander with a 89mph heater; more of a corner nibbler for sure with a nice 4-pitch mix and very impressive control.
Round 3 (#81) – SP Philip Parkinson, 21, from Casper, WY – right-hander throwing 92 but still working out the finer tunes of control; throws a mix of five pitches, but has yet to find the one that he can use to wipe out the batters.
Round 4 (#105) – C Chris Manning, 17, from Newark, NJ – bit of a wildcard pick here… not very adept from the crouch, but there is some decent contact and power potential in his at-bat, and you can always move them to first base, right?
Round 5 (#129) – SP Lazaro Salazar, 19, from Manhattan, NY – right-hander with a swooping curve, but no third pitch to speak of; probably destined to a career in relief, if any.
Round 6 (#153) – INF/RF Chris Rockwell, 21, from Cleveland, OH – certainly an elite defender, but anything but a great hitting prospect; bat profiles as meh across the board, but has some speed.
Round 7 (#177) – 2B Dave Bartelt, 21, from Burnsville, MN – another strong glove, but with experience only at second base, and he also did not have a good throwing arm at all, so it was not likely that he’d move anywhere. Decent contact potential and some speed, but no power.
Round 8 (#201) – CL Gabriel Nunez, 21, from Houston, TX – right-hander with a 91mph heater and an “interesting” slider.
Round 9 (#225) – LF/RF Jesus Morales, 23, from Barquisimeto, Venezuela – would like to occupy a power position, but has no power, or range, or a throwing arm. Doesn’t even cook a good chili or anything else to make himself likeable around here.
Round 10 (#249) – 1B Justin Cooper, 19, from Fortuna Foothills, AZ – fancies swinging for the fences, and sometimes he even reaches them… when he hits off a tee.
Round 11 (#273) – MF Jon Hass, 20, from St. Gabriel, LA – this year’s Nick Brown Memorial pick throws 88 with a curve and what he considers a changeup, but what usually gets hit all the way to the next parish…
Round 12 (#297) – INF/LF Brady Hagstrom, 18, from Ponca City, OK – versatile defender with a keen eye at the plate, but not much fortune once he actually decides to poke; not much speed either.
Round 13 (#321) – SP Dan Menz, 18, from Chula Vista, CA – soft tosser with a slider and a nice pirouette that allows him to catch a final glimpse of another baseball beaten to death and disappearing in the shrubbery behind the fence.

All draft picks were assigned to Aumsville.

We also released a bunch of players, including some of the older guys that formed the pathetic AAA reserve on the .350 pushing Alley Cats. None of those had actually played in the major for the Critters.

Also canned were a few seventh-rounders including SS Justin Fowler (2027), 2029 13th-rounder Greg Brinson, 2027 Nick Brown Memorial pick Dusty Kuhlman, and a few odd folks that had rolled in as scouting discoveries and had never justified their meal money.
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