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Pearly Gates: An Angels Blog
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Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Draft breakdown: 2005

There would be a substantial post here, but unfortunately the lack of a HTML draft list makes wading through all 50+ of the Angels picks too much of a hassle. And I had graphs and everything...

Perhaps it's for the better that I am forced to sum up the events of the past two days in fewer words:
  • The Angels were more prep-biased than last year, with about 2/5 of their haul coming out of high school. They were especially heavy on prep stars on day one, including their first seven picks.

    While focusing on high schoolers is a poor strategy (though it's worth noting that, when asked, Eddie Bane claimed that it was not the club's strategy, and was simply the result of taking the guy on the top of the board), I am by no means opposed to taking guys out of high school. What I am opposed to is taking a large number of high school pitchers, who have a markedly lower chance of success. From the looks of things, the Angels agree, taking only seven prep pitchers out of 23-24 total arms. But again, the first four pitchers selected by the Angels were all out of high school.

  • The Angels took far fewer mid-round risks this time around. There were no Nick Adenhearts or Mark Trumbos. The only pick that would really qualify is Blair Blejtfus (a name which makes my tongue hurt) in the 28th round - who, like Adenheart, was a highly-touted prospect before suffering a pre-draft arm injury. Last year's gambles mostly paid off, so only time will tell if this was a smart decision.

  • Like last year, the Angels took very few left-handed pitchers - only three by my count. It's an interesting example of how a club's philosophy at the Major League level effects the draft.

Comments:


I would rather have the best pitcher than get a lefty that ain's as good. I think that is the team's philosophy and it has worked fairly well (the one time it failed was when Wash was brought in to face David Ortiz in the playoffs, but that just shows that they should have used their best reliever rather than worry about matchups).

posted by Blogger Unknown @ 5:32 PM