Torres [and Capel] for Oscar Mercado
Thomas [and Erik Gonzalez] for Luplow
At present St Louis and Pittsburgh fans may regret the deals. over time maybe everyone will be happy.
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2612RED SOX BATTING LEADOFF
A strange soundscape characterized the Red Sox clubhouse following a loss in the middle of a mystifying season-opening West Coast swing. In the otherwise silent wake of defeat, the rotating blades of fans aimed at the skyscraper-like towers of servers in the middle of the clubhouse whirred noisily — necessary to prevent the equipment from bursting into flames.
Welcome to game-planning in baseball’s modern era. Data and analytics now claim central roles in shaping on-field strategy, changing the cultural and physical landscape of how teams are organized. It is that change, perhaps more than the vague notion of an underperforming, unhealthy Red Sox pitching staff, that explained the team’s announcement on Tuesday of a pitching infrastructure shakeup.
Dana LeVangie — who’s been a member of the Red Sox organization for 29 years, including the last seven on the coaching staff — was reassigned from pitching coach to a role in the pro scouting department. Steve Langone, the advance scouting manager, likewise will move to pro scouting. Brian Bannister , who’d served an in-uniform role as assistant pitching coach on top of his duties as VP of pitching development, will no longer be part of the big league coaching staff. Instead, he’ll focus on pitcher development programs, particularly in the minors.
Change felt inevitable as the year progressed, not necessarily because of the results but perhaps more because of the tension that existed between LeVangie’s traditional approach to game-planning — he drew upon his advance scouting background by consuming video tirelessly in search of holes in opposing hitters’ swings — and the team’s desire to embrace the data-driven model used by teams such as the Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, Indians, Rays, and Twins.
Behind the scenes, there was a sense of an oil-and-water dynamic that never got resolved. Members of the coaching staff experienced a yearlong tension between the way the Red Sox had prepared their pitchers — quite successfully, it should be noted, as recently as 2018 — and how the team now wanted to game-plan for opponents.
There were disagreements about how to attack opposing lineups, arguments that sometimes consumed the coaching staff and led to less actual time being spent coaching the players. While those disagreements were largely walled off from the players — and the failure of the pitching staff was caused foremost by failures of pitch execution — some around the Red Sox felt that the absence of a sustained winning streak reflected the disjointed communication and headbutting that was occurring.
“It was a just tough year,” said one member of the team. “We never really got on the same page at all.”
A strange soundscape characterized the Red Sox clubhouse following a loss in the middle of a mystifying season-opening West Coast swing. In the otherwise silent wake of defeat, the rotating blades of fans aimed at the skyscraper-like towers of servers in the middle of the clubhouse whirred noisily — necessary to prevent the equipment from bursting into flames.
Welcome to game-planning in baseball’s modern era. Data and analytics now claim central roles in shaping on-field strategy, changing the cultural and physical landscape of how teams are organized. It is that change, perhaps more than the vague notion of an underperforming, unhealthy Red Sox pitching staff, that explained the team’s announcement on Tuesday of a pitching infrastructure shakeup.
Dana LeVangie — who’s been a member of the Red Sox organization for 29 years, including the last seven on the coaching staff — was reassigned from pitching coach to a role in the pro scouting department. Steve Langone, the advance scouting manager, likewise will move to pro scouting. Brian Bannister , who’d served an in-uniform role as assistant pitching coach on top of his duties as VP of pitching development, will no longer be part of the big league coaching staff. Instead, he’ll focus on pitcher development programs, particularly in the minors.
Change felt inevitable as the year progressed, not necessarily because of the results but perhaps more because of the tension that existed between LeVangie’s traditional approach to game-planning — he drew upon his advance scouting background by consuming video tirelessly in search of holes in opposing hitters’ swings — and the team’s desire to embrace the data-driven model used by teams such as the Dodgers, Astros, Yankees, Indians, Rays, and Twins.
Behind the scenes, there was a sense of an oil-and-water dynamic that never got resolved. Members of the coaching staff experienced a yearlong tension between the way the Red Sox had prepared their pitchers — quite successfully, it should be noted, as recently as 2018 — and how the team now wanted to game-plan for opponents.
There were disagreements about how to attack opposing lineups, arguments that sometimes consumed the coaching staff and led to less actual time being spent coaching the players. While those disagreements were largely walled off from the players — and the failure of the pitching staff was caused foremost by failures of pitch execution — some around the Red Sox felt that the absence of a sustained winning streak reflected the disjointed communication and headbutting that was occurring.
“It was a just tough year,” said one member of the team. “We never really got on the same page at all.”
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2613A friend noted at breakfast today, that it's an all-Pirate No. 1 draft choice matchup in the AL tonight: Cole vs Glasnow. No wonder the Pirates fired their manager, he couldn't make up for some horrid deals. Meanwhile he had the luxury of Lonnie Chisenhall on the IL for the entire season and got to watch Jordan Luplow making a fine transition.
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2614Fantasy baseball futures: Sleeper prospects for each MLB team
By John Sickels Oct 3, 2019 4
Here’s a look at some baseball fantasy sleeper prospects for 2020. For clarification purposes, I will include an ETA for each player. This list does not include anyone on the last version of my Top 100 prospects list.
Geraldo Perdomo, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks: 19-year-old shortstop hit .275/.397/.364 with 26 steals and 70 walks in Low-A/High-A; strong glove, high OBP with speed; considerable development potential; risky but has a high ceiling; ETA 2022
Trey Harris, OF, Atlanta Braves: 23-year-old outfielder hit .323/.389/.498 between Low-A/High-A/Double-A; good pop in spark-plug 5-foot-9, 200-pound body; thrived despite being just a 32nd-round pick from University of Missouri in 2018; ETA 2021
Michael Baumann, RHP, Baltimore Orioles: Age 24; 2.98 ERA with 142/45 K/BB in 124 innings in High-A/Double-A; hits mid-90s and has a fine slider; command and control have improved greatly; possible mid-rotation arm; ETA 2020
Thad Ward, RHP, Boston Red Sox: Age 22; posted 2.14 ERA, allowed just 89 hits with a 157/57 K/BB in 126 innings in Low-A/High-A; low-90s fastball plays up, has nasty slider and changeup has improved; command still needs work but could be fourth starter or quality reliever; ETA 2021
Cory Abbott, RHP, Chicago Cubs: Age 24; 3.01 ERA in 147 innings in Double-A with 166/52 K/BB; unhittable down the stretch with 1.68 ERA in final 59 innings, with 71 strikeouts and just 22 hits allowed; low-90s fastball with solid-to-average secondaries but everything plays up due to pitchablity; ETA 2020
Jonathan Stiever, RHP, Chicago White Sox: Age 22; 3.48 ERA in 145 innings in Low-A/High-A, 154/27 K/BB; throws strikes and has been clocked as high as 97-98; fifth round pick in 2018 from Indiana University, mid-rotation potential at least; ETA 2021
Jose Israel Garcia, SS, Cincinnati Reds: 21-year-old Cuban; hit .280/.343/.436 with eight homers, 15 steals in High-A; very fast, superior defensive tools, improved plate discipline this year and began to tap his power; long-term investment with risk but trend lines are good; ETA 2022
Carlos Vargas, RHP, Cleveland Indians: Age 19; posted 4.52 ERA in 78 innings in short-season-A with a 71/24 K/BB; key here is pure stuff, with a fastball that can hit 100 and a slider that flashes plus; needs to refine changeup and command but a very high ceiling arm; ETA 2023
Terrin Vavra, SS, Colorado Rockies: Age 22; third-round pick in 2018 from University of Minnesota; hit .318/.409/.489 with 10 homers, 18 steals, 62 walks in Low-A; solid glove, good eye at the plate; friendly Asheville boosted power but other skills may carry forward and he has friendly parks all the way up; ETA 2022
Wenceel Perez, SS, Detroit Tigers: Age 19; switch-hitting shortstop hit .233/.299/.314 in Low-A with 21 steals, 45 walks; stats aren’t much to look at but Midwest League observers like his swing, bat speed, feel for the strike zone, projection for improvement; good defensive tools; ETA 2023
Jeremy Pena, SS, Houston Astros: Age 22; third-round pick in 2018 from University of Maine; hit .303/.385/.440 with 47 walks, 20 steals in Low-A/High-A; stands out for defense and speed but gets on base too and could develop more power than commonly anticipated; ETA 2021
Zach Haake, RHP, Kansas City Royals: Age 22; sixth-round pick from University of Kentucky in 2018; 2.85 ERA in 76 innings in Low-A with 90/36 K/BB; overshadowed by other arms in Royals system but can hit 95-97 MPH with plus changeup; needs to improve command of his breaking stuff; ETA 2022
Hector Yan, LHP, Los Angeles Angels: Age 20; 3.39 ERA with 148/52 K/BB in 109 innings in Low-A, allowing just 74 hits; lefty arm with 91-96 MPH fastball; velocity may improve further, and also has a plus curveball; Midwest League observers love his potential but he needs to lower walks; ETA 2023
Andre Jackson, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers: Age 23; 12th-round pick in 2017 from University of Utah; 3.06 ERA in 115 innings in Low-A/High-A, 1with 41/57 K/BB, 90 hits allowed; another power arm with command concerns but a high ceiling; can hit 95; curveball, cutter, and changeup all flash well; raw for his age but Dodgers have helped similar pitchers thrive; ETA 2022
Peyton Burdick, OF, Miami Marlins: Age 22; third-round pick in 2019 from Wright State University; hit .307/.408/.542 with 10 homers in 238 at-bats in Low-A; there’s swing-and-miss here but he draws walks and has genuine 60-grade power; made easy transition from Horizon League to pro ball; ETA 2022
Antione Kelly, LHP, Milwaukee Brewers: Age 19; second-round pick in 2019 from Wabash Valley Community College in Illinois; 1.26 ERA in 29 innings in rookie ball, with 41/5 K/BB; 95-97 MPH fastball and showed better-than-expected command in debut; secondary pitches need improvement; long way off but high ceiling; ETA 2023
Cole Sands, RHP, Minnesota Twins: Age 22; fifth-round pick in 2018 from Florida State University; 2.68 ERA with 108/19 K/BB in 97 innings in Low-A/High-A/Double-A; 92-95 MPH fastball along with very good curveball , changeup and sharp command; main issue is durability with history of nagging injuries, but mid-rotation type if healthy; ETA 2021
Carlos Cortes, 2B, New York Mets: Age 22; third-round pick in 2018 from University of South Carolina; hit .255/.336/.397 in High-A with 11 homers, 52 walks, 77 strikeouts; short guy at 5-foot-7 but strong, with genuine solid raw power and a good feel for the strike zone; ETA 2022
Miguel Yajure, RHP, New York Yankees: Age 21; signed from Venezuela in 2015; excellent season with 2.14 ERA in 139 innings in High-A/Double-A, with 133/30 K/BB; consistent strike-thrower with low-90s fastball, plus changeup, plus cutter, solid curve; could sneak into majors very soon; ETA 2021.
Grant Holmes, RHP, Oakland Athletics: Age 23; first-round pick by the Dodgers back in 2014; alert observers will remember that he was once a top prospect but faded off most radars after missing 2018 with rotator cuff problems; healthy in 2019 and effective; 3.23 ERA in 86 innings in Double-A/Triple-A with 81/28 K/BB; still has heavy sinker, and secondaries and command have improved; rebound looks real to me; ETA 2020.
Erik Miller, LHP, Philadelphia Phillies: Age 21; fourth-round pick in 2019 out of Stanford; strong debut with 1.50 ERA, 52/15 K/BB in 36 innings across three levels — easy to miss since numbers are split up; fastball varies between 90 and 97, mixed with plus slider and solid changeup; main issue is command but has a high ceiling; ETA 2022
Tahnaj Thomas, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates: Age 20; originally signed by Cleveland Indians from the Bahamas; traded to Pirates in November 2018; posted 3.17 ERA in 59/14 K/BB in 48 innings in rookie ball; can hit 95 and very projectable for more velocity; slider and change need work; very much a projection play but there are positive markers; ETA 2024
Joey Cantillo, LHP, San Diego Padres: Age 19; 16th-round pick from high school in Hawaii in 2017; excellent this year with 2.26 ERA in 112 innings, 144/34 K/BB in Low-A/High-A; average fastball, breaking stuff, and changeup but pitchability and deception highly advanced for his age; could move up fast; ETA 2022
Luis Toribio, 3B, San Francisco Giants: Age 18; signed out of Dominican in 2017; hit .297/.436/.459 in rookie ball with 45 walks in 51 games; impressive power potential from the left side with very patient approach; long way off but has promise as power bat; ETA 2024
Aaron Fletcher, LHP, Seattle Mariners: Age 23; 14th-round pick from University of Houston in 2018 by Nationals; traded to Mariners this summer; 2.09 ERA in 84/18 K/BB in 73 innings at four levels, finishing in Double-A; threw 88-90 in college but up to 93-95 in pro ball; excellent slider kills lefties and good changeup gives him a chance against right-handers; ETA 2021
Andre Pallante, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals: Age 21; fourth-round pick in 2019 from UC-Irvine; good debut with 2.78 ERA, 38/11 K/BB in 36 innings in short-season-A; solid sinker in low-90s with quality slider, curve and change; Cardinals have strong track record with pitchers like this; ETA 2022.
