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The 1992 draft has come to (thankfully to some) an end. As usual there will be booms there will be busts. There will be over analysis, under valuing, and a whole lot of hot air from BLB GM's.
One of the prevailing thoughts at this years meat market was, "There isn't as much talent coming into the league now as there was 10 years ago." Really? Is that true? It might be. But we won't know until we take a deeper look. So come with me back to the stone age in 1982 and let's see what life was like in the BLB draft back then. Ten years should be enough to get a good read on the gems and the bombs. Let's also sample the reaction as it was happening. And away we go!
Now the first pick belonged to the Mississippi Storm in this draft. There was speculation as to whom would be their top choice. Overall sentiment was Joaqun Gonzlez would be the first player selected. But Mississippi shook things up taking a big roll of the dice on a 16 year old pitcher from Cleveland Ohio named Don Stevens.
The initial reaction?
"whoa, not expected at all"
"
"I didn't see that coming either! But I think Stevens can be just as good if not better than Gonzalez.
"I like Stevens over Gonzalez also. I had them close... but Stevens was over the top for two reasons... he'll give you more innings and he's a Lefties"
The GM of the Storm outlayed his reasons for going with StevensL
"A) He's 16, that's outrageous for a player of his caliber
B) My scouts think he's closer to the bigs somehow than Gonzalez
C) He's gonna be an innings eater too, with elite endurance
D) His control potential was consistently at 8 from all my scouts"
Someone forgot to tell him that he was breaking several rules drafting Stevens this high.
1. Never ever use the first pick on a 16 year old player.
2. Only consider #1 IF the player has a nickname.
3. Don't draft anyone from Cleveland. Just don't.
Stevens never ranked high on any prospect list. He was rushed to the bigs and at age 17 one year after being drafted was facing major league hitters. And you are correct there are no child labor laws in Mississippi...or pretty much any laws at all. Unfotuately this was also one of his best years. Stevens had a respectable 3.83 ERA that year. At 18 he started an unprecedented 34 games for his age. His body broke down and by 1986 at the age of 20 when most players are just getting drafted Stevens was stranded on the DL.
After stevens Indianapolis were giddy to select Joaquin Gonzalez. Only they were just setting up for another pie in the face. Actually the pie eventually was thrown at Pittsburgh. "Grumpy" did reach the pinnacle of becoming the #34th prospect in Baseball America's top 100 but never panned out due to impatient ownership (we're not talking "Don Stevens" impatient, but impatient nonetheless)
After Stevens the then California Wildfire selected Jud Graham. The good news was Graham had a nickname, "Admiral." The bad news is Jud....one second.."Yes I would like fries with that!" The bad news was that he ..."Woah Jud Graham!" "Holy @#$%!". What are the odds? So anyhow Jud Graham is currently avaialable for anyone interested.
Here's some thougts at this point..
"and we are on to pick 4! 3 pitchers to start the draft... wouldn't be surprised to see them all be stars one day in the BLB!
"
"I'm happy to get Gonzalez, but my only concern was his endurance. Still, hopefully he'll develope into a stud. Should be interesting to track his progress. "
" agree.. the guy is a complete stud and you don't have to play the waiting game as he's already 20. "
Ok so 0-3 so far. But now we're about to hit the jackpot.
4th Raul Carillo--BOOM!
5th Victor Gonzalez --BOOM!
6th Yoritoki Maeda -- BOOM!
7th Raul Zamora -- Bo--er....ok nice pick but not nice enough
8th Dani Alvarez --BOOM making up for the Zamora pick.
9th Robby Shannon -- BOOM this is getting out of control! Let's keep it going and finish out the top ten with
10th Don Rice *crickets* Who? Who the hell is Don Rice?
Well Don Rice is another 16 year old "phenom" who is now celebrating his 10th year in the minor leagues. The only team that still believes in him is Pawtucket but we dont' have to worry about ruining anything for him because their GM can't read. Ooops! Let that one out of the bag too, too bad he can't read this either.
