Anyone else...

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

think this years draft SUCKS?

 

Beyond Pawelek, its seems to be a bunch of low upside older college guys who have never even played that well.

 

We got two high upside lefties to start it off, but other than that I am completley unimpressed.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

think this years draft SUCKS?

 

Beyond Pawelek, its seems to be a bunch of low upside older college guys who have never even played that well.

 

We got two high upside lefties to start it off, but other than that I am completley unimpressed.

 

I wondered why there wasn't a lot of enthusiasm about a lot of the picks, and found that this is considered a very weak class. I'm no expert on the draft, but it might be worth taking into consideration.

[texascub]

I think that it is WAY too early to be calling this draft a bust for the Cubs. Pawelek has looked excellent in his short starts. Veal (if truely signed) should make his debut soon as well. Dylan Johnston has a chance at becoming a good player as well; though since he's a HSer he might now sign. Simokatis has looked decent in his short stint with Peoria. Liriano, Episcopo, Defendis, and Farina have all looked good in their short time with the Azl Cubs. Hyle, Billek, Avery, Muyco, Reynolds, Hode, Gregg and Taylor have been playing well in Boise too. It is simply too early to tell if these guys will be busts or not, they need atleast a full year under their belt of pro ball before the word bust should even be thought of. Some players might not have looked like the best choice and the time, but I've got full confidence in Hendry, Fleita, Stockstill and they rest of the scouts that they did was was best.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Its not so much how these guys are doing, its the lack of a truly exciting talent.

 

Not many guys project to start or anything in the future. Alot of the pitchers have poor control, alot of the hitters K alot and don't walk enough.

[Hacking Out Machine]

WGW, I really agree with you. If you are a statistical analysis guy, (like a lot of us seem to be here), you can't be excited. The overwhelming majority of the players selected(save the high schoolers) either fooled nobody(pitchers) or scared nobody(hitters) in college.

 

Hendry and Co have had good success in "projecting" pitchers, so I can't really argue with their picks, but I can say that it certainly doesn't seem likely that these guys have much potential. As for the hitters, there hasn't been any track record of this regime's ability to develop any hitter worth a darn in the bigs, so I feel comfortable in asking why they think someone with no power and no ability to get on base makes sense to draft. "Hacking Out Machine" is my username, but I also think it could describe most if not all of the position players we drafted.

 

Some players in the organization have made some good strides lately in drawing walks, so maybe the Cubs are starting to stress that to the guys they have. I truly hope they are going in this direction, since their refusal to draw walks at the big league level is reason 1, 2, 3 and 4 why they are so inconsistent offensively. Having said that, the types of guys they drafted this year show no evidence that this is the case.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Exactly, and the worst part is, if you read the NSBB review on the draft - only the HS guys are truly toolsy. And those guys seem to be VERY high risk.

[MeatampPotatoesMan]

Exactly, and the worst part is, if you read the NSBB review on the draft - only the HS guys are truly toolsy. And those guys seem to be VERY high risk.

 

HSers are even more high risk seeing as how their bodies aren't as developed as a college junior or senior. Draft a middle infielder and end up with an outfielder. Wait, that's happened to us before (Luis Montanez). doh!

 

Pawelek seems pretty good though...looks like he has a decent frame to add a little muscle. I doubt he'll ever have Prior's calves, but how many pitchers do? lol The only other knock i've heard on Pawelek is his mechanics, but those problems are deemed by scouts to be relatively easy to fix.

Edited July 15, 2005 by Meat&PotatoesMan

[texascub]

I think that alot of the perceived problems with the draft class come from the fact that this was a very thin class. There were a few top level prospects but then after that there was a fairly sharp drop in talent. There are players though that can translate into good players but not great players maybe. I see Veal becoming a lesser version of the D-Train, Simokaitis possibly an Eckstein type player.