April 2007

GM Instructional League

After following the draft for years, I was searching for a way to prove to myself that I could do a good job of drafting for a major league franchise.  I needed to find other people that followed the draft to draft against.  But that was easier said than done.  After years of searching and posting on forums, I finally had to change my approach.  Instead of finding a fantasy league to join, I would have to start my own league.  Now while most leagues have 10-12 members, I needed a large league to try and replicate the FYPD.  So the league opened with 24 teams.

Instead of starting the league with an auction, or major league draft, I wanted to make sure that we had fantasy players with an in-depth knowledge of the draft.  So started the league in January of 2005 with our 2004 First year player Draft.  During my first draft, I wanted to draft players that would reach the majors quickly, so I focused on a Moneyball style of drafting experienced college players.  In this first draft, my team chose 14th overall.  My first high school pick didn’t come until Orioles Pitcher Brad Bergeson in my ninth round.  In total, I drafted 9 high school players, 5 juco players, 19 college players, and one player that deserves his own catagory, Matt Harrington.

To give all owners drafting in the FYPD extra research time, we start our draft during the All-Star break.  So each owner has one full month for research after the draft has occured.  We then draft one round per day getting through 35 rounds in 35 days.  So the team I list below was a draft one round at a time against other owners.  Therefore the list varies greatly with the picks I made in the blog in 2006 during the actual draft.

2004 First Year Player Draft

1 Josh Fields CHW 3b
2 Seth Smith Col, of
3 Matt Macri Col, 3b
4 Grant Johnson CHC, rhp
5 Clay Timpler SF, of
6 Andrew Kown Det, rhp
7 Paul Janish Cin, ss
8 Josh Baker Mil, rhp
9 Brad Bergesen Bal, rhp
10 Jamar Walton Fla, of
11 Ryan Klosterman Tor, ss
12 Jake McGee TB, lhp
13 Jason Quarles Pit, rhp
14 Patrick Bryant Min, rhp
15 Jon Owings Atl, of
16 Mark Jurich Atl
17 Jeff Dominguez Sea, ss
18 Jermel Lomack Pit, 2b
19 Robert Coello c
20 DT McDowell Ana, of
21 Cain Byrd Tex
22 Mike Hofius Pit, 1b
23 Logan Sorenson Bos, 1b
24 Rich Mercado Ari, c
25 Matt Tolbert Min, rhp
26 Stephen Marek Ana, rhp
27 Darryl Lawhorn Ari
28 Matt Harrington NYY-dns
29 Omar Aguilar SF-not sign
30 Kevin Hart Bal, rhp
31 Blake Honey Cin, ss
32 Rod Allen NYY, of
33 Michael Wagner NYY, lhp

Going into the 2005 First Year Player Draft my biggest needs were Runs and RBI’s.  So I again drafted the best college player available.  We set the draft order for the 2005 FYPD to be based on our records as of the All-Star break, so I selected 23rd out of 24 teams.  My first five picks were college position players.  I balanced out the hitters by drafting 16 pitchers overall, including 7 HS P, 4 JC P, and 5 college pitchers.

2005 First Year Player Draft

1 John Mayberry,Of,Tex
2 Tyler Greene,Ss,Stl
3 Taylor Teagarden,C,Tex
4 Clete Thomas,Of,Det
5 Nick Stavinoha,Of,Stl
6 Justin Sellers,Ss,Oak
7 Kevin Roberts,rhp,Mil
8 Scott Deal,rhp,Oak
9 Bobby Andrews,Of,Bal
10 Miers Quigley,lhp,Stl
11 Chris Carter,3b,Chw
12 Erik Lis,1b,Min
12t Will Startup,lhp,Atl
13 Kyle Cofield,rhp,Atl
14 Kevin Bunch,rhp,Oak
15 Chris LeRoux,rhp,Fla
16 Zach Kroenke,lhp,Nyy
17 Eric Wordekemper,rhp,Nyy
18 Tyler Leach,rhp,Stl
19 Brandon James,rhp,Tex
20 Will Jostock,rhp,Nym
21 Chris Malec,2b,Nyy
22 Daniel Cortes,rhp,Chw
23 Matt Betsil,3b,Min
24 Tuffy Gosevich,C,Ari
25 Maels Rodriguez,rhp,Ari
26 Eric Krebs,rhp,Pit
27 David Hernandez,rhp,Bal
28 Robert Romero,rhp,Laa
29 Kevin Feiner,Ss,Cin
30 Joe Muich,C,Nyy
31 Andrew Locke,Of,La
32 Zeke Parraz,Ss,Oak
33 Matt Hall,Ss,Laa-DNS
34 Alan Horne,rhp,Nyy
35 Chris Cook,1b,Col

My farm system now had the benefit of two college oriented drafts and it was time to bring in some younger talent.  Four of my top five selections were high school players.  My only college player in the first five rounds was Joe Smith P  Mets in the 4th round.  Smith made me look smart by becoming the first player from the 2006 draft class to make his major league debut.  I also traded down several times to add extra mid-round picks.  Those acquired picks have a T after the round the player was drafted in.

