NL North S14 Draft Recap

Columbus Horseshoes
Needs from the draft: C, SP, and CF

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	Back-	Contract	Bonus	SUMMARY
1	2	Oscar Baker	RF	21	COL	MILB	$3,910K	Scary good, already ML ready, but with development time he will be amazing. Star type splits power, and speed combine to make him a potential hall of famer.
1	26	Ivan Rincon	C	22	COL	MILB	$1,660K	He can hit, but he has poor splits and won't do anything in the field. Get over those things and he is great.
2	83	Samuel Hackman	2B	19	JC	---	---	average bat and average fielder a bit to average for Columbus
3	115	Jacob Jodie	1B	20	JC	---	---	great power and batting eye could make him interesting in the Majors, but he lacks the splits to be effective, might be okay at 1B in the Minors
4	148	Watty Blake	CF	20	JC	---	---	nothing I would want starting for my team in the future
5	180	Spud Spilborghs	SS	19	JC	---	---	solid yet unspectacular in the field and on the base path overlook his lack of hitting chops and you have a prospect

 

Summary: took the top hitter in the draft with no doubt. Rincon is an option for the future at C, but he will not solve too many problems but serve as solid filler. Overall they brought in a few solid hitters to work with, but no pitching that is going to hurt in the future

Grade: B

 

Philadelphia Balboas
Needs from the draft: 1B, SS, RP

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	Back-	Contract	Bonus	SUMMARY
1	15	Heinie Rauch	2B	18	HS	MILB	$2,690K	He can bunt but doesn't do much else at the plate very great. His fielding at 2B will be a nice bonus for a ML team.
2	73	Eugene Harding	SP	18	HS	MILB	$550K	4 great pitches solid control and stamina but lacks the splits to be an everyday starter in the bags
3	105	Charlie Crawford	SS	18	HS	MILB	$425K	decent 3rd rounder, good defense and solid below average hitter, his average makeup will have to be babied to get him ML time
4	138	Rob Gibson	CF	18	HS	---	---	the moustache works better for a basketball career anyways
5	170	Darren Anderson	SP	18	HS	---	---	no control no splits should mean no contract, but hope for a DITR to exploit the dominant pitch selection

 

Summary: not much in the way of a game changer here. They did bring in a few contributors in Rauch and Harding and a project with Crawford. Still you hope to have one sure thing.

Grade: C-

 

Cincinnati Yakima
Needs from the draft: CF, SP, SS

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	Back-	Contract	Bonus	SUMMARY
1	25	John Jensen	SP	21	COL	MILB w/STI	$1,550K	5 pitch good control and solid stamina, but lacks ace splits. He is a bottom of the rotation state if he makes projections.
1	27	Darrel Christenson	RP	18	HS	MILB w/STI	$1,370K	3 pitch reliever with good control but lacks great stamina. He will get by but with limited innings his ERA might never shine.
2	82	Hugh Samardzija	RP	19	JC	MILB	$520K	lacks the durability to be depended on but he has all star potential everywhere else
3	114	Mo White	SP	20	JC	MILB	$405K	AAA is his destiny
4	147	Willie Guerrero	SP	22	COL	MILB	$320K	Below average left hand pitching and control. Career minor leaguer
5	179	Junior Wang	SS	19	JC	---	---	I would have draft him for his name too.

Summary: restocked the pitching depth on the farm after management had missteps in the rule 5 which cost them a few key prospects off the pitching depth charts. The losses set them back a few seasons. Jensen is not a bad option to replace what was lost and Christenson might be even better in the right system. It will be interesting to see if Cinci is that system

Grade: B

 

Milwaukee Blue Stockings
Needs from the draft: CF, 3B, 1B

Round	Pick	Player	Pos	Age	Back-	Contract	Bonus	SUMMARY
1	24	Alex Coleman	C	18	HS	MILB	$1,850K	Could be the greatest DH in the National League. Going to have to convert him to an offensive catcher, he won't be an all star in the field but his bat should make up for that.
2	81	Kris Simmons	RP	18	HS	---	---	he's 5'11 " why wouldn't he want to play basketball, he is a solid reliever either way
3	113	Kevin Patterson	RP	19	JC	---	---	2 pitch right hand specialist, he struggles against the left handers but could get a nibble in the majors
4	146	Trent Stammen	SP	21	COL	---	---	For 1M I would have dropped out of college as a Junior for a major league contract, but I guess if I was drafted in round 4 my ego would have inflated that number to 8M too
5	178	Stan Clemens	RP	18	HS	MILB	$250K	has skills if only he had durability to make use of decent control and 3 solid pitches

 

Summary: Coleman is a monster of a hitter but as a catcher in the pitching rich NL he is going to be hard to hide in a lineup. The relief corp is becoming a strength in Milwaukee and might be able to be used to fill their glaring hole at CF if a few of them actually sign.

Grade: B-