Some more perpective at the time...
"I was torn between two players, Zamora and Alvarez.. both completely opposite of each other and as Diesel said, it's Figgins v Thome. I went with the guy that can play just about anywhere and get on base. "
"Well, my original plan was to take a pitcher no matter what. I have very little pitching prospects so I didn't even look at any hitters. However, when it got to me, I had a few pitchers I liked but several I thought might make it to my pick in the 2nd round. So, I ended up with Alvarez as he looks like a solid hitter. I already have Melgoza (#10 overall BLB prospect) for 1B so Alvarez will either be a DH or will be traded. " (Even on draft day he knew)
(THE FOLLOWING IS FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY)
"you win with pitching, so i went with a pitcher Don Rice. hopefully, he'll mature faster than his 16 years old indicates. "
(we warned you)
We'll wrap up part I of this look back with some final words from someone who has since retired. Former GM Riverman who was smarter than us all...
"I was surprised that Graham went so high and Zamora as well.
I wouldn't have had the nerve to pick Graham so high as I'd have been worried I'd need two more like him to get me through the 7th. I would have been tempted to trade down 3 or 4 spots if I had been CA in the hopes he would still be there and I could pick up something decent in addition. I'll be watching him very closely the next couple of seasons to see if you can make a starter out of a guy like that though.
With regard to Zamora I have a strong preference for power hitters (and pitching) - speed and defence be dammed. I can see now that I had him rated too low and I'll look more closely at guys like that in the future.
Also, I probably would have picked Victor Gonzalez if I'd had the first pick though I see now that very few if anyone agrees with that assessment. All of my scouts had him significantly better than the other two top tier hitters. The overall draft class seems deep in pitching with a dearth of decent offensive players. "
ok and one final remark...
"Well I'm really interested to see how Graham pans out for me... I mean what's the worst that happens? He becomes a dominant reliever... is that such a bad thing? "
The 1992 draft has come to (thankfully to some) an end. As usual there will be booms there will be busts. There will be over analysis, under valuing, and a whole lot of hot air from BLB GM's.
One of the prevailing thoughts at this years meat market was, "There isn't as much talent coming into the league now as there was 10 years ago." Really? Is that true? It might be. But we won't know until we take a deeper look. So come with me back to the stone age in 1982 and let's see what life was like in the BLB draft back then. Ten years should be enough to get a good read on the gems and the bombs. Let's also sample the reaction as it was happening. And away we go!
Now the first pick belonged to the Mississippi Storm in this draft. There was speculation as to whom would be their top choice. Overall sentiment was Joaqun Gonzlez would be the first player selected. But Mississippi shook things up taking a big roll of the dice on a 16 year old pitcher from Cleveland Ohio named Don Stevens.
The initial reaction?
"whoa, not expected at all"
"
"I didn't see that coming either! But I think Stevens can be just as good if not better than Gonzalez.
"I like Stevens over Gonzalez also. I had them close... but Stevens was over the top for two reasons... he'll give you more innings and he's a Lefties"
The GM of the Storm outlayed his reasons for going with StevensL
"A) He's 16, that's outrageous for a player of his caliber
B) My scouts think he's closer to the bigs somehow than Gonzalez
C) He's gonna be an innings eater too, with elite endurance
D) His control potential was consistently at 8 from all my scouts"
Someone forgot to tell him that he was breaking several rules drafting Stevens this high.
1. Never ever use the first pick on a 16 year old player.
2. Only consider #1 IF the player has a nickname.
3. Don't draft anyone from Cleveland. Just don't.
Stevens never ranked high on any prospect list. He was rushed to the bigs and at age 17 one year after being drafted was facing major league hitters. And you are correct there are no child labor laws in Mississippi...or pretty much any laws at all. Unfotuately this was also one of his best years. Stevens had a respectable 3.83 ERA that year. At 18 he started an unprecedented 34 games for his age. His body broke down and by 1986 at the age of 20 when most players are just getting drafted Stevens was stranded on the DL.