Joe Ryan, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays: Age 23; seventh-round pick in 2018 from Cal State Stanislaus; insane stats with 1.96 ERA in 124 innings in Low-A/High-A/Double-A, with 183/27 K/BB and 77 hits allowed; all metrics excellent; low-90s heater plays up, mixed with plus curveball; do not underestimate this guy; he has a case for the Top 100; Shane Bieber potential. ETA 2020
Ricky Vanasco, RHP, Texas Rangers; Age 20; 15th-round pick in 2017 from high school in Williston, Florida; posted 1.81 ERA in 50 innings between short-season and Low-A, with 75/25 K/BB and only 28 hits allowed; 94-96 MPH fastball touches 99; flashes a plus curve; breakthrough potential; ETA 2023
Alejandro Kirk, C, Toronto Blue Jays: Age 20; signed out of Mexico in 2016; hit .290/.403/.465 in Low-A/High-A; drew 56 walks against only 39 strikeouts; 5-foot-9, 220 pounds; has outstanding feel for the strike zone and some power potential; threw out 38% of runners with low error and passed ball rates; I think he is for real and you should grab him while you can; ETA 2021
Steven Fuentes, RHP, Washington Nationals: Age 22; signed out of Panama in 2013; posted 2.23 ERA in 81 innings in High-A/Double-A with 89/22 K/BB; gave up just one homer; high ground ball rate with low-90s power sinker, mixed with very good changeup and decent slider; currently serving 50-game suspension for using a banned stimulant, which will cause some fantasy owners to shy away but he could be in the majors next year as a long reliever or spot starter; ETA 2020
(Top photo of Cole Sands: Logan Stanford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
By John Sickels Oct 3, 2019 4
Here’s a look at some baseball fantasy sleeper prospects for 2020. For clarification purposes, I will include an ETA for each player. This list does not include anyone on the last version of my Top 100 prospects list.
Geraldo Perdomo, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks: 19-year-old shortstop hit .275/.397/.364 with 26 steals and 70 walks in Low-A/High-A; strong glove, high OBP with speed; considerable development potential; risky but has a high ceiling; ETA 2022
Trey Harris, OF, Atlanta Braves: 23-year-old outfielder hit .323/.389/.498 between Low-A/High-A/Double-A; good pop in spark-plug 5-foot-9, 200-pound body; thrived despite being just a 32nd-round pick from University of Missouri in 2018; ETA 2021
Michael Baumann, RHP, Baltimore Orioles: Age 24; 2.98 ERA with 142/45 K/BB in 124 innings in High-A/Double-A; hits mid-90s and has a fine slider; command and control have improved greatly; possible mid-rotation arm; ETA 2020
Thad Ward, RHP, Boston Red Sox: Age 22; posted 2.14 ERA, allowed just 89 hits with a 157/57 K/BB in 126 innings in Low-A/High-A; low-90s fastball plays up, has nasty slider and changeup has improved; command still needs work but could be fourth starter or quality reliever; ETA 2021
Cory Abbott, RHP, Chicago Cubs: Age 24; 3.01 ERA in 147 innings in Double-A with 166/52 K/BB; unhittable down the stretch with 1.68 ERA in final 59 innings, with 71 strikeouts and just 22 hits allowed; low-90s fastball with solid-to-average secondaries but everything plays up due to pitchablity; ETA 2020
Jonathan Stiever, RHP, Chicago White Sox: Age 22; 3.48 ERA in 145 innings in Low-A/High-A, 154/27 K/BB; throws strikes and has been clocked as high as 97-98; fifth round pick in 2018 from Indiana University, mid-rotation potential at least; ETA 2021
Jose Israel Garcia, SS, Cincinnati Reds: 21-year-old Cuban; hit .280/.343/.436 with eight homers, 15 steals in High-A; very fast, superior defensive tools, improved plate discipline this year and began to tap his power; long-term investment with risk but trend lines are good; ETA 2022
Carlos Vargas, RHP, Cleveland Indians: Age 19; posted 4.52 ERA in 78 innings in short-season-A with a 71/24 K/BB; key here is pure stuff, with a fastball that can hit 100 and a slider that flashes plus; needs to refine changeup and command but a very high ceiling arm; ETA 2023
Terrin Vavra, SS, Colorado Rockies: Age 22; third-round pick in 2018 from University of Minnesota; hit .318/.409/.489 with 10 homers, 18 steals, 62 walks in Low-A; solid glove, good eye at the plate; friendly Asheville boosted power but other skills may carry forward and he has friendly parks all the way up; ETA 2022
Wenceel Perez, SS, Detroit Tigers: Age 19; switch-hitting shortstop hit .233/.299/.314 in Low-A with 21 steals, 45 walks; stats aren’t much to look at but Midwest League observers like his swing, bat speed, feel for the strike zone, projection for improvement; good defensive tools; ETA 2023
Jeremy Pena, SS, Houston Astros: Age 22; third-round pick in 2018 from University of Maine; hit .303/.385/.440 with 47 walks, 20 steals in Low-A/High-A; stands out for defense and speed but gets on base too and could develop more power than commonly anticipated; ETA 2021
Zach Haake, RHP, Kansas City Royals: Age 22; sixth-round pick from University of Kentucky in 2018; 2.85 ERA in 76 innings in Low-A with 90/36 K/BB; overshadowed by other arms in Royals system but can hit 95-97 MPH with plus changeup; needs to improve command of his breaking stuff; ETA 2022
Hector Yan, LHP, Los Angeles Angels: Age 20; 3.39 ERA with 148/52 K/BB in 109 innings in Low-A, allowing just 74 hits; lefty arm with 91-96 MPH fastball; velocity may improve further, and also has a plus curveball; Midwest League observers love his potential but he needs to lower walks; ETA 2023
Andre Jackson, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers: Age 23; 12th-round pick in 2017 from University of Utah; 3.06 ERA in 115 innings in Low-A/High-A, 1with 41/57 K/BB, 90 hits allowed; another power arm with command concerns but a high ceiling; can hit 95; curveball, cutter, and changeup all flash well; raw for his age but Dodgers have helped similar pitchers thrive; ETA 2022
Peyton Burdick, OF, Miami Marlins: Age 22; third-round pick in 2019 from Wright State University; hit .307/.408/.542 with 10 homers in 238 at-bats in Low-A; there’s swing-and-miss here but he draws walks and has genuine 60-grade power; made easy transition from Horizon League to pro ball; ETA 2022
Antione Kelly, LHP, Milwaukee Brewers: Age 19; second-round pick in 2019 from Wabash Valley Community College in Illinois; 1.26 ERA in 29 innings in rookie ball, with 41/5 K/BB; 95-97 MPH fastball and showed better-than-expected command in debut; secondary pitches need improvement; long way off but high ceiling; ETA 2023
Cole Sands, RHP, Minnesota Twins: Age 22; fifth-round pick in 2018 from Florida State University; 2.68 ERA with 108/19 K/BB in 97 innings in Low-A/High-A/Double-A; 92-95 MPH fastball along with very good curveball , changeup and sharp command; main issue is durability with history of nagging injuries, but mid-rotation type if healthy; ETA 2021
Carlos Cortes, 2B, New York Mets: Age 22; third-round pick in 2018 from University of South Carolina; hit .255/.336/.397 in High-A with 11 homers, 52 walks, 77 strikeouts; short guy at 5-foot-7 but strong, with genuine solid raw power and a good feel for the strike zone; ETA 2022
Miguel Yajure, RHP, New York Yankees: Age 21; signed from Venezuela in 2015; excellent season with 2.14 ERA in 139 innings in High-A/Double-A, with 133/30 K/BB; consistent strike-thrower with low-90s fastball, plus changeup, plus cutter, solid curve; could sneak into majors very soon; ETA 2021.
Grant Holmes, RHP, Oakland Athletics: Age 23; first-round pick by the Dodgers back in 2014; alert observers will remember that he was once a top prospect but faded off most radars after missing 2018 with rotator cuff problems; healthy in 2019 and effective; 3.23 ERA in 86 innings in Double-A/Triple-A with 81/28 K/BB; still has heavy sinker, and secondaries and command have improved; rebound looks real to me; ETA 2020.
Erik Miller, LHP, Philadelphia Phillies: Age 21; fourth-round pick in 2019 out of Stanford; strong debut with 1.50 ERA, 52/15 K/BB in 36 innings across three levels — easy to miss since numbers are split up; fastball varies between 90 and 97, mixed with plus slider and solid changeup; main issue is command but has a high ceiling; ETA 2022
Tahnaj Thomas, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates: Age 20; originally signed by Cleveland Indians from the Bahamas; traded to Pirates in November 2018; posted 3.17 ERA in 59/14 K/BB in 48 innings in rookie ball; can hit 95 and very projectable for more velocity; slider and change need work; very much a projection play but there are positive markers; ETA 2024
Joey Cantillo, LHP, San Diego Padres: Age 19; 16th-round pick from high school in Hawaii in 2017; excellent this year with 2.26 ERA in 112 innings, 144/34 K/BB in Low-A/High-A; average fastball, breaking stuff, and changeup but pitchability and deception highly advanced for his age; could move up fast; ETA 2022
Luis Toribio, 3B, San Francisco Giants: Age 18; signed out of Dominican in 2017; hit .297/.436/.459 in rookie ball with 45 walks in 51 games; impressive power potential from the left side with very patient approach; long way off but has promise as power bat; ETA 2024
Aaron Fletcher, LHP, Seattle Mariners: Age 23; 14th-round pick from University of Houston in 2018 by Nationals; traded to Mariners this summer; 2.09 ERA in 84/18 K/BB in 73 innings at four levels, finishing in Double-A; threw 88-90 in college but up to 93-95 in pro ball; excellent slider kills lefties and good changeup gives him a chance against right-handers; ETA 2021
Andre Pallante, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals: Age 21; fourth-round pick in 2019 from UC-Irvine; good debut with 2.78 ERA, 38/11 K/BB in 36 innings in short-season-A; solid sinker in low-90s with quality slider, curve and change; Cardinals have strong track record with pitchers like this; ETA 2022.
Joe Ryan, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays: Age 23; seventh-round pick in 2018 from Cal State Stanislaus; insane stats with 1.96 ERA in 124 innings in Low-A/High-A/Double-A, with 183/27 K/BB and 77 hits allowed; all metrics excellent; low-90s heater plays up, mixed with plus curveball; do not underestimate this guy; he has a case for the Top 100; Shane Bieber potential. ETA 2020
Ricky Vanasco, RHP, Texas Rangers; Age 20; 15th-round pick in 2017 from high school in Williston, Florida; posted 1.81 ERA in 50 innings between short-season and Low-A, with 75/25 K/BB and only 28 hits allowed; 94-96 MPH fastball touches 99; flashes a plus curve; breakthrough potential; ETA 2023
Alejandro Kirk, C, Toronto Blue Jays: Age 20; signed out of Mexico in 2016; hit .290/.403/.465 in Low-A/High-A; drew 56 walks against only 39 strikeouts; 5-foot-9, 220 pounds; has outstanding feel for the strike zone and some power potential; threw out 38% of runners with low error and passed ball rates; I think he is for real and you should grab him while you can; ETA 2021
Steven Fuentes, RHP, Washington Nationals: Age 22; signed out of Panama in 2013; posted 2.23 ERA in 81 innings in High-A/Double-A with 89/22 K/BB; gave up just one homer; high ground ball rate with low-90s power sinker, mixed with very good changeup and decent slider; currently serving 50-game suspension for using a banned stimulant, which will cause some fantasy owners to shy away but he could be in the majors next year as a long reliever or spot starter; ETA 2020
(Top photo of Cole Sands: Logan Stanford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2615Everybody has prospects. Prospects are just that until they prove they are Major League players.
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2616With all the arms the Indians keep pumping out Seagull still needs to find a reason to be a curmudgeon.
Todd from Indians Prospective was really pimping Vargas before the season started. He had heard a lot of great things about him. Me personally, I say can the changeup and move him to the bullpen.
Todd from Indians Prospective was really pimping Vargas before the season started. He had heard a lot of great things about him. Me personally, I say can the changeup and move him to the bullpen.
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2617I took off my rose-colored glasses years ago. Laying praises to everyone that wears a Tribe organization uniform thinking they are better than any other teams prospects, is not my idea of being objective.
I love the idea that finally the Tribe can find, sign and develop Major League players. So can other organizations.
Lots of clinks and clanks along the way.
I love the idea that finally the Tribe can find, sign and develop Major League players. So can other organizations.
Lots of clinks and clanks along the way.
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2618Obviously, Seagull. But you could also say, if the Indians have success with guys without over-powering stuff - like Plesac, Bieber, Civale - what might they do with a guy with a howitzer?
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2619Depends, can they drive in runners in scoring position?Hillbilly wrote:Obviously, Seagull. But you could also say, if the Indians have success with guys without over-powering stuff - like Plesac, Bieber, Civale - what might they do with a guy with a howitzer?
UD
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2620I follow baseball pretty darn closely and I can tell you it is NOT normal for other organizations to all of a sudden have 3 homegrown starting pitchers just step in and do what those guys did. Not the norm at all.Hillbilly wrote:Obviously, Seagull. But you could also say, if the Indians have success with guys without over-powering stuff - like Plesac, Bieber, Civale - what might they do with a guy with a howitzer?
