Judging Cubs 2006 Draft

[tspain]

Tim Wilken asked that we wait 5-7 years to judge the 2006 draft. I want to take a look two and a half years after the draft and see what we can find now. I think we shall find it was not a good draft for the Cubs.

 

Jeff Sarmarg has already made it to the Big Leagues, so we will not be shut out. That is one good thing. How good he will be is anyone's guess. He has some nasty stuff to be sure, but was hit hard the latter part of the season. Did the league catch up with him? Or will he continue to improve and become a great pitcher?

 

Tyler Colvin has really stuggled. Came on this year in the 2nd half to give us some hope. Cubs seemed to think he could be a cf but now the thinking is he will be a lf. Not good is he can only play lf.

 

Who else can we pen any hopes on? There are a few:

 

Lansford-can he put it together and play 3b in the big leagues?

Muldowney-can he be a starting lhp or reliever?

Rundle-will he ever live up to the promise that made the Cubs give him a huge bonus to sign out of H.S.?

Huseby-same as Rundle above, and can he find any control of his pitches?

Kopach-can he bounce back from arm troubles and reach the big leagues?

Rosa-can he cut down on the K's and E's and make the big leagues?

Sampson-reports say Cubs really like this kid, can he play in the big leagues, did ok at Peoris this year.

 

A year and a half show we may get very little out of the 2006 draft. Too bad we drafted Colvin, and good thing Samarg signed instead of playing football. Hope some of the others can put things together and make it to the bigs.

 

None of the guys from the draft were on any of Baseball America's Top 20 Prospects Lists, although they said Jeff Samarg would have been in the Pacific Coast League had he been there long enough.

 

Pastor Tom Spain

Edited October 7, 2008 by tspain

[Guest]

For easy reference, here is the list of all players who signed in 2006 (bold indicates players still in the system)

 

1 OF Tyler Colvin, Clemson - $1.475 million

5 RHP Jeff Samardzija, Notre Dame - $250,000 bonus (major league contract valued at up to $10 million)

6 3B Josh Lansford, Cal Poly SLO - $155,000 bonus

7 SS Steve Clevenger, Chipola College (FL) - $130,000 bonus (now a C)

8 RHP Billy Muldowney, Pittsburgh - $98,500 bonus

9 OF Clifford Andersen, Cottonwood Senior HS - $155,000 bonus

10 RHP Jacob Renshaw, Ventura JC - $60,000 bonus

11 RHP Chris Huseby, Martin County HS - $1.3 million bonus

12 RHP Kitt Kopach, Illinois State

13 OF Matt Camp, North Carolina State

14 OF Drew Rundle, Bend HS - $500,000 bonus

15 C Matthew Canepa, Cal Poly SLO

16 C Richard Parker, Arkansas (now a P)

19 LHP Jeremy Paplebon, North Florida

20 RHP Kevin Kreier, Foothill HS - $100,000 bonus

21 LHP Taylor Parker, Missouri

22 3B Jovan Rosa, Lake City CC (FL) - DFE: $180,000 bonus

23 RHP Charles Platt, Lamar

24 SS Matt Matulia, Citadel

26 RHP Michael Cooper, Cal Berkeley

27 RHP Cedric Redmond, Oaktown CC (IL) - DFE

28 RHP Brett Summers, South Suburban CC (IL) - DFE

29 RHP Jordan Latham, JC of Southern Idaho - DFE: $100,000 bonus

30 RHP Donald Walters, Richland College

32 SS Cesar Valentin, Catalina Morales de Flore HS

33 RHP Ronald Clipp, Point Loma Nazarene U

34 SS Nate Samson, Forest HS - $155,000 bonus

36 RHP Greibal Cuevas-Novas, LA Pierce College

39 RHP Marcus Hatley, Palomar JC (CA) - DFE

40 RHP Eli Diaz, Texarkana CC

43 SS Anthony Morel, Riverside CC (CA) - DFE

45 OF Elliot Shea, Franklin Pierce College

47 RHP Andrew McCormick, Pikeville College

49 3B Ryne Malone, Florida State

 

Two full pro seasons is still way too early to judge. Unless someone else surprises, I think this draft will be defined by how Colvin, Samardzija, Huseby and Rundle fare.

