Callis looks back at 2005 draft

[seattlecub]

in the latest Ask BA, Callis is asked to rank the 2005 draft (the Upton, Bruce, rasmus, ellsbury, tulo, mcutchen, r. zimmerman, braun draft) by team, and he ranks the Cubs last (Donnie Veal only one to the majors). Sigh.

 

On the other hand, i like seeing this question asked, and was just thinking the other day that i wished BA would make something like this an annual feature, looking back on drafts after 5 and/or 10 years to get a good idea of how successful they really were.

[KingCubsFan]

I think that was Stocksill's last draft, so that ranking isn't too surprising.

[BeerHere]

Yes it was a terrible draft for the Cubs but it is worth noting that they picked 20th that year and those players were not available available when the Cubs picked. Pawelek was a really bad pick.

[Outshined_One]

I remember being really excited that the Cubs not only drafted Pawelek, but that he was the first player from the entire draft signed. I believe they got him for somewhere around slot, too.

 

Guh, what a letdown.

[BeerHere]

Ellsbury, Rasmus and Garza were selected after Pawelek in the first round that year. Buckholz, Lowrie and Hochevar(did not sign) were selected in the second.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Yeah, but like with most drafts, there are a bunch of guys I've never heard of drafted before and after our guy.

[KingCubsFan]

Ellsbury, Rasmus and Garza were selected after Pawelek in the first round that year. Buckholz, Lowrie and Hochevar(did not sign) were selected in the second.

IIRC, Pawalek was a top 10 talent who fell because of signability. If he had been drafted where he should have been, I wonder who was next on our board.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Ellsbury, Rasmus and Garza were selected after Pawelek in the first round that year. Buckholz, Lowrie and Hochevar(did not sign) were selected in the second.

IIRC, Pawalek was a top 10 talent who fell because of signability. If he had been drafted where he should have been, I wonder who was next on our board.

 

Assuming they had their heart set on a LHP, it could have been Aaron Thompson (22, Marlins) or Brian Bogusevic (24, Astros). Thompsons just 24 now, and made his big league debut with the Pirates this season. Bogusevic is 27 and since been converted to an OF. He has a .299/.361/.515/.877 line in 64 games/109 PA this year. Neither exactly make me go Oh, what could have been.

[Guest]

I think that was Stocksill's last draft, so that ranking isn't too surprising.

 

Correct.

 

Ellsbury, Rasmus and Garza were selected after Pawelek in the first round that year. Buckholz, Lowrie and Hochevar(did not sign) were selected in the second.

IIRC, Pawalek was a top 10 talent who fell because of signability. If he had been drafted where he should have been, I wonder who was next on our board.

 

Assuming they had their heart set on a LHP, it could have been Aaron Thompson (22, Marlins) or Brian Bogusevic (24, Astros). Thompsons just 24 now, and made his big league debut with the Pirates this season. Bogusevic is 27 and since been converted to an OF. He has a .299/.361/.515/.877 line in 64 games/109 PA this year. Neither exactly make me go Oh, what could have been.

 

The player the Cubs were linked to the most before that draft was Hochevar.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Wasn't Hochever supposed to have won multiple CY Young awards by now? Great example of how massive hype doesn't always mean big league success.

[toonsterwu]

It's easy to forget how exciting the top two picks were at the time. Pawelek was viewed as a steal, Donnie Veal was viewed as a nice sleeper type, IIRC. My biggest problem with that draft had to do with the subsequent selections. I won't fault Stockstill for Pawelek that much (I think this is more the fault of the cross checkers for not recognizing the type of person he was, but then again, some people do change when they get money/leave HS, so it could be simply that, Pawelek was viewed as a mature HS arm), but I did not like the picks of Billek, Holliman, and a few others (one that I did sort of like at the time was Joe Simokaitis, as I thought he might've become a Todd Walker type 2nd baseman ... alas it never happened).

[illiniguy]

Wasn't Hochever supposed to have won multiple CY Young awards by now? Great example of how massive hype doesn't always mean big league success.

I don't believe so, here in KC many weren't happy he was their choice at number one the next year Fwiw.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

It's easy to forget how exciting the top two picks were at the time. Pawelek was viewed as a steal, Donnie Veal was viewed as a nice sleeper type, IIRC. My biggest problem with that draft had to do with the subsequent selections. I won't fault Stockstill for Pawelek that much (I think this is more the fault of the cross checkers for not recognizing the type of person he was, but then again, some people do change when they get money/leave HS, so it could be simply that, Pawelek was viewed as a mature HS arm), but I did not like the picks of Billek, Holliman, and a few others (one that I did sort of like at the time was Joe Simokaitis, as I thought he might've become a Todd Walker type 2nd baseman ... alas it never happened).

 

Pawelek also had mechanics formed from the fire of hell itself or sumthin.

[Little Slide Rooter]

If we want to go to the woulda-coulda draft stuff, one thing I was unaware of is that in 2002, with our 2nd round, 56th overall pick, we selected 1B Brian Dopirek. With the 57th pick, in that same draft, the Boston Red Sox selected LHP John Lester. I know how much of a crapshoot the draft is, but it still makes one want to bang ones head.

[tspain]

Interesting to go and read what I wrote down about the 2005 draft. BA expected the Cubs to take Pawelek from high school, works low 90's and touches 95. Good curve and change and splitter a work in progress.

 

While MLB had the Cubs taking Georgia Tech ss Tyler Greene and putting him with his old teammate Eric Patterson back together in a DP combo once again.

[Coach C]

Wasn't Hochever supposed to have won multiple CY Young awards by now? Great example of how massive hype doesn't always mean big league success.

I don't believe so, here in KC many weren't happy he was their choice at number one the next year Fwiw.

 

You are correct with this assessment. Many of the Royals fans think that he's a sissy. It's like, when he has nobody on base, he's pretty good. But when he gets a runner on base, well, his mental mind just changes from a world beater to a scared (expletive) guy who's afraid to make a mistake.

 

He's definitely not a #1 starter. More like a back end rotation guy, but that's just my opinion.

[pitchcs]

I remember being really excited that the Cubs not only drafted Pawelek, but that he was the first player from the entire draft signed. I believe they got him for somewhere around slot, too.

 

Guh, what a letdown.

 

Lesson....don't use a 1st round draft pick on someone from Utah.

[SouthSideRyan]

Wasn't Hochever supposed to have won multiple CY Young awards by now? Great example of how massive hype doesn't always mean big league success.

I don't believe so, here in KC many weren't happy he was their choice at number one the next year Fwiw.

 

You are correct with this assessment. Many of the Royals fans think that he's a sissy. It's like, when he has nobody on base, he's pretty good. But when he gets a runner on base, well, his mental mind just changes from a world beater to a scared (expletive) guy who's afraid to make a mistake.

 

He's definitely not a #1 starter. More like a back end rotation guy, but that's just my opinion.

 

Hochevar's 2012 numbers against:

 

Bases Empty: .278/.347/.460

Runners on: .296/.352/.432

RISP: .298/.351/.438

 

Though his career numbers tell a different story.