And you can add the finishing touches the minors put on Clevinger. Put Plutko in there too for stepping up this year.
So I'm with you HB. This is not the average developmental system by any means and any enthusiasm over their prospect development is easily verified relative to the other 29 teams.
I'm saying they are #1 but they are clearly in the top 1/3 of all MLB in what they are getting out of their minor leaguers in starting pitching along and good, young starting pitching is a very valuable commodity because of it's scarcity.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2621Was the 2011 draft the best ever? It’s on full display in the World Series
By Dan Connolly Oct 25, 2019 76
It’s been kicked around within baseball circles for the last year or so, but it took this postseason for the discussion to gain more traction.
When the dust settles, in a decade or so, there will be more clarity and maybe more gusto added to the debate: How extraordinary was the MLB draft class of 2011? Could it emerge as the best ever?
It’s already in the conversation, despite its class members being in the 25-to-30 age range, meaning there’s still a lot of baseball left to play for most of them.
The accomplishments, though, are already noteworthy.
This class boasts an American League MVP (Mookie Betts), an AL Cy Young (Blake Snell), an AL Rookie of the Year (Michael Fulmer), an NL Rookie of the Year (the late José Fernández), a World Series MVP (George Springer), an ALCS MVP (Jackie Bradley Jr.) and an NLCS MVP (Javier Báez), as well as five Gold Glovers, six Silver Sluggers and 20 All-Stars.
“It had everything. You had left, you had right, you had high school, you had college, you had pitchers, you had position players, It’s like it was Baskin-Robbins out here,” said Greg Smith, who picked first overall in 2011 as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ scouting director. “What do you want? You can get all 31 flavors, but you can’t get them all at once.”
Three of the headliners of the 2011 class — of the top 11 picks, in fact — are on full display during this year’s World Series: Houston’s Springer and Gerrit Cole and Washington’s Anthony Rendon. A fourth star, the Nationals’ Trea Turner, was selected in the 20th round out of high school by the Pirates in 2011 but chose to attend North Carolina State University instead of signing. (The Nationals ultimately received Turner in a 2015 trade after the Padres selected him in the first round of the 2014 draft, 13th overall.)
The impact of that 2011 draft should surge again this winter, when Cole and Rendon lead the free-agent class, although those two won’t match the financial windfall received by the best free agents last year, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, graduates of 2010’s top-heavy draft class.
Team First Pick Round/Pick WAR Best Pick Round/Pick WAR MLB/Signed
Pirates Gerrit Cole 1 (1) 24.0 Cole 1 (1) 24.0 8/6
Mariners Danny Hultzen 1 (2) 0.2 Brad Miller 2 (62) 7.6 7/5
Diamondbacks Trevor Bauer 1 (3) 15.6 Bauer 1 (3) 15.6 7/6
Orioles Dylan Bundy 1 (4) 6.8 Zach Davies 26 (785) 8.0 6/5
Royals Bubba Starling 1 (5) -0.8 Jakob Junis 29 (876) 3.3 8/6
Nationals Anthony Rendon 1 (6) 27.3 Rendon 1 (6) 27.3 7/7
Indians Francisco Lindor 1 (8) 28.6 Lindor 1 (8) 28.6 11/7
Cubs Javier Báez 1 (9) 16.6 Báez 1 (9) 16.6 11/8
Padres Cory Spangenberg 1 (10) 3.4 Joe Ross 1 (25) 4.0 12/11
Astros George Springer 1 (11) 24.6 Springer 1 (11) 24.6 4/4
Brewers Taylor Jungmann 1 (12) 1.1 Carlos Rodón* 16 (491) 6.6 12/8
Mets Brandon Nimmo 1 (13) 6.3 Michael Fulmer 1 (44) 9.3 15/13
Marlins José Fernández 1 (14) 14.0 Fernández 1 (14) 14.0 5/4
Dodgers Chris Reed 1 (16) 0.0 Scott Barlow 6 (194) 1.0 7/4
Angels C.J. Cron 1 (17) 6.1 Mike Clevinger 4 (135) 12.6 5/5
Athletics Sonny Gray 1 (18) 18.3 Gray 1 (18) 18.3 6/4
Red Sox Matt Barnes 1 (19) 3.1 Mookie Betts 5 (172) 42.0 10/8
Rockies Tyler Anderson 1 (20) 6.3 Trevor Story 1 (45) 17.8 9/4
Blue Jays Tyler Beede* 1 (21) -0.3 Aaron Nola* 22 (679) 19.6 14/9
Cardinals Kolten Wong 1 (22) 15.6 Wong 1 (22) 15.6 8/6
Rays Taylor Guerrieri 1 (24) 0.2 Blake Snell 1 (52) 10.8 9/8
Reds Robert Stephenson 1 (27) -0.6 Tony Cingrani 3 (114) 2.6 8/5
Braves Sean Gilmartin 1 (28) 1.3 Nick Ahmed 2 (85) 10.3 10/9
Giants Joe Panik 1 (29) 6.7 Panik 1 (29) 6.7 11/10
Twins Levi Michael 1 (30) NA Brian Anderson* 20 (628) 7.6 7/3
Rangers Kevin Matthews 1 (33) NA Kyle Hendricks 8 (264) 19.5 12/8
Phillies Larry Greene 1 (39) NA Kyle Freeland* 35 (1,081) 10.8 10/9
White Sox Keenyn Walker 1 (47) NA Marcus Semien 6 (201) 20.6 8/7
Yankees Dante Bichette Jr. 1 (51) NA Jon Gray* 10 (329) 10.6 10/6
Tigers James McCann 2 (76) 6.6 McCann 2 (76) 6.6 6/6
*denotes that the player did not sign with the 2011 drafting team and re-entered a later draft
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
It’s a difficult proposition, ranking drafts, but Baseball America gave it a shot in May, at least partially. It selected the Top 10 first rounds since 1981, the magazine’s first year of publication. The 2011 group placed third, behind the 1985 class that included, among others, Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin and Rafael Palmeiro, and the 2005 class that boasted Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen and Ryan Zimmerman.
A third-place ranking is particularly impressive for the 2011 group, given that many are still in their prime. Furthermore, the best pick of 2011 didn’t occur until the fifth round, when the Boston Red Sox chose a high-schooler from Nashville nicknamed Mookie with the 172nd pick.
That’s the thing about the 2011 draft: It has star power and depth. Consider that seven of the first 14 picks already have double-digit Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Perhaps more impressive, the first 29 selections have made the majors — smashing the record of 21 set in 2008.
The 2011 group has a chance to extend its own mark: 30th overall pick Levi Michael and 32nd selection Jake Hager both were in Triple A in 2019, one step from the majors, and the 31st selection, outfielder Mikie Mahtook, has logged 291 big-league games.
“I’ve seen a lot of players, but I’ve never seen a class that had that many consecutive big leaguers with that kind of impact,” said former Miami Marlins scouting director Stan Meek, who has scouted for three decades. “For the first 29, to have them all make the major leagues, that’s close to impossible. Obviously, it’s not impossible, because it happened. But I just can’t imagine it happening ever again. I just can’t.”
It was a fascinating draft — especially the top half — and one alteration here or there could have changed the fate of several organizations. So, we wanted to take a closer look at the first 15 picks from the eyes of the executives who made those decisions. Here’s what was going on as Draft Day 2011 approached, and as the first 15 picks were on the clock.
No. 1 Overall: Pittsburgh Pirates
Selection: RHP Gerrit Cole, UCLA
Smith, who was Pittsburgh’s scouting director at the time, made sure he and his scouts did their due diligence throughout the spring, sifting through a handful of candidates for the top spot. They spent some time at the University of Virginia watching Danny Hultzen and even more days at Rice University, meeting with and scouting Rendon.
The prospect road, however, kept leading to UCLA and the player Smith thought would be the most “impactful” in the future.
Yes, right-hander Trevor Bauer was having a tremendous junior season at UCLA and was drawing legions of scouts with each appearance. But the other standout in the Bruins’ rotation, a 6-foot-4 fireballer and Friday night starter named Gerrit Cole, continued to intrigue Smith and the Pirates, even though his 2011 stats were a notch below Bauer’s.
“We kept coming back to Gerrit going, ‘There’s more there, fellas.’ The power, the velocity, the breaking stuff, the competitiveness, all those things were resonating, but there was more, too,” said Smith, who is now special assistant to Pittsburgh’s GM. “That’s the type of impact that you are wanting to acquire and bring into your system.”
Smith was Detroit’s scouting director back in 2004 when the Tigers had the second pick in the draft and chose a 6-foot-5 right-hander out of Old Dominion named Justin Verlander. That one worked pretty well, with Verlander carving out a Hall of Fame career and ultimately ending up as Cole’s teammate on this year’s World Series club in Houston.
As Smith watched Cole in 2011, he had flashbacks — good ones — of Verlander.
“There were similarities there,” Smith said. “You’ve got two guys that were juniors in college, and they weren’t refined and polished. They were advanced, but they weren’t refined, they weren’t polished, they weren’t complete. I felt like Gerrit had an extra gear (like Verlander).”
Smith didn’t reveal his thoughts to his scouts until a couple days before the draft. He wanted their unfiltered opinions. There was some discussion, but a consensus was reached fairly easily. Smith said when he woke up on June 4, he knew Cole would be a Pirate that night.
That process wasn’t particularly smooth. Cole had walked away from a first-round selection by the New York Yankees in 2008 to attend UCLA. And, given that 2011 was the last year before signing caps and penalties for exceeding allotted pools were implemented, Smith knew there would be protracted negotiations with Cole’s agent, Scott Boras.
But Smith said he had support from ownership and the front office to be aggressive with signings that year. At the deadline, Cole agreed to an $8 million signing bonus, which was the highest amateur bonus in the sport’s history (surpassed this year by the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman’s $8.1 million). Smith also signed Boras’ client Josh Bell, a second-rounder that year (61st overall), for a $5 million bonus; Bell made his first All-Star team this year.
Cole pitched five solid seasons with the Pirates (59-42, 3.50 ERA) before being traded to the Astros in January 2018 for four players. He’s been magnificent in Houston (35-10, 2.68 ERA) and, at 29, is one of baseball’s best pitchers as his free agency looms.
“We liked a lot of those guys, but we felt like Gerrit had a chance to be a really good one,” Smith said. “And you don’t get many shots at a guy like him.”
No. 2: Seattle Mariners
Selection: LHP Danny Hultzen, University of Virginia
This may have been the most important pick of the 2011 draft. Because if the Mariners don’t take Hultzen and instead select Rendon, whom they were seriously considering, there may have been significant ripple effects.
Hultzen could have gone fifth to Kansas City. Francisco Lindor might have become a Nat. Baez likely would have been an Astro. Maybe Bubba Starling falls out of the Top 10 instead of getting a huge payday from his hometown team.
Instead, the Mariners went with the best left-hander in the draft, a college junior who dominated at the University of Virginia, going 12-3 with a 1.37 ERA in 18 starts.
It wasn’t a reach pick; Hultzen was a 6-foot-3 southpaw who had performed superbly in a strong baseball conference. The sense at the time, however, was that Seattle’s system needed offense and was leaning toward a hitter, specifically Rendon. Last week, The Athletic’s Corey Brock took a thorough look at the Mariners’ process and decision that year.
Here’s what former Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told Brock: “Going into the draft, (Rendon) was probably the player a lot of people thought we were going to take … and we did, too.”
So why didn’t they?
Despite tremendous talent, there were red flags concerning Rendon’s health. He had torn ligaments in his right ankle in 2009 and later had surgery to repair a break in the same ankle. Rendon won the Dick Howser Trophy in 2010 as college baseball’s best player, but then was limited mostly to DH duties in 2011 because of a shoulder strain. The Mariners also worked out Lindor but decided to go the pitching route with Hultzen.
“It wasn’t like we were afraid of Rendon at all, but you’ve got two, three guys in the mix and you’ve got to make one selection,” Zduriencik told Brock. “Danny was the guy who everyone loved. It made a lot of sense.”
The Mariners signed Hultzen to an $8.5 million, big-league contract that included a $6.35 million bonus. He never pitched for Seattle. He had shoulder operations in 2013 and 2016 and ultimately was not re-signed.
Hultzen ended up in the Chicago Cubs organization and made his big-league debut as a 29-year-old reliever this September. The last player of the first 29 picks in the 2011 draft to get to the majors, he made six scoreless appearances spanning 3 1/3 innings.
If the Mariners hadn’t taken Hultzen, he still probably would have landed in the Top Six. Most teams liked him, but some had concerns that his delivery might lead to future health problems. So, despite Hultzen’s collegiate success, a few clubs were planning to avoid him.
Trevor Bauer
(Jeff Curry / USA TODAY Sports)
No. 3: Arizona Diamondbacks
Selection: RHP Trevor Bauer, UCLA
Bauer is not everyone’s cup of tea. He’s quirky, speaks his mind and has his own way of doing things. He was that way in college too, but, boy, could he pitch. In his junior year at UCLA, he was 13-2 with a 1.25 ERA and 203 strikeouts in 16 starts, earning him USA Baseball’s prestigious 2011 Golden Spikes Award.