2006 First Year Player Draft

1 Chris Parmalee Min 1B
2 Joe Benson Min OF
3 Dellen Betences Nyy P
4 Joe Smith Nym P
5 Helder Velazquez Col SS
6 Luke Gorsett Stl OF
7 Justin Turner Cin 2B
8 Jordan Smith Cin P
9 Robbie Alcombrack Cle C
10 Jonah Nickerson Det P
11 Marcus Lemon Tex SS
12 Andrew Fie Ari 3B
13 Thomas Neal SF OF
14 Desmond Jennings TB OF
15 Stephen Faris SD P
16 Logan Morrison Fla 1B
16t PJ Walters Stl P
17t Brett Jensen Det P
17 Nick Giarraputo Nym 3B
18t Shane Hill Mil P
18 Daniel Perales Ari OF
19 Sean Rooney Was C
19t Jared Mitchell Min OF-dns
20 David Uribes Cle 2B
21 Chris Emanuele Tor OF
22 Jonathan Del Campo Tor 3B
23 John Gaub Cle P
24 Dominic Brown Phi OF
25 Jarrod Freeman Phi P
26 Daryl King Cle 1B
27 Zach Penprase Phi SS
28 Brandon Rice Cin P
29 Luis Fernandez Tor SS
30 Gavin Dickey Sea OF
31 Garrett Johnson Chw P
32 Randy Boone Min P-dns
33 Matt Luizza Tor C
34 Brandon Holden Pit P
35 Dave Bromberg Min P

2007 Draft-Top 100 Prospects

The First Year Player Draft is only five weeks away.  Time to get my first Top 100 Prospect list published.  I will be updating this list several times in the weeks and days leading up to the draft.

Anybody that wants to follow this years draft should tune into MLB.com  That is where I have been listening to the draft for years now.  Jonathan Mayo and Lisa Winston will have their crew covering most if not all of the draft.

Please let me kow if there is anybody that should be moved up, moved down, or added to this list.

1 David Price P C L-L 6*5 195
2 Rick Porcello P H R-R 6*5 188
3 Matt Wieters-1b-p C C B-R 6*4 205
4 Josh Vitters 3b H R-R 6*3 195
5 Andrew Brackman p C R-R 5*10 230
6 Jason Heyward of H L-L 6*2 198
7 Blake Beavan P H R-R 6*7 210
8 Matt Harvey P H R-R 6*4 190
9 Ross Detwiler P C L-L
10 Phillippe Aumont P H R-R 6*7 225
11 Matt Dominguez 3b H R-R 6*2 185
12 Michael Burgess of H L-L 5*11 200
13 Matt LaPorta$ 1b C
14 Matt Mangini 3b C
15 Mike Moustakas-c 3b H L-R 6*1 185
16 Daniel Moskos P C L-L
17 Casey Weathers$ P C R-R
18 Tanner Robles P H L-L 6*4 190
19 Neil Ramirez P H R-R 6*4 190
20 Jack McGeary-1b P H L-L 6*3 200
21 MadisonBumgarner P H R-L 6*5 220
22 Joe Savery 1B C L-L 6*3 210
23 Beau Mills 1B C L-R 6*3 205
24 Michael Main-of P H R-R 6*1 171
25 Todd Frazier-of-ss 3B C R-R 6*3 195
26 Yasmani Grandal C H B-R 6*2 205
27 Kentrail Davis of H L-R 5*9 195
28 Cole St.Clair P C L-L 6*5 225
29 Justin Jackson-OF ss H R-R 6*2 175
30 Julio Borbon OF C L-L 6*1 180
31 Nick Schmidt P C L-L 6*4 215
32 Mitch Canham C C
33 J.P. Arencibia C C R-R 6*0 210
34 Jake Arrieta P C R-R 6*4 235
35 Kyle Russell* of C
36 Grant Desme of C 6*2 210
37 Tony Thomas 2B c R-R 5*10 180
38 Eric Eiland of H L-L 6*1 195
39 Tim Alderson <sp

Six weeks until the draft

When I started following MLB’s draft twenty years ago, I was looking for the inside scoop on the next great rookie card to collect.  Back then news about the draft was hard to gather.  Major League Baseball would publish the list of players drafted each year by team.  But the list was, in effect useless, because players were listed in alphabetical order.  Then in the late 1990′s the team lists started being published including the round in which each player was drafted.

Over the next six weeks I will use this blog to get the names of this years draft hopefuls out to fans.  You can also check out the writings of Jonathan Mayo and Lisa Winston on MiLB.com  They have increased draft coverage for 2007.  This is the first year that MiLB has issued scouting reports on top players available in the 2007 First Year Player Draft.  The link to the scouting reports seems to move around and be tough to find.  If you have trouble finding them, please post a comment and I will post a link.

Here is a quick list of top high school players.

Rick Porcello P
Josh Vitters 3B
Justin Jackson SS
Blake Beavan P
Jason Heyward OF
Matt Harvey P
Michaael Burgess OF
Phillippe Aumont P
Matt Dominguez 3B
Tanner Robles P

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