The next post will have a chart of all Sox draftees the past three days. I'll add links to their college or Perfect Game scouting pages over the ensuing days as available. I've also started a separate thread to track news, signings & bonuses.
Some quick figures on the 41 players selected:
* 16 HS, 5 juco, 20 from NCAA four-year colleges (17 from D-I; 2 from D-II, 1 from D-III)
* 18 pitchers, 23 position players (going with most recent dominant roles)
* Arms: 15 RHP and just 3 LHP.
* Positions: SS (5), C (5), CF (5), 1B (3), OF (3), 3B (2)
* Batting: Right (15), Left (6), Switch (2)
* Hyped Talent: As noted in the News/Signings thread, the Sox drafted 19 players ranked in the Top 500 by Baseball America. They include 9 high school kids, 7 from four-year colleges, and 3 juco players.
* NCAA D-I conferences: 6 from the SEC, 2 from the Big West. Then one each from the ACC, AAC, A-Sun, Big 12, Big Ten, C-USA, Northeast, Sun Belt and WCC.
With the obvious caveats of "we don't know who's going to sign" and "it's way too early to judge these kids", what are the initial thoughts and impressions of the types of players the Sox selected, the positional distribution, the HS/college split, and the team's general drafting strategy?
My takes:
* The emphasis on relievers, particularly college arms with projectable rapid advancement, was certainly notable. The successes the team has had in recent years with guys like Papelbon, Delcarmen, Bard, and most recently Workman & Britton shows that the draft can be fertile ground for the bullpen, with a far better return on investment than trades or acquiring veteran free agents. And rather than simply looking to convert starters who fail to develop a third pitch, they've decided to go after mature guys with experience and proven success in relief roles. It's as sure a sign as any that we'll never again see anything like the Andrew Bailey, Mark Melancon or Joel Hanrahan trades, or the Bobby Jenks signing, as long as Ben Cherington is running this club. Lesson learned.
* Among position players, a lot of them at the high-skill positions (C, SS, CF) with versatility a central theme with most of them.
* Like last year, when they signed 18 of their first 19 selections and 27 of 40 picks overall, there seems to be a strong sense of certainty in this year's draft. There are maybe a half-dozen HS players who the Sox seemingly have a very slim chance of signing, but they didn't waste any high picks on them.
* At first glance, the dearth of both LHH (6 of 23 hitters) and LHP (3 of 18 pitchers) in this crop was a bit of surprise. But the bottom line is there are too many factors that outweigh handedness. If an RHH has the hit tools, pitch judgment, plate approach, attitude, and positional flexibility required, the side of the plate he hits from won't be a limitation on advancement or playing time. Ditto for pitching. And I haven't looked at prior drafts to see what the L/R/S distributions were, so my initial impression might be meaningless anyway. It was purely a "hey, look at that" observation.
Some quick figures on the 41 players selected:
* 16 HS, 5 juco, 20 from NCAA four-year colleges (17 from D-I; 2 from D-II, 1 from D-III)
* 18 pitchers, 23 position players (going with most recent dominant roles)
* Arms: 15 RHP and just 3 LHP.
* Positions: SS (5), C (5), CF (5), 1B (3), OF (3), 3B (2)
* Batting: Right (15), Left (6), Switch (2)
* Hyped Talent: As noted in the News/Signings thread, the Sox drafted 19 players ranked in the Top 500 by Baseball America. They include 9 high school kids, 7 from four-year colleges, and 3 juco players.
* NCAA D-I conferences: 6 from the SEC, 2 from the Big West. Then one each from the ACC, AAC, A-Sun, Big 12, Big Ten, C-USA, Northeast, Sun Belt and WCC.
With the obvious caveats of "we don't know who's going to sign" and "it's way too early to judge these kids", what are the initial thoughts and impressions of the types of players the Sox selected, the positional distribution, the HS/college split, and the team's general drafting strategy?
My takes:
* The emphasis on relievers, particularly college arms with projectable rapid advancement, was certainly notable. The successes the team has had in recent years with guys like Papelbon, Delcarmen, Bard, and most recently Workman & Britton shows that the draft can be fertile ground for the bullpen, with a far better return on investment than trades or acquiring veteran free agents. And rather than simply looking to convert starters who fail to develop a third pitch, they've decided to go after mature guys with experience and proven success in relief roles. It's as sure a sign as any that we'll never again see anything like the Andrew Bailey, Mark Melancon or Joel Hanrahan trades, or the Bobby Jenks signing, as long as Ben Cherington is running this club. Lesson learned.
* Among position players, a lot of them at the high-skill positions (C, SS, CF) with versatility a central theme with most of them.
* Like last year, when they signed 18 of their first 19 selections and 27 of 40 picks overall, there seems to be a strong sense of certainty in this year's draft. There are maybe a half-dozen HS players who the Sox seemingly have a very slim chance of signing, but they didn't waste any high picks on them.
* At first glance, the dearth of both LHH (6 of 23 hitters) and LHP (3 of 18 pitchers) in this crop was a bit of surprise. But the bottom line is there are too many factors that outweigh handedness. If an RHH has the hit tools, pitch judgment, plate approach, attitude, and positional flexibility required, the side of the plate he hits from won't be a limitation on advancement or playing time. Ditto for pitching. And I haven't looked at prior drafts to see what the L/R/S distributions were, so my initial impression might be meaningless anyway. It was purely a "hey, look at that" observation.