The Diamondbacks were sitting at No. 3 and wanted to add top-shelf arms to a young nucleus of hitters that included Paul Goldschmidt, Justin Upton and A.J. Pollock. With Cole and Hultzen off the board, there was no question in the mind of scouting director Ray Montgomery which way he was leaning in his first year running the draft for Arizona.
The club’s next pick, seventh overall, was more of a struggle. But this one was pretty much a consensus. The Diamondbacks looked hard at two highly regarded Oklahoma high school right-handers but ultimately loved Bauer’s skills set, his makeup and his projected quick trajectory to the majors. They were thrilled he was available.
“I don’t know which way you wanted to go with the comps, whether it’s David Cone or (Brett) Saberhagen or (Tim) Lincecum for the modern player/fan. We just thought that this guy had every prerequisite to be a top-of-the-rotation guy,” Montgomery said. “Obviously he was gonna have to reel in the command a little bit. … But he fit for us in terms of the type of guy we thought had a chance to really be an impactful major league starter.”
Bauer made his big-league debut within a year of signing and already has spent parts of eight seasons in the majors, posting a 4.04 ERA in 194 games (184 starts). Unfortunately for Arizona, only four of those games were with the Diamondbacks. In December 2012, they dealt Bauer to Cleveland as part of a three-team trade that netted the Diamondbacks shortstop Didi Gregorius and reliever Tony Sipp.
Bauer thrived in Cleveland (67-53, 3.89 ERA), making the 2018 AL All-Star team and pitching in 10 postseason games for the Indians. Only 28, he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in July.
No. 4: Baltimore Orioles
Selection: RHP Dylan Bundy, Owasso (Okla.) High School
The Orioles were enduring their 14th consecutive season of losing when the June 2011 draft came around. The previous year they had taken Machado third overall and were hoping for another star who could join a burgeoning group of young players that would make the playoffs three times in the following five years.
That led then-scouting director Joe Jordan to two choices: Rendon or Bundy, the Gatorade National Male Athlete of the Year, the first baseball player to have received that honor.
Besides Cole, those were the top two players on the Orioles board. All things being equal, Jordan probably would have leaned toward the college bat, a less risky proposition than a high school right-hander.
But Jordan dealt with the same issue as others in the top part of the draft: There was just too much uncertainty concerning Rendon’s ankle to make such an investment, especially with Bundy, the high school prodigy, sitting there.
“Anthony Rendon had some health issues that spring, it is what it is,” Jordan said. “And we just liked the player we took. Those were the two guys that it came down to.”
Jordan is from Oklahoma and he had drafted Bundy’s brother, Bobby, in the eighth round in 2008. He was plenty familiar with the hard-throwing right-hander as was all of baseball: Bundy was a three-time state player of the year and had a 0.30 ERA as a senior, striking out 158 batters and walking four in 71 innings.
“The ability was easy to see. It was top-scale fastball with above-average command. It was a cutter that he could throw whenever. He had a feel for two other pitches,” said Jordan, who is now with the Atlanta Braves. “As far as stuff and execution, I still haven’t seen a high school guy that was better. But, yeah, it hasn’t quite worked out that way.”
Bundy made his big-league debut in September 2012 as a 19-year-old. But his career was derailed by Tommy John elbow surgery in 2013 and calcification in his right shoulder in 2015. He made it back to the big leagues for good in 2016. He’ll be 27 next month and has had to adjust to life without a 100-mph fastball. In 127 big-league games, he is 38-45 with a 4.67 ERA.
No. 5 Kansas City Royals
Selection: OF Bubba Starling, Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School
In retrospect, this is the first reach of the draft; no other teams in the Top 15 had Starling in the Top 5 on their boards. But he was at least a Top 10 pick and was Baseball America’s top-rated high school senior heading into the 2011 season. Besides, those in the industry don’t question what the Royals were thinking by taking a local kid and prototype athlete.
“I understand Kansas City’s difficulty there,” said Montgomery, who was with Arizona at the time. “That’s one of those rare cases where obviously the kid is talented. He’s a multiple-sport athlete. He is right in your backyard, so you’re facing some different pressures there.”
Royals’ scouting director Lonnie Goldberg said there was never a directive that he had to take the local phenom. He was simply told to select the best player. And the Royals looked at others. They were interested in Rendon and his rapidly dropping stock, but the ankle questions made them pass, too. They had heavily scouted the Oklahoma high school duo of Bundy and Archie Bradley, and they were seriously considering Lindor.
In fact, Goldberg said it probably came down to Lindor and Starling, but the Royals were intrigued by the local kid’s roots, his projectable, 6-4 frame, and his supreme athleticism — he had a scholarship to play quarterback as well as baseball at the University of Nebraska and also averaged 28 points a game in basketball.
And there was another important factor, too. Starling was an elite center fielder with a power-speed combination, and Kauffman Stadium has an expansive outfield.
“It was the idea that this guy can really play defense, he can play it at our park, he has enough juice to hit home runs in our park,” Goldberg said. “And I think, at the end, it was the fact that we had a chance to have a super-mega athlete doing that from our hometown.”
A Boras client with a football scholarship as leverage, Starling received a $7.5 million bonus to sign with the Royals. It then took him eight seasons to finally arrive in Kansas City, making his debut with the Royals this July, three weeks before his 27th birthday. A career .244 minor-league hitter, Starling hit .215 with four homers in 56 games with the Royals after batting .310 in 72 games at Triple-A Omaha in 2019.
“He can still play center field and we still have aspirations for him,” Goldberg said. “But it obviously hasn’t worked out like he or we thought it would at this point.”
Anthony Rendon
Anthony Rendon in 2013. (Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
No. 6 Washington Nationals
Selection: 3B Anthony Rendon, Rice University
Thought to be a Top 2 pick, Rendon landed with a thud at No. 6, And to applause from the Nationals’ draft room.
“We were thrilled to death,” said Nationals scouting director Kris Kline. “I just remember the excitement in the room when we got him. It was awesome.”
It was such a surprise that former Nats PR director John Dever was given five potential draftees’ names from the front office so he could have a news release ready when the selection was made. Rendon wasn’t on the list since it was assumed he’d be gone by then, so Dever had to scramble to put something together once the pick was made.
Kline said Rendon initially was “second or third” on the Nationals’ board to begin the draft and first when they were on the clock. Because they didn’t want to take the risk on a high school pitcher that high, they were probably leaning toward selecting Lindor when Rendon’s injury history pushed him downward.
“We didn’t have an issue with the medical. If we did, we probably would have passed as well,” Kline said. “Because you are talking about a player at the top of the draft. That information comes into play. But we didn’t have an issue with it.”
Although his junior year performance at Rice wasn’t as dominating as his superb sophomore season, Rendon still played strong defense and compiled a career 1.189 OPS at Rice.
“He was nearly major-league ready defensively,” Kline said. “His college numbers, when you look at them on paper, almost looks like he was playing in a Wiffle Ball league.”
Rendon had his best big-league season in 2019, leading the majors in RBIs with 126, while batting .319 with a 1.010 OPS and 34 homers. He likely will finish in the Top 3 in the NL MVP voting and will be the most coveted position player on the open market this winter.
“He’s kind of been an under-the-radar guy,” Kline said. “He’s not anymore. I’m so excited for him to get people to recognize how special and unique he is.”
No. 7 Arizona Diamondbacks
Selection: RHP Archie Bradley, Broken Arrow (Okla.) HS
Once the Diamondbacks had selected Bauer with the third pick, their attention turned to the seventh overall, compensation for not signing their 2010 first-rounder, Texas A&M pitcher Barret Loux.
Montgomery’s group had narrowed the seventh pick to Bradley, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound right-hander from an Oklahoma high school, and slick shortstop Lindor, a Puerto Rico native who had played high school ball in Florida.
The upside was undeniable on both. Lindor was being compared to Omar Vizquel with a better bat and Bradley had the ideal pitcher’s body and had beaten Bundy’s team in the state finals.
Montgomery remembers going around the draft room soliciting opinions, and it was clear everyone was sold on both players. At one point, Montgomery asked venerable baseball man Bob Gebhard when he thought Bradley could be ready for the majors.
Gebhard, a former big-league GM who at the time was a special assistant for the Diamondbacks, quipped, “Thursday.”
Ultimately, the idea of getting two top-of-the-rotation type pitchers in Bauer and Bradley in one round served as the tiebreaker.
“I wish I had a concrete answer for you now, eight years later. Maybe the slant on the pitching, maybe the comfort with Archie. We had seen him for multiple years across the showcase circuit,” said Montgomery, who is now with Milwaukee. “There was nothing negative between the two. It was more of a case that we just went with one over the other as happens with every pick. We spent a ton of time on Francisco, almost to the restraining-order-type level.”
Lindor is a four-time All-Star while Bradley has posted a solid 3.96 ERA in five seasons. He is no longer a starter, however. He finished the 2019 season as Arizona’s closer, converting 18 of 21 save opportunities.
“It’s kind of a joke over here that you guys (in Arizona) had two of the top seven picks in the draft and you did well,” Montgomery said. “Hit a couple home runs, maybe, but we could have hit a couple grand slams.”
No. 8 Cleveland Indians
Selection: SS Francisco Lindor, Montverde (Fla.) Academy
Picking eighth, Indians scouting director Brad Grant wasn’t sure who might fall to him. There was a faint hope that Bauer could plummet to eighth, where the Indians would have grabbed the UCLA star.
Bauer was taken third, however, so the Indians waited 18 months before acquiring him via trade. With Bauer selected, Grant had one name atop his board: Lindor. Some speculated that the most polished shortstop in the game could go third, maybe fifth or sixth.
Once the Nationals selected Rendon, Grant knew that he would get one of the two best middle-infield prospects in the draft in Lindor or Báez. Grant said the Indians had plenty of spirited conversation about the two, but there was more certainty that Lindor would stay at shortstop even as his body matured.
“It was the ability to play shortstop. There’s not that many times when you can really say or confirm that this guy is gonna be a major league shortstop, and that’s what we kept coming back to. That was the separator,” said Grant, now Cleveland’s VP of baseball operations. “They were both really fun players to watch. They were both great players.”
When the Diamondbacks took Bradley, the Indians grabbed Lindor, whose 28.6 career WAR is the highest of any first-rounder from 2011 and second in the entire draft to the 42.0 posted by Betts, the fifth-rounder.
“We just kept saying, ‘Wow, this draft is really, really deep if we can get this type of player and if we’re talking about Baez and Lindor, these types of players, at eight and nine,” Grant said. “That’s a deep draft.’”
Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor
Francisco Lindor and Javier Báez (9) at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. (Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY Sports)
No. 9 Chicago Cubs
Selection: SS Javier Báez, Arlington (Fla.) Country Day School
Sometimes, there’s just a player in the draft that a scout falls in love with and hopes against hope that he’ll be available when the time comes. For former Chicago Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken, that was Báez in 2011.
Wilken concedes that if Cole or Bundy or maybe Rendon would have dropped to nine, he might have had to rethink things. But otherwise, he wanted Báez, even if the slightly more hyped Lindor had fallen, too.
“I was taking Báez without a doubt,” Wilken said. “I would have never guessed 39 homers for Lindor last year. That would be one thing. I didn’t have that down. And I thought they both played the game very well. … Báez’s instincts are close to an 80 (on a scouting scale of 80). He just makes plays, and he was doing that back in high school. And I thought there was more power, naturally.”
As the last few weeks unfolded in 2011, Wilken said he thought some teams “may be laying low on Báez,” and so he had Plan Bs such as Lindor, Bradley or maybe José Fernández.
But there was a certain presence and energy to Báez, a Puerto Rico native who moved to Florida when he was 12 and batted .711 with 20 homers as a high school senior. And Wilken correctly predicted that Báez could play shortstop in the big leagues.
In 2018, Báez made his first All-Star team and finished second in the NL MVP race. This year, at 26, he had another All-Star campaign, batting .281 with 29 homers in 138 games.
“I had a feeling he was gonna get up around us. But I wasn’t completely confident,” said Wilken, who is now a special assistant in Arizona. “It only takes one in front of you, and we had eight teams in front of us. So, that was just an unbelievable first round.”
No. 10 San Diego Padres
Selection: INF Cory Spangenberg, Indian River (Fla.) Community College
The Padres were in a slightly different position than the other teams in the Top 15. They were here because they hadn’t signed their 2010 first-round pick, Florida high school pitcher Karsten Whitson. Unlike Arizona and Milwaukee, who also had high compensation picks, the Padres only had one shot in the Top 15; their next selection didn’t come until 25th.
Then-scouting director Jaron Madison couldn’t gamble much with the 10th pick, because if he didn’t sign the player, he wouldn’t get another chance the following year. It was a one-time rollover.
With that in mind, the Padres decided to go with Spangenberg, a community college hitter with a strong bat who had transferred from Virginia Military Institute. They gave him a $1.86 million bonus, the suggested slot and the lowest bonus of any of the Top 15 players.
“We felt Cory Spangenburg was more of a back-end-of-the-first-round type of a talent. But we really liked the bat, thought he could hit,” said Madison, who is now a special assistant for the Cubs. “We knew we’d be able to sign him for slot, which was important, because we didn’t want to lose our pick and we’d be able to use some more money later on in the draft.”