[Mephistopheles]

If you look at anyones draft, throw out rounds 1s-4 it's not going to look good unless they got a stud with the first pick.

[tspain]

CR:

 

I agree the 2006 draft comes down to those 4 players. And the sad thing to me it, the 2007 draft comes down to how one player does, Josh Vitters. How sad is that!!!

 

Pastor Tom Spain

[Guest]

The one thing that has disappointed me with Wilken is the lack of HS picks.

 

2008 - Cerda (4), Watkins (21)

2007 - Vitters (1), Acosta (12)

2006 - Andersen (9), Huseby (11), Rundle (14), Kreier (20), Redmond (27 [DFE]), Samson (34), Hatley (39 [DFE])

 

That's 11 in 3 years, 9 if you don't want to count Cedric Redmond and Marcus Hatley (admittedly guys like Colvin and Samardzija are rawer than your typical college guys).

 

Pretty conservative approach.

[Mephistopheles]

Keep in mind my mock picks the last two years

 

2007

1.3 Jason Heyward, OF - Henry County HS

1S.48 Michael Burgess, OF - Hillsburough HS

3.97 Will Middlebrooks, 3B - Liberty-Elyau HS

4.127 Chris Carpenter, RHP - Kent State

5.157 Taylor Martin, RHP - St. Michael HS

 

2008

1.19 Shooter Hunt, RHP - Tulane

1S.41 Ross Seaton, RHP - Second Baptist HS

2.65 Aaron Shafer, RHP - Wichita State

3.97 Brandon Crawford, SS - UCLA

4.131 Isaac Galloway, OF - Los Osos HS

5.161 Paul Demny, RHP - Blinn JC

 

And if I did it in 2006, it would have been Travis Snider. *sigh*

[shnsajax]

Keep in mind my mock picks the last two years

 

2007

1.3 Jason Heyward, OF - Henry County HS

1S.48 Michael Burgess, OF - Hillsburough HS

3.97 Will Middlebrooks, 3B - Liberty-Elyau HS

4.127 Chris Carpenter, RHP - Kent State

5.157 Taylor Martin, RHP - St. Michael HS

 

2008

1.19 Shooter Hunt, RHP - Tulane

1S.41 Ross Seaton, RHP - Second Baptist HS

2.65 Aaron Shafer, RHP - Wichita State

3.97 Brandon Crawford, SS - UCLA

4.131 Isaac Galloway, OF - Los Osos HS

5.161 Paul Demny, RHP - Blinn JC

 

And if I did it in 2006, it would have been Travis Snider. *sigh*

 

I would love to have Heyward and Burgess together in the same system on the same team.

[illiniguy]

Keep in mind my mock picks the last two years

 

2007

1.3 Jason Heyward, OF - Henry County HS

1S.48 Michael Burgess, OF - Hillsburough HS

3.97 Will Middlebrooks, 3B - Liberty-Elyau HS

4.127 Chris Carpenter, RHP - Kent State

5.157 Taylor Martin, RHP - St. Michael HS

 

2008

1.19 Shooter Hunt, RHP - Tulane

1S.41 Ross Seaton, RHP - Second Baptist HS

2.65 Aaron Shafer, RHP - Wichita State

3.97 Brandon Crawford, SS - UCLA

4.131 Isaac Galloway, OF - Los Osos HS

5.161 Paul Demny, RHP - Blinn JC

 

And if I did it in 2006, it would have been Travis Snider. *sigh*

 

I would love to have Heyward and Burgess together in the same system on the same team.

If we had that, we would have Peavy here in a day or two.

[Guest]

Galloway in 08 isn't too shabby either.

[Wrigley Rat]

Just for fun, I ranked the remaining players from this draft in order of their current prospect status in my mind. I think the first three will be major league regulars. The next four will get at least a cup of coffee in the majors. The rest need a lot of luck, a new plus pitch, or steroids (hopefully not)!

 

I personally think this was a pretty good draft considering no picks in the 2nd-4th rounds and the slow progress of Colvin.

 

1 Colvin

2 Samardzija

3 Rosa

4 Redmond

5 Papelbon

6 Parker

7 Rundle

8 Clevenger

9 Kopach

10 Muldowney

11 Kreier

12 Cooper

13 Latham

14 Samson

15 Hatley

16 Huseby

17 Camp

18 Andersen

19 Lansford

20 Matulia