After stevens Indianapolis were giddy to select Joaquin Gonzalez. Only they were just setting up for another pie in the face. Actually the pie eventually was thrown at Pittsburgh. "Grumpy" did reach the pinnacle of becoming the #34th prospect in Baseball America's top 100 but never panned out due to impatient ownership (we're not talking "Don Stevens" impatient, but impatient nonetheless)
After Stevens the then California Wildfire selected Jud Graham. The good news was Graham had a nickname, "Admiral." The bad news is Jud....one second.."Yes I would like fries with that!" The bad news was that he ..."Woah Jud Graham!" "Holy @#$%!". What are the odds? So anyhow Jud Graham is currently avaialable for anyone interested.
Here's some thougts at this point..
"and we are on to pick 4! 3 pitchers to start the draft... wouldn't be surprised to see them all be stars one day in the BLB!
"
"I'm happy to get Gonzalez, but my only concern was his endurance. Still, hopefully he'll develope into a stud. Should be interesting to track his progress. "
" agree.. the guy is a complete stud and you don't have to play the waiting game as he's already 20. "
Ok so 0-3 so far. But now we're about to hit the jackpot.
4th Raul Carillo--BOOM!
5th Victor Gonzalez --BOOM!
6th Yoritoki Maeda -- BOOM!
7th Raul Zamora -- Bo--er....ok nice pick but not nice enough
8th Dani Alvarez --BOOM making up for the Zamora pick.
9th Robby Shannon -- BOOM this is getting out of control! Let's keep it going and finish out the top ten with
10th Don Rice *crickets* Who? Who the hell is Don Rice?
Well Don Rice is another 16 year old "phenom" who is now celebrating his 10th year in the minor leagues. The only team that still believes in him is Pawtucket but we dont' have to worry about ruining anything for him because their GM can't read. Ooops! Let that one out of the bag too, too bad he can't read this either.
Some more perpective at the time...
"I was torn between two players, Zamora and Alvarez.. both completely opposite of each other and as Diesel said, it's Figgins v Thome. I went with the guy that can play just about anywhere and get on base. "
"Well, my original plan was to take a pitcher no matter what. I have very little pitching prospects so I didn't even look at any hitters. However, when it got to me, I had a few pitchers I liked but several I thought might make it to my pick in the 2nd round. So, I ended up with Alvarez as he looks like a solid hitter. I already have Melgoza (#10 overall BLB prospect) for 1B so Alvarez will either be a DH or will be traded. " (Even on draft day he knew)
(THE FOLLOWING IS FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY)
"you win with pitching, so i went with a pitcher Don Rice. hopefully, he'll mature faster than his 16 years old indicates. "
(we warned you)
We'll wrap up part I of this look back with some final words from someone who has since retired. Former GM Riverman who was smarter than us all...
"I was surprised that Graham went so high and Zamora as well.
I wouldn't have had the nerve to pick Graham so high as I'd have been worried I'd need two more like him to get me through the 7th. I would have been tempted to trade down 3 or 4 spots if I had been CA in the hopes he would still be there and I could pick up something decent in addition. I'll be watching him very closely the next couple of seasons to see if you can make a starter out of a guy like that though.
With regard to Zamora I have a strong preference for power hitters (and pitching) - speed and defence be dammed. I can see now that I had him rated too low and I'll look more closely at guys like that in the future.
Also, I probably would have picked Victor Gonzalez if I'd had the first pick though I see now that very few if anyone agrees with that assessment. All of my scouts had him significantly better than the other two top tier hitters. The overall draft class seems deep in pitching with a dearth of decent offensive players. "
ok and one final remark...
"Well I'm really interested to see how Graham pans out for me... I mean what's the worst that happens? He becomes a dominant reliever... is that such a bad thing? "
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