That’s what the Padres did. At No. 25, they gave a $2.75 million bonus to California high school pitcher Joe Ross and a $3 million bonus to California high school catcher Austin Hedges in the second round.
They were three of 11 Padres signees that year to eventually make the majors, but Ross, who spent parts of five seasons with the Nationals after being traded in 2014, is the most accomplished so far with a career 4.0 WAR. Spangenberg has accumulated a 3.4 WAR and a .256 average in 419 games in parts of six seasons.
With signability an issue, the Padres started with a conservative plan and became more aggressive later.
“We couldn’t afford to lose that pick. We just couldn’t take a chance of not being able to sign that guy. So, we went for Spangenberg over Springer,” Madison said. “Obviously, in retrospect, Springer has gone off and become all-world and done great things. But, at that time, with the position we were in, we kind of had our backs to the wall with having to sign that pick. And we felt good about (Spangenberg).”
No. 11 Houston Astros
Selection: OF George Springer, University of Connecticut
Springer’s junior season in college began with a bunch of strikeouts, and not much could have made Bobby Heck happier at the time.
The former Astros’ scouting director and his people had been watching Springer for a couple of years at Connecticut and loved his combination of speed, power, defensive ability and excellent makeup. So, when Springer struggled out of the gate in his high-pressured junior year, Heck wasn’t too worried.
The UConn squad basically went from working out indoors to immediately playing in Florida in front of scouts interested in a quality Huskies squad. The rust was apparent. Heck said Springer struck out about 40% of the time until he got his timing and swing right. That probably dropped Springer out of the national Top 5 conversation and Heck admits that the Astros “softened on him” a bit, too.
But Heck believed the strikeouts were created by how hard Springer was swinging and not due to pitch recognition or bat speed. A faster pro game would eliminate some of those big hacks, he figured.
About midway through the year, the Astros’ national crosschecker, David Post, told Heck, “We’ve got to get back on this Springer train.” Post liked what he saw and suggested Heck watch Springer in person again.
Heck said he was one of only two scouts at a UConn midweek home game against Central Connecticut State.
“And I said, ‘Yeah, this is the guy that we saw before and we hoped would get to 11,” said Heck, now a special assistant with the Tampa Bay Rays. “So now, it’s ‘All right, let’s hope he gets to 11.’”
Once the first four picks were pitchers, Heck was pretty confident he would get either Springer or Lindor. And when the Cubs selected Baez, Heck assumed the Padres would pass due to signability, allowing Springer to land in Houston.
It’s been a perfect marriage. Springer is a three-time All-Star, hit a career-high 39 homers in 2019 and was the Astros’ World Series MVP in 2017.
No. 12 Milwaukee Brewers
Selection: RHP Taylor Jungmann, University of Texas
The Brewers had picks No. 12 and 15, and scouting director Bruce Seid, who died in 2014, had centered on Baez.
“The guy I know that Bruce was salivating over was Baez,” said Doug Melvin, Milwaukee’s former general manager. “His workout (at Miller Park) was very similar to how he plays the game. He showed the power. He was out at shortstop and he was throwing the ball from every spot in the infield. He was a guy that was very intriguing to us.”
When the division-rival Cubs took Báez, Seid and the Brewers switched their focus back to college pitching and settled on Jungmann, a 6-foot-6 right-hander from the University of Texas who had won the 2011 Dick Howser Trophy as the country’s best college player. In his junior year, Jungmann was 13-3 with a 1.60 ERA in 19 games for the Longhorns.
“At that time, we needed the pitching and we were looking at a college pitcher that maybe could come a little bit quicker. We knew he had a different kind of delivery, but he did throw strikes and pitched in big games in the College World Series and we liked him,” Melvin said. “He had a great breaking ball. He just really never got his confidence in the big leagues.”
Jungmann appeared in 30 games (27 starts) for the Brewers, compiling a 4.54 ERA. The Brewers released him in 2018 so he could sign with the Yomiuri Giants. Now 29, he has pitched two years in Japan, posting a 4.86 ERA in 70 1/3 innings.
“Until he is completely done, I wouldn’t completely rule him out as somebody who might come back here (to the majors) at some point,” Melvin said. “But, obviously, when you are drafting at No. 12, you are hoping those guys will help you at the big-league level in the next three or four years.”
No. 13: New York Mets
Selection: OF Brandon Nimmo, East (Wyo.) High School
Former Mets scouting director Chad MacDonald didn’t know much about Wyoming baseball history when he and his staff began looking hard at Cheyenne native Brandon Nimmo.
MacDonald didn’t know at the time that a Wyoming high-schooler had never been drafted higher than the sixth round. What MacDonald did know was that there was a 6-foot-3 Wyoming kid with a speed-power potential that made him a potential first-round pick and had landed him a scholarship to the University of Arkansas.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t care where he came from. We didn’t care what state he was born in. After the fact, we learned he was the first first-rounder in the history of baseball to come out of Wyoming,” MacDonald said. “We knew the player, we knew his physical tools, we knew the makeup, and we were pretty sure what his skill set was. All that put together, we thought it was worth taking him.”
MacDonald said he went into the draft thinking he could get one of three position players: Báez, Springer or Nimmo. When the other two were taken, Nimmo was clearly the guy.
Another 2011 scouting director said he had briefly considered Nimmo but thought he was too much of a risk and too far from the majors to take that early. The evaluator added, in retrospect, the Mets deserved credit for not being scared away by that narrative.
“Let’s face it, they are all risky,” MacDonald said. “They all have certain risks and we thought the reward was worth the risk. And it’s proven to be a pretty good pick.”
Nimmo, 26, had his breakout year with the Mets in 2018, batting .263 with a .404 on-base percentage and 17 homers. He missed three months this season with a bulging disk in his neck, returning in September.
Incidentally, the Mets had the largest 2011 draft haul, selecting and signing 13 players that made the majors, including pitchers Fulmer (supplemental first round) and Seth Lugo (34th round).
Jose Fernandez
(Anthony Gruppuso / USA TODAY Sports)
No. 14: Miami Marlins
Selection: RHP José Fernández, Braulio Alonso (Fla.) High School
If his life hadn’t been cut short, Fernández may have been the shining star of this draft class, even after losing parts of two seasons due to elbow surgery. But Fernández died at age 24 in September 2016, when the speeding boat he was piloting pre-dawn crashed into a jetty near Miami Beach, killing him and two friends.
His remarkable, albeit brief, big-league career included two All-Star appearances, the 2013 NL Rookie of the Year Award and two Top 7 finishes in the NL Cy Young voting.
“He was really good at a really young age,” said Meek, the former Marlins’ scouting director. “Had he stayed healthy and all those things, I think you can make an argument he was at least as good as anyone in that class, for sure.”
Fernández’s talent wasn’t in question. Several teams in front of the Marlins considered him but ultimately passed for reasons not directly related to on-field performance.
For one, Fernández, a Cuban defector who arrived in Florida as a teenager after three previously unsuccessful defection attempts, had an uncertain background, so there was some concern about his age and other issues that required additional research, according to several evaluators.
Perhaps more of a factor was that Fernández had a commitment to the University of Miami and there were rumors that if he didn’t go a team of his choosing, he would enroll in college instead. Or that his financial demands might be too daunting.
Meek and the Marlins had no major concerns. Meek said area scout Brian Kraft did extensive groundwork and came back with strong reports on Fernández’s character and work ethic.
“He did have a lot of flair, but he did back it up on the field. And our scout did a great job of finding out from the coach and the people at his school if he was a decent kid and if he was a worker,” Meek said. “I think there was just the unknown that he comes from Cuba and are we pretty certain that the age is correct and are we pretty certain that he was competitive and was he a guy that really wanted to go play? And our guy (Kraft) did a really good job with that.”
Once Meek was comfortable with Fernández’s background, the Marlins used a little subterfuge. They had heard the Brewers, who had the 12th and 15th picks, were interested in the righty. Although the Marlins also liked Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray, who went 18th to the Oakland Athletics, they had settled on Fernández and didn’t want to lose him. So, Meek told his scouts not to talk to Fernández’s agent or give any outward clue that they were in pursuit.
“José told me later, he said, ‘I called my agent the morning of the draft and said, “Is there a chance that I would get picked by Miami?”‘ And the agent told him, ‘No, they haven’t even made contact with us. So, I don’t think you are going to Miami,’” Meek said, chuckling. “We just didn’t want it out there at all.”
No. 15: Milwaukee Brewers
Selection: LHP Jed Bradley, Georgia Tech
After getting Jungmann, the Brewers went back to the college well for another big pitcher, this time a lefty: Georgia Tech’s 6-foot-3 southpaw Jed Bradley.
He had pitched well in the Cape Cod League the previous summer and was 7-3 with a 3.49 ERA as a college junior.
“He was a guy that the arrow was pointing up on,” Melvin said. “A guy that you thought was just ready to make that turn, and our people had seen a lot of him and had stayed on him.”
The Brewers preferred college pitchers and so they were basically choosing between Bradley and Gray, who had had an excellent season at Vanderbilt (12-4, 2.43 ERA in 19 starts). But the right-handed Gray, who is listed at 6-0, didn’t have the same physicality.
“We took a little bit of heat after that, after we took two college pitchers and passed on Sonny and he’s in the big leagues two years later. We got critiqued on that one pretty good,” Melvin said. “If you look at the guys we took, Jungmann and Bradley, they were both big, 6-3, 6-4, and I think that (size) mindset hurt Sonny. But we had a lot of people that liked Sonny Gray.”
Gray is a two-time All-Star with a 3.53 ERA in 186 major-league games. Meanwhile, Bradley’s big-league career consisted of six games in relief (5.14 ERA) with the Atlanta Braves in 2016. He pitched in the independent Atlantic League in 2019.
The Brewers signed 10 players from the 2011 draft that made the big leagues, but, so far, Jungmann has posed the highest WAR at 1.1. Two players the Brewers drafted but didn’t sign, outfielder Mallex Smith (13th round, 6.0 WAR) and pitcher Carlos Rodon (16th round, 6.6 WAR), have fared better.
“It was a very talented draft,” Melvin said. “And you’d think, with as many players as there was, you’d like to have hit on some.”
All 2011 Drafted and Signed Team
Position Player 2011 Draft Selection Team
C James McCann 2nd round (76th overall) Tigers
1B Josh Bell 2nd round (61st overall) Pirates
2B Javier Báez 1st round (9th overall) Cubs
SS Francisco Lindor 1st round (8th overall) Indians
3B Anthony Rendon 1st round (6th overall) Nationals
0F Mookie Betts 5th round (172nd overall) Red Sox
OF George Springer 1st round (11th overall) Astros
OF Kevin Pillar 32nd round (979th overall) Blue Jays
DH C.J. Cron 1st round (17th overall) Angels
BENCH — SS Trevor Story, SS Marcus Semien, 2B Kolten Wong, OF Jackie Bradley Jr., 3B Travis Shaw, SS Nick Ahmed, OF Brandon Nimmo, UTIL Brad Miller, 2B Joe Panik, DH Daniel Vogelbach, C Curt Casali, INF Tommy La Stella.
PITCHING — Starters: RHP Gerrit Cole, LHP Blake Snell, RHP Mike Clevinger, RHP Sonny Gray, RHP Kyle Hendricks, RHP Trevor Bauer. Bullpen: RHP Ken Giles, RHP Blake Treinen, RHP Archie Bradley, RHP Cody Allen. Extra arms: Michael Fulmer, Zach Davies, Dylan Bundy, Seth Lugo, Anthony DeSclafani, Tyler Anderson, Chris Devenski, Daniel Norris, Jerad Eickhoff, Jóse Fernández**
**Fernández died in a boating accident in 2016 at age 24.
Notable players who were drafted in 2011 but didn’t sign: Trea Turner, Aaron Nola, Carlos Rodon, Jon Gray, Brian Anderson, Kyle Freeland, Mallex Smith, Keone Kela, John Means.
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
By Dan Connolly Oct 25, 2019 76
It’s been kicked around within baseball circles for the last year or so, but it took this postseason for the discussion to gain more traction.
When the dust settles, in a decade or so, there will be more clarity and maybe more gusto added to the debate: How extraordinary was the MLB draft class of 2011? Could it emerge as the best ever?
It’s already in the conversation, despite its class members being in the 25-to-30 age range, meaning there’s still a lot of baseball left to play for most of them.
The accomplishments, though, are already noteworthy.
This class boasts an American League MVP (Mookie Betts), an AL Cy Young (Blake Snell), an AL Rookie of the Year (Michael Fulmer), an NL Rookie of the Year (the late José Fernández), a World Series MVP (George Springer), an ALCS MVP (Jackie Bradley Jr.) and an NLCS MVP (Javier Báez), as well as five Gold Glovers, six Silver Sluggers and 20 All-Stars.
“It had everything. You had left, you had right, you had high school, you had college, you had pitchers, you had position players, It’s like it was Baskin-Robbins out here,” said Greg Smith, who picked first overall in 2011 as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ scouting director. “What do you want? You can get all 31 flavors, but you can’t get them all at once.”
Three of the headliners of the 2011 class — of the top 11 picks, in fact — are on full display during this year’s World Series: Houston’s Springer and Gerrit Cole and Washington’s Anthony Rendon. A fourth star, the Nationals’ Trea Turner, was selected in the 20th round out of high school by the Pirates in 2011 but chose to attend North Carolina State University instead of signing. (The Nationals ultimately received Turner in a 2015 trade after the Padres selected him in the first round of the 2014 draft, 13th overall.)
