Amateur Draft Review - NL West

Arizona

1-11 - Ebenezer Woodson - Yikes, this is scary. Eleventh pick and the guy drafted isn't sure if he wants to play ML baseball. Not a good situation. Even if he signs (and if he does it will be for a ton of cash), his control will always be a hindrance. His excellent splits and pitches just might be able to overcome it.
UPDATE: Arizona found out some good news that Woodson decided to sign a professional contract. Scouts are looking forward to seeing if his grea tsplits and pitches can overcome that control.

2-59 - Charley Shaw - Scouts are pretty much split down the middle on Shaw. Some feel he can be a nice piece to the puzzle and others feel he is probably just a utility guy since he doesn't do anything really well.

3-91 - Bart Anderson - Doesn't look like he is going to sign.

4-123 - Junior Duran - Could hit some homers if he makes the bigs, but thats probably it.

5-155 - William Hogan - Career minor leaguer.

Impact: Mild - Its never good when a first rounder isn't going to sign, but hopefully the Sun Devils will be able to convince Woodson. UPDATE: Woodson ended up signing which probably ended with a huge sigh of relief from the Sun Devils owner.


Honolulu

1-9 - Daniel Mullens Its tough to go wrong in the top ten and the Warriors definitely didn't by selecting this very solid pitching prospect who should be able to #2\#3 starter. Even better is he is coming out college so he should be ready sooner rather than later.

2-57 - Craig Webster - Solid selection and a guy that can probably be a back of the rotation\long reliever type pitcher. If his righty split was a bit higher, he would be a great prospect for a second round choice.

3-89 - Dicky Hatcher - Fantastic choice for a third rounder. The best one I have come across yet. He has a long way to g t reach his projections, but if the Warriors are patient, he should be a beast.

4-121 - Adam Jordan - Nice selection for a fourth rounder although some scouts feel his glove isn't good enough to be a CFer at the big league level. Should turn out to be a nice utility player.

5-153 - Walter Henderson - If he makes it to the bigs it will be as a defensive specialist.

Impact: Moderate - Very solid draft for the Warriors. The theme continues of whenever you can get two starting pitching prospects out of a draft you can't really go wrong. Jordan and Henderson aren't throwaway choices either.
Update: might have to move this to Moderate\High. Hatcher is an absolute beast of a hitter which jsut makes the Warriors draft that much better.

Las Vegas

1-2 - Graham Wilson - Absolute monster of a hitter that should terrorize West pitching when he hits the bigs. His splits projections are fantastic. The downside is that it will take several seasons to get there.

2-50 - Ralph Kohlmeier - Solid choice at #50. Another example of probably someone Vegas would not have chosen if this was a live draft since he plays the same position as Wilson. Unfortunately he has also already been hit with a really bad injury which shows why its a gamble to choose guys with low health.

3-82 - Tony Paniagua - Decent value selecting a defensive SS here. Unfortunately he has also already been hit by the injury bug. Vegas sure isn't afraid of those lower health rated guys.

4-114 - J.R. Clay - Vegas goes with another defensive SS, but slots Clay in at Low A so he is not doubling up with Paniuga. Smart.

5-146 - Eric Osbourne - Very solid selection for a fifth round choice. Could possibly be a Setup B type if everything works out.

Impact - Moderate - 5 picks and 5 guys that you can project to the bigs including a guy that should be a perennial all star eventually.

Kansas City

1-5 - Michael Sutton - Holy crap, this guys projected splits are ridiculous. If Sutton hits his projections than the 9th inning should locked down when he hits the majors. If you had to take a contrary opinion, some would argue that you shouldn't use a top 5\10 pick on a guy who can only give you 60-75 innings a year. However, I can see how you could be convinced by those projections.

1-34 - Chris Richardson - Interesting, the Wildcats go with another reliever who is just slightly less impressive than Sutton. With these two guys locking down the end of games the 'Cats will be tough to beat in the future.

2-53 - Zephyr Figueroa - Didn't scout and hasn't signed (great name though)

3-81 - Cleatus Spencer - Nice hitter and I like how he is from NC and is named Cleatus....way to stereotype WIS! Better batting eye would have helped.

3-85 - Moises Valentin - Could be a long reliever\spot starter in the bigs one day. Nothing wrong with rolling the dice on a guy like that with the 85th pick.

4-117 - Vernon Niekro - If he makes the bigs it will be as 4th or 5th outfielder...at least scouts don't feel like it should be for anything more than that.

5-149 - Rheal Maurer - Didn't scout and hasn't signed.

Impact - Moderate\High - If those two relievers reach their projections and become dominant then this is a fantastic draft for the Wildcats. However, the bullpen is still one of the harder things to predict success with and there are still instances of guys with great ratings that don't perform. Thats the only thing that keeps me from going High impact. Spencer and Valentin are nice picks in the third round.