The impact of that 2011 draft should surge again this winter, when Cole and Rendon lead the free-agent class, although those two won’t match the financial windfall received by the best free agents last year, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, graduates of 2010’s top-heavy draft class.
Team First Pick Round/Pick WAR Best Pick Round/Pick WAR MLB/Signed
Pirates Gerrit Cole 1 (1) 24.0 Cole 1 (1) 24.0 8/6
Mariners Danny Hultzen 1 (2) 0.2 Brad Miller 2 (62) 7.6 7/5
Diamondbacks Trevor Bauer 1 (3) 15.6 Bauer 1 (3) 15.6 7/6
Orioles Dylan Bundy 1 (4) 6.8 Zach Davies 26 (785) 8.0 6/5
Royals Bubba Starling 1 (5) -0.8 Jakob Junis 29 (876) 3.3 8/6
Nationals Anthony Rendon 1 (6) 27.3 Rendon 1 (6) 27.3 7/7
Indians Francisco Lindor 1 (8) 28.6 Lindor 1 (8) 28.6 11/7
Cubs Javier Báez 1 (9) 16.6 Báez 1 (9) 16.6 11/8
Padres Cory Spangenberg 1 (10) 3.4 Joe Ross 1 (25) 4.0 12/11
Astros George Springer 1 (11) 24.6 Springer 1 (11) 24.6 4/4
Brewers Taylor Jungmann 1 (12) 1.1 Carlos Rodón* 16 (491) 6.6 12/8
Mets Brandon Nimmo 1 (13) 6.3 Michael Fulmer 1 (44) 9.3 15/13
Marlins José Fernández 1 (14) 14.0 Fernández 1 (14) 14.0 5/4
Dodgers Chris Reed 1 (16) 0.0 Scott Barlow 6 (194) 1.0 7/4
Angels C.J. Cron 1 (17) 6.1 Mike Clevinger 4 (135) 12.6 5/5
Athletics Sonny Gray 1 (18) 18.3 Gray 1 (18) 18.3 6/4
Red Sox Matt Barnes 1 (19) 3.1 Mookie Betts 5 (172) 42.0 10/8
Rockies Tyler Anderson 1 (20) 6.3 Trevor Story 1 (45) 17.8 9/4
Blue Jays Tyler Beede* 1 (21) -0.3 Aaron Nola* 22 (679) 19.6 14/9
Cardinals Kolten Wong 1 (22) 15.6 Wong 1 (22) 15.6 8/6
Rays Taylor Guerrieri 1 (24) 0.2 Blake Snell 1 (52) 10.8 9/8
Reds Robert Stephenson 1 (27) -0.6 Tony Cingrani 3 (114) 2.6 8/5
Braves Sean Gilmartin 1 (28) 1.3 Nick Ahmed 2 (85) 10.3 10/9
Giants Joe Panik 1 (29) 6.7 Panik 1 (29) 6.7 11/10
Twins Levi Michael 1 (30) NA Brian Anderson* 20 (628) 7.6 7/3
Rangers Kevin Matthews 1 (33) NA Kyle Hendricks 8 (264) 19.5 12/8
Phillies Larry Greene 1 (39) NA Kyle Freeland* 35 (1,081) 10.8 10/9
White Sox Keenyn Walker 1 (47) NA Marcus Semien 6 (201) 20.6 8/7
Yankees Dante Bichette Jr. 1 (51) NA Jon Gray* 10 (329) 10.6 10/6
Tigers James McCann 2 (76) 6.6 McCann 2 (76) 6.6 6/6
*denotes that the player did not sign with the 2011 drafting team and re-entered a later draft
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
It’s a difficult proposition, ranking drafts, but Baseball America gave it a shot in May, at least partially. It selected the Top 10 first rounds since 1981, the magazine’s first year of publication. The 2011 group placed third, behind the 1985 class that included, among others, Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin and Rafael Palmeiro, and the 2005 class that boasted Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Andrew McCutchen and Ryan Zimmerman.
A third-place ranking is particularly impressive for the 2011 group, given that many are still in their prime. Furthermore, the best pick of 2011 didn’t occur until the fifth round, when the Boston Red Sox chose a high-schooler from Nashville nicknamed Mookie with the 172nd pick.
That’s the thing about the 2011 draft: It has star power and depth. Consider that seven of the first 14 picks already have double-digit Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Perhaps more impressive, the first 29 selections have made the majors — smashing the record of 21 set in 2008.
The 2011 group has a chance to extend its own mark: 30th overall pick Levi Michael and 32nd selection Jake Hager both were in Triple A in 2019, one step from the majors, and the 31st selection, outfielder Mikie Mahtook, has logged 291 big-league games.
“I’ve seen a lot of players, but I’ve never seen a class that had that many consecutive big leaguers with that kind of impact,” said former Miami Marlins scouting director Stan Meek, who has scouted for three decades. “For the first 29, to have them all make the major leagues, that’s close to impossible. Obviously, it’s not impossible, because it happened. But I just can’t imagine it happening ever again. I just can’t.”
It was a fascinating draft — especially the top half — and one alteration here or there could have changed the fate of several organizations. So, we wanted to take a closer look at the first 15 picks from the eyes of the executives who made those decisions. Here’s what was going on as Draft Day 2011 approached, and as the first 15 picks were on the clock.
No. 1 Overall: Pittsburgh Pirates
Selection: RHP Gerrit Cole, UCLA
Smith, who was Pittsburgh’s scouting director at the time, made sure he and his scouts did their due diligence throughout the spring, sifting through a handful of candidates for the top spot. They spent some time at the University of Virginia watching Danny Hultzen and even more days at Rice University, meeting with and scouting Rendon.
The prospect road, however, kept leading to UCLA and the player Smith thought would be the most “impactful” in the future.
Yes, right-hander Trevor Bauer was having a tremendous junior season at UCLA and was drawing legions of scouts with each appearance. But the other standout in the Bruins’ rotation, a 6-foot-4 fireballer and Friday night starter named Gerrit Cole, continued to intrigue Smith and the Pirates, even though his 2011 stats were a notch below Bauer’s.
“We kept coming back to Gerrit going, ‘There’s more there, fellas.’ The power, the velocity, the breaking stuff, the competitiveness, all those things were resonating, but there was more, too,” said Smith, who is now special assistant to Pittsburgh’s GM. “That’s the type of impact that you are wanting to acquire and bring into your system.”
Smith was Detroit’s scouting director back in 2004 when the Tigers had the second pick in the draft and chose a 6-foot-5 right-hander out of Old Dominion named Justin Verlander. That one worked pretty well, with Verlander carving out a Hall of Fame career and ultimately ending up as Cole’s teammate on this year’s World Series club in Houston.
As Smith watched Cole in 2011, he had flashbacks — good ones — of Verlander.
“There were similarities there,” Smith said. “You’ve got two guys that were juniors in college, and they weren’t refined and polished. They were advanced, but they weren’t refined, they weren’t polished, they weren’t complete. I felt like Gerrit had an extra gear (like Verlander).”
Smith didn’t reveal his thoughts to his scouts until a couple days before the draft. He wanted their unfiltered opinions. There was some discussion, but a consensus was reached fairly easily. Smith said when he woke up on June 4, he knew Cole would be a Pirate that night.
That process wasn’t particularly smooth. Cole had walked away from a first-round selection by the New York Yankees in 2008 to attend UCLA. And, given that 2011 was the last year before signing caps and penalties for exceeding allotted pools were implemented, Smith knew there would be protracted negotiations with Cole’s agent, Scott Boras.
But Smith said he had support from ownership and the front office to be aggressive with signings that year. At the deadline, Cole agreed to an $8 million signing bonus, which was the highest amateur bonus in the sport’s history (surpassed this year by the Orioles’ Adley Rutschman’s $8.1 million). Smith also signed Boras’ client Josh Bell, a second-rounder that year (61st overall), for a $5 million bonus; Bell made his first All-Star team this year.
Cole pitched five solid seasons with the Pirates (59-42, 3.50 ERA) before being traded to the Astros in January 2018 for four players. He’s been magnificent in Houston (35-10, 2.68 ERA) and, at 29, is one of baseball’s best pitchers as his free agency looms.
“We liked a lot of those guys, but we felt like Gerrit had a chance to be a really good one,” Smith said. “And you don’t get many shots at a guy like him.”
No. 2: Seattle Mariners
Selection: LHP Danny Hultzen, University of Virginia
This may have been the most important pick of the 2011 draft. Because if the Mariners don’t take Hultzen and instead select Rendon, whom they were seriously considering, there may have been significant ripple effects.
Hultzen could have gone fifth to Kansas City. Francisco Lindor might have become a Nat. Baez likely would have been an Astro. Maybe Bubba Starling falls out of the Top 10 instead of getting a huge payday from his hometown team.
Instead, the Mariners went with the best left-hander in the draft, a college junior who dominated at the University of Virginia, going 12-3 with a 1.37 ERA in 18 starts.
It wasn’t a reach pick; Hultzen was a 6-foot-3 southpaw who had performed superbly in a strong baseball conference. The sense at the time, however, was that Seattle’s system needed offense and was leaning toward a hitter, specifically Rendon. Last week, The Athletic’s Corey Brock took a thorough look at the Mariners’ process and decision that year.
Here’s what former Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik told Brock: “Going into the draft, (Rendon) was probably the player a lot of people thought we were going to take … and we did, too.”
So why didn’t they?
Despite tremendous talent, there were red flags concerning Rendon’s health. He had torn ligaments in his right ankle in 2009 and later had surgery to repair a break in the same ankle. Rendon won the Dick Howser Trophy in 2010 as college baseball’s best player, but then was limited mostly to DH duties in 2011 because of a shoulder strain. The Mariners also worked out Lindor but decided to go the pitching route with Hultzen.
“It wasn’t like we were afraid of Rendon at all, but you’ve got two, three guys in the mix and you’ve got to make one selection,” Zduriencik told Brock. “Danny was the guy who everyone loved. It made a lot of sense.”
The Mariners signed Hultzen to an $8.5 million, big-league contract that included a $6.35 million bonus. He never pitched for Seattle. He had shoulder operations in 2013 and 2016 and ultimately was not re-signed.
Hultzen ended up in the Chicago Cubs organization and made his big-league debut as a 29-year-old reliever this September. The last player of the first 29 picks in the 2011 draft to get to the majors, he made six scoreless appearances spanning 3 1/3 innings.
If the Mariners hadn’t taken Hultzen, he still probably would have landed in the Top Six. Most teams liked him, but some had concerns that his delivery might lead to future health problems. So, despite Hultzen’s collegiate success, a few clubs were planning to avoid him.
Trevor Bauer
(Jeff Curry / USA TODAY Sports)
No. 3: Arizona Diamondbacks
Selection: RHP Trevor Bauer, UCLA
Bauer is not everyone’s cup of tea. He’s quirky, speaks his mind and has his own way of doing things. He was that way in college too, but, boy, could he pitch. In his junior year at UCLA, he was 13-2 with a 1.25 ERA and 203 strikeouts in 16 starts, earning him USA Baseball’s prestigious 2011 Golden Spikes Award.
The Diamondbacks were sitting at No. 3 and wanted to add top-shelf arms to a young nucleus of hitters that included Paul Goldschmidt, Justin Upton and A.J. Pollock. With Cole and Hultzen off the board, there was no question in the mind of scouting director Ray Montgomery which way he was leaning in his first year running the draft for Arizona.
The club’s next pick, seventh overall, was more of a struggle. But this one was pretty much a consensus. The Diamondbacks looked hard at two highly regarded Oklahoma high school right-handers but ultimately loved Bauer’s skills set, his makeup and his projected quick trajectory to the majors. They were thrilled he was available.
“I don’t know which way you wanted to go with the comps, whether it’s David Cone or (Brett) Saberhagen or (Tim) Lincecum for the modern player/fan. We just thought that this guy had every prerequisite to be a top-of-the-rotation guy,” Montgomery said. “Obviously he was gonna have to reel in the command a little bit. … But he fit for us in terms of the type of guy we thought had a chance to really be an impactful major league starter.”
Bauer made his big-league debut within a year of signing and already has spent parts of eight seasons in the majors, posting a 4.04 ERA in 194 games (184 starts). Unfortunately for Arizona, only four of those games were with the Diamondbacks. In December 2012, they dealt Bauer to Cleveland as part of a three-team trade that netted the Diamondbacks shortstop Didi Gregorius and reliever Tony Sipp.
Bauer thrived in Cleveland (67-53, 3.89 ERA), making the 2018 AL All-Star team and pitching in 10 postseason games for the Indians. Only 28, he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds in July.
No. 4: Baltimore Orioles
Selection: RHP Dylan Bundy, Owasso (Okla.) High School
The Orioles were enduring their 14th consecutive season of losing when the June 2011 draft came around. The previous year they had taken Machado third overall and were hoping for another star who could join a burgeoning group of young players that would make the playoffs three times in the following five years.
That led then-scouting director Joe Jordan to two choices: Rendon or Bundy, the Gatorade National Male Athlete of the Year, the first baseball player to have received that honor.
Besides Cole, those were the top two players on the Orioles board. All things being equal, Jordan probably would have leaned toward the college bat, a less risky proposition than a high school right-hander.
But Jordan dealt with the same issue as others in the top part of the draft: There was just too much uncertainty concerning Rendon’s ankle to make such an investment, especially with Bundy, the high school prodigy, sitting there.
“Anthony Rendon had some health issues that spring, it is what it is,” Jordan said. “And we just liked the player we took. Those were the two guys that it came down to.”
Jordan is from Oklahoma and he had drafted Bundy’s brother, Bobby, in the eighth round in 2008. He was plenty familiar with the hard-throwing right-hander as was all of baseball: Bundy was a three-time state player of the year and had a 0.30 ERA as a senior, striking out 158 batters and walking four in 71 innings.
“The ability was easy to see. It was top-scale fastball with above-average command. It was a cutter that he could throw whenever. He had a feel for two other pitches,” said Jordan, who is now with the Atlanta Braves. “As far as stuff and execution, I still haven’t seen a high school guy that was better. But, yeah, it hasn’t quite worked out that way.”
Bundy made his big-league debut in September 2012 as a 19-year-old. But his career was derailed by Tommy John elbow surgery in 2013 and calcification in his right shoulder in 2015. He made it back to the big leagues for good in 2016. He’ll be 27 next month and has had to adjust to life without a 100-mph fastball. In 127 big-league games, he is 38-45 with a 4.67 ERA.
No. 5 Kansas City Royals
Selection: OF Bubba Starling, Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School
In retrospect, this is the first reach of the draft; no other teams in the Top 15 had Starling in the Top 5 on their boards. But he was at least a Top 10 pick and was Baseball America’s top-rated high school senior heading into the 2011 season. Besides, those in the industry don’t question what the Royals were thinking by taking a local kid and prototype athlete.
“I understand Kansas City’s difficulty there,” said Montgomery, who was with Arizona at the time. “That’s one of those rare cases where obviously the kid is talented. He’s a multiple-sport athlete. He is right in your backyard, so you’re facing some different pressures there.”
Royals’ scouting director Lonnie Goldberg said there was never a directive that he had to take the local phenom. He was simply told to select the best player. And the Royals looked at others. They were interested in Rendon and his rapidly dropping stock, but the ankle questions made them pass, too. They had heavily scouted the Oklahoma high school duo of Bundy and Archie Bradley, and they were seriously considering Lindor.
In fact, Goldberg said it probably came down to Lindor and Starling, but the Royals were intrigued by the local kid’s roots, his projectable, 6-4 frame, and his supreme athleticism — he had a scholarship to play quarterback as well as baseball at the University of Nebraska and also averaged 28 points a game in basketball.
And there was another important factor, too. Starling was an elite center fielder with a power-speed combination, and Kauffman Stadium has an expansive outfield.
“It was the idea that this guy can really play defense, he can play it at our park, he has enough juice to hit home runs in our park,” Goldberg said. “And I think, at the end, it was the fact that we had a chance to have a super-mega athlete doing that from our hometown.”
A Boras client with a football scholarship as leverage, Starling received a $7.5 million bonus to sign with the Royals. It then took him eight seasons to finally arrive in Kansas City, making his debut with the Royals this July, three weeks before his 27th birthday. A career .244 minor-league hitter, Starling hit .215 with four homers in 56 games with the Royals after batting .310 in 72 games at Triple-A Omaha in 2019.
“He can still play center field and we still have aspirations for him,” Goldberg said. “But it obviously hasn’t worked out like he or we thought it would at this point.”
Anthony Rendon
Anthony Rendon in 2013. (Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
No. 6 Washington Nationals
Selection: 3B Anthony Rendon, Rice University
Thought to be a Top 2 pick, Rendon landed with a thud at No. 6, And to applause from the Nationals’ draft room.
“We were thrilled to death,” said Nationals scouting director Kris Kline. “I just remember the excitement in the room when we got him. It was awesome.”
It was such a surprise that former Nats PR director John Dever was given five potential draftees’ names from the front office so he could have a news release ready when the selection was made. Rendon wasn’t on the list since it was assumed he’d be gone by then, so Dever had to scramble to put something together once the pick was made.
Kline said Rendon initially was “second or third” on the Nationals’ board to begin the draft and first when they were on the clock. Because they didn’t want to take the risk on a high school pitcher that high, they were probably leaning toward selecting Lindor when Rendon’s injury history pushed him downward.
“We didn’t have an issue with the medical. If we did, we probably would have passed as well,” Kline said. “Because you are talking about a player at the top of the draft. That information comes into play. But we didn’t have an issue with it.”
Although his junior year performance at Rice wasn’t as dominating as his superb sophomore season, Rendon still played strong defense and compiled a career 1.189 OPS at Rice.
“He was nearly major-league ready defensively,” Kline said. “His college numbers, when you look at them on paper, almost looks like he was playing in a Wiffle Ball league.”
Rendon had his best big-league season in 2019, leading the majors in RBIs with 126, while batting .319 with a 1.010 OPS and 34 homers. He likely will finish in the Top 3 in the NL MVP voting and will be the most coveted position player on the open market this winter.
“He’s kind of been an under-the-radar guy,” Kline said. “He’s not anymore. I’m so excited for him to get people to recognize how special and unique he is.”
No. 7 Arizona Diamondbacks
Selection: RHP Archie Bradley, Broken Arrow (Okla.) HS
Once the Diamondbacks had selected Bauer with the third pick, their attention turned to the seventh overall, compensation for not signing their 2010 first-rounder, Texas A&M pitcher Barret Loux.
Montgomery’s group had narrowed the seventh pick to Bradley, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound right-hander from an Oklahoma high school, and slick shortstop Lindor, a Puerto Rico native who had played high school ball in Florida.
The upside was undeniable on both. Lindor was being compared to Omar Vizquel with a better bat and Bradley had the ideal pitcher’s body and had beaten Bundy’s team in the state finals.
Montgomery remembers going around the draft room soliciting opinions, and it was clear everyone was sold on both players. At one point, Montgomery asked venerable baseball man Bob Gebhard when he thought Bradley could be ready for the majors.
Gebhard, a former big-league GM who at the time was a special assistant for the Diamondbacks, quipped, “Thursday.”
Ultimately, the idea of getting two top-of-the-rotation type pitchers in Bauer and Bradley in one round served as the tiebreaker.
“I wish I had a concrete answer for you now, eight years later. Maybe the slant on the pitching, maybe the comfort with Archie. We had seen him for multiple years across the showcase circuit,” said Montgomery, who is now with Milwaukee. “There was nothing negative between the two. It was more of a case that we just went with one over the other as happens with every pick. We spent a ton of time on Francisco, almost to the restraining-order-type level.”
Lindor is a four-time All-Star while Bradley has posted a solid 3.96 ERA in five seasons. He is no longer a starter, however. He finished the 2019 season as Arizona’s closer, converting 18 of 21 save opportunities.
“It’s kind of a joke over here that you guys (in Arizona) had two of the top seven picks in the draft and you did well,” Montgomery said. “Hit a couple home runs, maybe, but we could have hit a couple grand slams.”
No. 8 Cleveland Indians
Selection: SS Francisco Lindor, Montverde (Fla.) Academy
Picking eighth, Indians scouting director Brad Grant wasn’t sure who might fall to him. There was a faint hope that Bauer could plummet to eighth, where the Indians would have grabbed the UCLA star.
Bauer was taken third, however, so the Indians waited 18 months before acquiring him via trade. With Bauer selected, Grant had one name atop his board: Lindor. Some speculated that the most polished shortstop in the game could go third, maybe fifth or sixth.
Once the Nationals selected Rendon, Grant knew that he would get one of the two best middle-infield prospects in the draft in Lindor or Báez. Grant said the Indians had plenty of spirited conversation about the two, but there was more certainty that Lindor would stay at shortstop even as his body matured.
“It was the ability to play shortstop. There’s not that many times when you can really say or confirm that this guy is gonna be a major league shortstop, and that’s what we kept coming back to. That was the separator,” said Grant, now Cleveland’s VP of baseball operations. “They were both really fun players to watch. They were both great players.”
When the Diamondbacks took Bradley, the Indians grabbed Lindor, whose 28.6 career WAR is the highest of any first-rounder from 2011 and second in the entire draft to the 42.0 posted by Betts, the fifth-rounder.
“We just kept saying, ‘Wow, this draft is really, really deep if we can get this type of player and if we’re talking about Baez and Lindor, these types of players, at eight and nine,” Grant said. “That’s a deep draft.’”
Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor
Francisco Lindor and Javier Báez (9) at the 2017 World Baseball Classic. (Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY Sports)
No. 9 Chicago Cubs
Selection: SS Javier Báez, Arlington (Fla.) Country Day School
Sometimes, there’s just a player in the draft that a scout falls in love with and hopes against hope that he’ll be available when the time comes. For former Chicago Cubs scouting director Tim Wilken, that was Báez in 2011.
Wilken concedes that if Cole or Bundy or maybe Rendon would have dropped to nine, he might have had to rethink things. But otherwise, he wanted Báez, even if the slightly more hyped Lindor had fallen, too.
“I was taking Báez without a doubt,” Wilken said. “I would have never guessed 39 homers for Lindor last year. That would be one thing. I didn’t have that down. And I thought they both played the game very well. … Báez’s instincts are close to an 80 (on a scouting scale of 80). He just makes plays, and he was doing that back in high school. And I thought there was more power, naturally.”
As the last few weeks unfolded in 2011, Wilken said he thought some teams “may be laying low on Báez,” and so he had Plan Bs such as Lindor, Bradley or maybe José Fernández.
But there was a certain presence and energy to Báez, a Puerto Rico native who moved to Florida when he was 12 and batted .711 with 20 homers as a high school senior. And Wilken correctly predicted that Báez could play shortstop in the big leagues.
In 2018, Báez made his first All-Star team and finished second in the NL MVP race. This year, at 26, he had another All-Star campaign, batting .281 with 29 homers in 138 games.
“I had a feeling he was gonna get up around us. But I wasn’t completely confident,” said Wilken, who is now a special assistant in Arizona. “It only takes one in front of you, and we had eight teams in front of us. So, that was just an unbelievable first round.”
No. 10 San Diego Padres
Selection: INF Cory Spangenberg, Indian River (Fla.) Community College
The Padres were in a slightly different position than the other teams in the Top 15. They were here because they hadn’t signed their 2010 first-round pick, Florida high school pitcher Karsten Whitson. Unlike Arizona and Milwaukee, who also had high compensation picks, the Padres only had one shot in the Top 15; their next selection didn’t come until 25th.
Then-scouting director Jaron Madison couldn’t gamble much with the 10th pick, because if he didn’t sign the player, he wouldn’t get another chance the following year. It was a one-time rollover.
With that in mind, the Padres decided to go with Spangenberg, a community college hitter with a strong bat who had transferred from Virginia Military Institute. They gave him a $1.86 million bonus, the suggested slot and the lowest bonus of any of the Top 15 players.
“We felt Cory Spangenburg was more of a back-end-of-the-first-round type of a talent. But we really liked the bat, thought he could hit,” said Madison, who is now a special assistant for the Cubs. “We knew we’d be able to sign him for slot, which was important, because we didn’t want to lose our pick and we’d be able to use some more money later on in the draft.”
That’s what the Padres did. At No. 25, they gave a $2.75 million bonus to California high school pitcher Joe Ross and a $3 million bonus to California high school catcher Austin Hedges in the second round.
They were three of 11 Padres signees that year to eventually make the majors, but Ross, who spent parts of five seasons with the Nationals after being traded in 2014, is the most accomplished so far with a career 4.0 WAR. Spangenberg has accumulated a 3.4 WAR and a .256 average in 419 games in parts of six seasons.
With signability an issue, the Padres started with a conservative plan and became more aggressive later.
“We couldn’t afford to lose that pick. We just couldn’t take a chance of not being able to sign that guy. So, we went for Spangenberg over Springer,” Madison said. “Obviously, in retrospect, Springer has gone off and become all-world and done great things. But, at that time, with the position we were in, we kind of had our backs to the wall with having to sign that pick. And we felt good about (Spangenberg).”
No. 11 Houston Astros
Selection: OF George Springer, University of Connecticut
Springer’s junior season in college began with a bunch of strikeouts, and not much could have made Bobby Heck happier at the time.
The former Astros’ scouting director and his people had been watching Springer for a couple of years at Connecticut and loved his combination of speed, power, defensive ability and excellent makeup. So, when Springer struggled out of the gate in his high-pressured junior year, Heck wasn’t too worried.
The UConn squad basically went from working out indoors to immediately playing in Florida in front of scouts interested in a quality Huskies squad. The rust was apparent. Heck said Springer struck out about 40% of the time until he got his timing and swing right. That probably dropped Springer out of the national Top 5 conversation and Heck admits that the Astros “softened on him” a bit, too.
But Heck believed the strikeouts were created by how hard Springer was swinging and not due to pitch recognition or bat speed. A faster pro game would eliminate some of those big hacks, he figured.
About midway through the year, the Astros’ national crosschecker, David Post, told Heck, “We’ve got to get back on this Springer train.” Post liked what he saw and suggested Heck watch Springer in person again.
Heck said he was one of only two scouts at a UConn midweek home game against Central Connecticut State.
“And I said, ‘Yeah, this is the guy that we saw before and we hoped would get to 11,” said Heck, now a special assistant with the Tampa Bay Rays. “So now, it’s ‘All right, let’s hope he gets to 11.’”
Once the first four picks were pitchers, Heck was pretty confident he would get either Springer or Lindor. And when the Cubs selected Baez, Heck assumed the Padres would pass due to signability, allowing Springer to land in Houston.
It’s been a perfect marriage. Springer is a three-time All-Star, hit a career-high 39 homers in 2019 and was the Astros’ World Series MVP in 2017.
No. 12 Milwaukee Brewers
Selection: RHP Taylor Jungmann, University of Texas
The Brewers had picks No. 12 and 15, and scouting director Bruce Seid, who died in 2014, had centered on Baez.
“The guy I know that Bruce was salivating over was Baez,” said Doug Melvin, Milwaukee’s former general manager. “His workout (at Miller Park) was very similar to how he plays the game. He showed the power. He was out at shortstop and he was throwing the ball from every spot in the infield. He was a guy that was very intriguing to us.”
When the division-rival Cubs took Báez, Seid and the Brewers switched their focus back to college pitching and settled on Jungmann, a 6-foot-6 right-hander from the University of Texas who had won the 2011 Dick Howser Trophy as the country’s best college player. In his junior year, Jungmann was 13-3 with a 1.60 ERA in 19 games for the Longhorns.
“At that time, we needed the pitching and we were looking at a college pitcher that maybe could come a little bit quicker. We knew he had a different kind of delivery, but he did throw strikes and pitched in big games in the College World Series and we liked him,” Melvin said. “He had a great breaking ball. He just really never got his confidence in the big leagues.”
Jungmann appeared in 30 games (27 starts) for the Brewers, compiling a 4.54 ERA. The Brewers released him in 2018 so he could sign with the Yomiuri Giants. Now 29, he has pitched two years in Japan, posting a 4.86 ERA in 70 1/3 innings.
“Until he is completely done, I wouldn’t completely rule him out as somebody who might come back here (to the majors) at some point,” Melvin said. “But, obviously, when you are drafting at No. 12, you are hoping those guys will help you at the big-league level in the next three or four years.”
No. 13: New York Mets
Selection: OF Brandon Nimmo, East (Wyo.) High School
Former Mets scouting director Chad MacDonald didn’t know much about Wyoming baseball history when he and his staff began looking hard at Cheyenne native Brandon Nimmo.
MacDonald didn’t know at the time that a Wyoming high-schooler had never been drafted higher than the sixth round. What MacDonald did know was that there was a 6-foot-3 Wyoming kid with a speed-power potential that made him a potential first-round pick and had landed him a scholarship to the University of Arkansas.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t care where he came from. We didn’t care what state he was born in. After the fact, we learned he was the first first-rounder in the history of baseball to come out of Wyoming,” MacDonald said. “We knew the player, we knew his physical tools, we knew the makeup, and we were pretty sure what his skill set was. All that put together, we thought it was worth taking him.”
MacDonald said he went into the draft thinking he could get one of three position players: Báez, Springer or Nimmo. When the other two were taken, Nimmo was clearly the guy.
Another 2011 scouting director said he had briefly considered Nimmo but thought he was too much of a risk and too far from the majors to take that early. The evaluator added, in retrospect, the Mets deserved credit for not being scared away by that narrative.
“Let’s face it, they are all risky,” MacDonald said. “They all have certain risks and we thought the reward was worth the risk. And it’s proven to be a pretty good pick.”
Nimmo, 26, had his breakout year with the Mets in 2018, batting .263 with a .404 on-base percentage and 17 homers. He missed three months this season with a bulging disk in his neck, returning in September.
Incidentally, the Mets had the largest 2011 draft haul, selecting and signing 13 players that made the majors, including pitchers Fulmer (supplemental first round) and Seth Lugo (34th round).
Jose Fernandez
(Anthony Gruppuso / USA TODAY Sports)
No. 14: Miami Marlins
Selection: RHP José Fernández, Braulio Alonso (Fla.) High School
If his life hadn’t been cut short, Fernández may have been the shining star of this draft class, even after losing parts of two seasons due to elbow surgery. But Fernández died at age 24 in September 2016, when the speeding boat he was piloting pre-dawn crashed into a jetty near Miami Beach, killing him and two friends.
His remarkable, albeit brief, big-league career included two All-Star appearances, the 2013 NL Rookie of the Year Award and two Top 7 finishes in the NL Cy Young voting.
“He was really good at a really young age,” said Meek, the former Marlins’ scouting director. “Had he stayed healthy and all those things, I think you can make an argument he was at least as good as anyone in that class, for sure.”
Fernández’s talent wasn’t in question. Several teams in front of the Marlins considered him but ultimately passed for reasons not directly related to on-field performance.
For one, Fernández, a Cuban defector who arrived in Florida as a teenager after three previously unsuccessful defection attempts, had an uncertain background, so there was some concern about his age and other issues that required additional research, according to several evaluators.
Perhaps more of a factor was that Fernández had a commitment to the University of Miami and there were rumors that if he didn’t go a team of his choosing, he would enroll in college instead. Or that his financial demands might be too daunting.
Meek and the Marlins had no major concerns. Meek said area scout Brian Kraft did extensive groundwork and came back with strong reports on Fernández’s character and work ethic.
“He did have a lot of flair, but he did back it up on the field. And our scout did a great job of finding out from the coach and the people at his school if he was a decent kid and if he was a worker,” Meek said. “I think there was just the unknown that he comes from Cuba and are we pretty certain that the age is correct and are we pretty certain that he was competitive and was he a guy that really wanted to go play? And our guy (Kraft) did a really good job with that.”
Once Meek was comfortable with Fernández’s background, the Marlins used a little subterfuge. They had heard the Brewers, who had the 12th and 15th picks, were interested in the righty. Although the Marlins also liked Vanderbilt right-hander Sonny Gray, who went 18th to the Oakland Athletics, they had settled on Fernández and didn’t want to lose him. So, Meek told his scouts not to talk to Fernández’s agent or give any outward clue that they were in pursuit.
“José told me later, he said, ‘I called my agent the morning of the draft and said, “Is there a chance that I would get picked by Miami?”‘ And the agent told him, ‘No, they haven’t even made contact with us. So, I don’t think you are going to Miami,’” Meek said, chuckling. “We just didn’t want it out there at all.”
No. 15: Milwaukee Brewers
Selection: LHP Jed Bradley, Georgia Tech
After getting Jungmann, the Brewers went back to the college well for another big pitcher, this time a lefty: Georgia Tech’s 6-foot-3 southpaw Jed Bradley.
He had pitched well in the Cape Cod League the previous summer and was 7-3 with a 3.49 ERA as a college junior.
“He was a guy that the arrow was pointing up on,” Melvin said. “A guy that you thought was just ready to make that turn, and our people had seen a lot of him and had stayed on him.”
The Brewers preferred college pitchers and so they were basically choosing between Bradley and Gray, who had had an excellent season at Vanderbilt (12-4, 2.43 ERA in 19 starts). But the right-handed Gray, who is listed at 6-0, didn’t have the same physicality.
“We took a little bit of heat after that, after we took two college pitchers and passed on Sonny and he’s in the big leagues two years later. We got critiqued on that one pretty good,” Melvin said. “If you look at the guys we took, Jungmann and Bradley, they were both big, 6-3, 6-4, and I think that (size) mindset hurt Sonny. But we had a lot of people that liked Sonny Gray.”
Gray is a two-time All-Star with a 3.53 ERA in 186 major-league games. Meanwhile, Bradley’s big-league career consisted of six games in relief (5.14 ERA) with the Atlanta Braves in 2016. He pitched in the independent Atlantic League in 2019.
The Brewers signed 10 players from the 2011 draft that made the big leagues, but, so far, Jungmann has posed the highest WAR at 1.1. Two players the Brewers drafted but didn’t sign, outfielder Mallex Smith (13th round, 6.0 WAR) and pitcher Carlos Rodon (16th round, 6.6 WAR), have fared better.
“It was a very talented draft,” Melvin said. “And you’d think, with as many players as there was, you’d like to have hit on some.”
All 2011 Drafted and Signed Team
Position Player 2011 Draft Selection Team
C James McCann 2nd round (76th overall) Tigers
1B Josh Bell 2nd round (61st overall) Pirates
2B Javier Báez 1st round (9th overall) Cubs
SS Francisco Lindor 1st round (8th overall) Indians
3B Anthony Rendon 1st round (6th overall) Nationals
0F Mookie Betts 5th round (172nd overall) Red Sox
OF George Springer 1st round (11th overall) Astros
OF Kevin Pillar 32nd round (979th overall) Blue Jays
DH C.J. Cron 1st round (17th overall) Angels
BENCH — SS Trevor Story, SS Marcus Semien, 2B Kolten Wong, OF Jackie Bradley Jr., 3B Travis Shaw, SS Nick Ahmed, OF Brandon Nimmo, UTIL Brad Miller, 2B Joe Panik, DH Daniel Vogelbach, C Curt Casali, INF Tommy La Stella.
PITCHING — Starters: RHP Gerrit Cole, LHP Blake Snell, RHP Mike Clevinger, RHP Sonny Gray, RHP Kyle Hendricks, RHP Trevor Bauer. Bullpen: RHP Ken Giles, RHP Blake Treinen, RHP Archie Bradley, RHP Cody Allen. Extra arms: Michael Fulmer, Zach Davies, Dylan Bundy, Seth Lugo, Anthony DeSclafani, Tyler Anderson, Chris Devenski, Daniel Norris, Jerad Eickhoff, Jóse Fernández**
**Fernández died in a boating accident in 2016 at age 24.
Notable players who were drafted in 2011 but didn’t sign: Trea Turner, Aaron Nola, Carlos Rodon, Jon Gray, Brian Anderson, Kyle Freeland, Mallex Smith, Keone Kela, John Means.
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2622Sports
The Pirates have fired general manager Neal Huntington
Craig Calcaterra,NBC Sports 42 minutes ago
Last week the Pirates fired team president Frank Coonelly. At the time the team it was assumed that, while Coonelly was gone, general manager Neal Huntington was staying in place. Indeed, about a month ago team owner Bob Nutting said that Huntington was the best guy to run the club going forward.
So much for that: Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the team fired Huntington yesterday afternoon. An official announcement is expected later today.
Huntington, like Coonelly, was hired at the end of the 2007 season. The Pirates experienced a brief run of success during his tenure, making the postseason in 2013, 2014, and 2015, but that seemed to be but a blip surrounded by years and years of losing and uninspired moves on either side, culminating in this year’s oftentimes ugly 93-loss campaign.
Under Huntington, who made his reputation under Mark Shapiro in Cleveland, the Pirates have developed a reputation for not wanting to spend money on talent. They’ve also developed a track record of making trades that seem more geared toward shedding payroll — or even potential future payroll — than in acquiring talent. The result, in addition to losing baseball, has been broad-based apathy on the part of Pittsburgh sports fans.
The Pirates are also without a manager at the moment. Jon Heyman reported this morning that the team will put a halt to its managerial search in order to find a replacement for Huntington.
So, the Pirates are starting from scratch, a month into the offseason, after spending a few weeks involved in a manager search conducted by a guy who just got fired.
It’s gonna be a long winter in Steel City.
Follow @craigcalcaterra
The Pirates have fired general manager Neal Huntington
Craig Calcaterra,NBC Sports 42 minutes ago
Last week the Pirates fired team president Frank Coonelly. At the time the team it was assumed that, while Coonelly was gone, general manager Neal Huntington was staying in place. Indeed, about a month ago team owner Bob Nutting said that Huntington was the best guy to run the club going forward.
So much for that: Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the team fired Huntington yesterday afternoon. An official announcement is expected later today.
Huntington, like Coonelly, was hired at the end of the 2007 season. The Pirates experienced a brief run of success during his tenure, making the postseason in 2013, 2014, and 2015, but that seemed to be but a blip surrounded by years and years of losing and uninspired moves on either side, culminating in this year’s oftentimes ugly 93-loss campaign.
Under Huntington, who made his reputation under Mark Shapiro in Cleveland, the Pirates have developed a reputation for not wanting to spend money on talent. They’ve also developed a track record of making trades that seem more geared toward shedding payroll — or even potential future payroll — than in acquiring talent. The result, in addition to losing baseball, has been broad-based apathy on the part of Pittsburgh sports fans.
The Pirates are also without a manager at the moment. Jon Heyman reported this morning that the team will put a halt to its managerial search in order to find a replacement for Huntington.
So, the Pirates are starting from scratch, a month into the offseason, after spending a few weeks involved in a manager search conducted by a guy who just got fired.
It’s gonna be a long winter in Steel City.
Follow @craigcalcaterra
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2623Thanks, Rusty, for the article about the 2011 draft. Very interesting.
Wonder who the Tribe would have taken if Lindor was gone.
Wonder who the Tribe would have taken if Lindor was gone.
Re: Just Baseball: Major League teams OTHER THAN the Tribe
2625Wouldn't surprise me to see Huntington now pop up in either ours or Toronto's front office.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain