Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Category: Draft (Page 3 of 3)

Dodgers draft Jarrin’s grandson

Brandon Lennox of True Blue L.A. has a summary of the Dodgers’ top 30 picks from this year’s amateur draft.

In addition, as Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com notes, the Dodgers picked East Los Angeles College second baseman Stefan Jarrin, grandson of legendary Dodger broadcaster Jaime Jarrin and son of Jorge, with a 40th-round pick.

And then there’s 31st-round pick Mickey McConnell, who as Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com writes, has been hoopin’ it up at St. Mary’s the past four years.

Update: Here’s a link to all of the 2011 Dodger draft picks.

Third pick: catcher Pratt Maynard

North Carolina State catcher Pratt Maynard is the Dodgers’ third-round pick in the draft. The 6-footer has a .414 on-base percentage and .474 slugging percentage in 2011. He also has pitched in the past, but did not do so for North Carolina State this year.

Here’s a profile on Maynard from Caulton Tudor of (Charlotte) Newsobserver.com:

When Pratt Maynard left South Granville High in 2008 to join N.C. State’s baseball team, he had never played a game as a catcher.

That changed fast.

Entering what might be the final game of his college career today, Maynard could be a catcher for many years to come. ….

… College programs have started creating catchers as much as trying to find them in recruiting.

“It’s really changed,” Avent said. “Pratt is the first guy we’ve tried it with, but a lot of programs have been doing it for years. Catcher is such an important position that you almost have to look at all possibilities.

“We were planning do it with Russell Martin [then a junior college infielder in 2002] and converting him, but the Los Angeles Dodgers had the same idea.”

Originally a pitcher-third baseman, Maynard made a smooth adjustment to the demanding catching tasks. And as a left-handed batter with power, he emerged as one of the best in the nation. …

That’ll be it for round-by-round draft updates for the time being. We’ll catch up on the Dodger draft later today, but in the meantime, you can track selections here.

Dodgers select third baseman Santana in second round of draft

The Dodgers selected 6-foot-4, 200-pound third baseman Alex Santana from Mariner HS in Florida in the second round of the MLB amateur draft. He is the son of former major-league infielder Rafael Santana, who hit 13 career home runs but listed at 6-1, 165.

Here’s a profile of the new draftee from Annabelle Tometich of the Fort Myers (Fla.) News Press:

Speaking on a static-riddled cellphone from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, fresh from a workout with the Seattle Mariners and on his way to another workout with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Mariner High senior Alex Santana found a few minutes for an interview.

The Triton baseball player knows a thing or two about timing.

After what Santana called a so-so high school season (he only hit a team-best .402 with four home runs and 29 RBI), the 6-foot-4, 200-pound third baseman launched a grand slam to dig his team out of a three-run deficit at the Florida Athletic Coaches Association’s All-Star Baseball Classic championship game in Sebring last weekend.

The four-run shot, which glanced off the roof of a building behind left-center field, capped off Santana’s 3-for-4 performance the day before. He was named the Classic’s MVP.

“I’m not the guy who’s going to hit a ton of home runs, but when I connect I’d say they go a ways,” Santana said.

“I could see it on some of the scouts’ faces. It further proved my point, that I can perform with the best in the nation.”

He hopes major league teams agree. …

Santana would reportedly play at Florida Atlantic if he doesn’t sign with the Dodgers.

Santana has also pitched, as this Perfect Game profile notes:

Excellent athletic build, loose and strong. 6.97 runner, easy defensive actions, very good arm strength, throws carry, soft hands. Tall stance, easy low effort swing, very good extension, drives through the ball, good leverage at contact, can hit it hard to the opposite field, could be more aggressive. Also pitched, may have higher ceiling as RHP. Steady 88-89 mph fastball, have seen 91 mph in the past, smooth and easy arm action, good run/sink on fastball, repeats delivery very well, curveball flashed hard spin and bite, very good depth. Must be followed both ways. Good student, signed with Florida Atlantic.

Dodgers choose Stanford lefty Reed with No. 1 pick

The Dodgers have gone to my alma mater for their first pick in the 2011 amateur draft, taking 6-foot-4 left-handed pitcher Chris Reed from Stanford. Reports say that Reed was something of an unknown quantity entering the year — a reliever who will get a look as a starter, but might end up staying in the bullpen. It’s a surprising enough selection that it definitely asks you to put your faith in Dodger assistant general manager Logan White (or at least understand the financial constraints he’s probably working under).

Reed has 48 strikeouts against 54 baserunners in 49 2/3 innings this season for Stanford, which advanced to the Super Regional round of the NCAA baseball tournament this past weekend. Here’s the ESPN.com scouting report:

The genius of college coaches: Chris Reed, a 6-foot-4 left-hander who sits 92-94 as a reliever with two off-speed pitches that will at least flash above-average, has made exactly one start this year for Stanford, instead working out of the pen where he’s been successful but wasted.

Reed adds a sharp, short slider in the 82-84 mph range to that fastball and will show a very hard-fading changeup in the upper 70s, throwing strikes with all three pitches but not yet showing the fastball command he’ll need to start in the big leagues. He comes from a slot just under three-quarters and repeats his delivery well enough to start, although he could stay upright longer and get more downhill plane on the fastball.

Many scouts like Reed as a potential starter, and we know he can pitch in the bullpen if that doesn’t work out, but I like his chances to end up a No. 2 or 3 starter once he’s stretched out.

Reed was born in London but went to Cleveland HS in the San Fernando Valley.

Draft day dope

The MLB draft begins today at 4 p.m. Three things we can be confident of with the Dodgers, who will have the 16th pick in the first round:

1) However unlikely it was that the Dodgers would spend more than $5 million to sign last year’s No. 1 pick, Zach Lee – and sure enough, they did it – multiply that by a factor of oodles this year.

2) However apparent the Dodgers’ needs are on the position player side, they’ll choose the best player available, which could very likely be a pitcher.

3) However much we make of the first pick, lower-round guys can definitely make a difference. It’s a wait-and-see proposition all around.

A sampling of Dodger draft picks of the past 10 years, with the round they were drafted in (via Baseball-Reference.com):

1 – James Loney (2002)
1 – Chad Billingsley (2003)
1 – Scott Elbert (2004)
1 – Blake DeWitt (2004)
1 – Luke Hochevar (2005)
1 – Clayton Kershaw (2006)
1 – Zach Lee (2010)

2 – Jonathan Broxton (2002)
2 – Ivan De Jesus, Jr. (2005)
2 – Josh Lindblom (2008)
2 – Garrett Gould (2009)

4 – Delwyn Young (2002)
4 – Xavier Paul (2003)
4 – Javy Guerra (2004)
4 – Josh Bell (2005)
4 – Dee Gordon (2008)

5 – Jon Meloan (2005)

6 – Edwin Jackson (2001)
6 – Matt Kemp (2003)
6 – Brent Leach (2005)

10 – Cory Wade (2004)
10 – Trayvon Robinson (2005)

11 – James McDonald (2002)
11 – Nathan Eovaldi (2008)

15 – Eric Stults (2002)
15 – Russ Mitchell (2003)

17 – Russell Martin (2002)

18 – A.J. Ellis (2003)
18 – Allen Webster (2008)

19 – David Price (2004)

24 – Andy LaRoche (2003)

25 – Jerry Sands (2008)

30 – Shawn Tolleson (2010)

Dodgers get Zach Lee … will they lose Logan White?

Larry Goren/Icon SMI
Logan White has supervised Dodger drafts since 2002.

Pretty nice 28 hours that Logan White just had.

Monday evening, White 2003 draftee Chad Billingsley finished his sixth consecutive quality start, with an ERA of 1.33 in that span.

Tuesday evening, White 2006 draftee Clayton Kershaw threw seven shutout innings in the Dodgers’ 6-0 victory over Colorado and moved up to third in the National League in strikeouts.

And in between, White converted his bold first-round selection of Zach Lee into what might be the coup of the 2010 draft.

Lee’s reported $5.25 million deal was more than twice the size of Kershaw’s draft-year signing, in part because of the leverage that college football provided Lee, but it also reflects the belief that Lee could make the kind of remarkable impact for the Dodgers that Kershaw already has.

We might not get to see all three of these pitchers in the same Dodger rotation — Billingsley becomes eligible for free agency after the 2012 season, while it might be a rush to get the teenage Lee to the bigs by then — but there is that tantalizing possibility. And even if it doesn’t happen, you can be pretty sure the past two nights haven’t gone unnoticed inside baseball.

Put another way, even if there comes a weekend series in the September 2012 stretch run with Kershaw, Billingsley and Lee on the mound for the Dodgers, will White be around to see it?

White has long been an attractive candidate for other front offices in baseball, certainly from a scouting viewpoint but also in terms of general manager openings.  Getting Lee to the Dodgers — convincing both parties to get on board — when almost no one thought he could, adds a new layer of appeal.

The signing arguably turned around a year in which, aside from Kershaw and Billingsley, things went a little south for White’s other prodigies. There was Blake DeWitt’s and James Loney’s lack of home-run power, Russell Martin’s ongoing fade and Matt Kemp’s backward steps. There was James McDonald once more not seizing the day (though he seems to be thriving in Pittsburgh), and Scott Elbert’s disappearing act. And there was a mixed bag of results on the development front in the low minors — some remarkable advances like that of Jerry Sands, some retreats by others.

But Kershaw, Billingsley and Lee serve as a reminder that betting on White is about as safe a gamble as you can make in — this can’t be over-emphasized — an inherently risky field. I have no idea what specific interest other teams will show in White, but as the Dodgers make their lengthy to-do list for the 2010-11 offseason, one item that needs to be on it is “Keep Logan White happy.” Unless you subscribe to the philosophy of, “If you love someone, set him free.”

Dodgers get their pony: Zach Lee signs

First the Dodgers Joc the world, and now they shock the world.

Confounding skeptics from coast to baseball coast, the Dodgers made good on their word and successfully delivered an offer to first-round draft choice Zach Lee reportedly at $5.25 million over five years, luring him from Louisiana State, where he had been about to embark on a quarterbacking career. Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com has details.

Back in October, I suggested that the divorce might bring about “a time when you buy the kids a nice pony to take their mind off the ugliness.” It took a while, but Lee is that pony, at least for the hardcore Dodger fan. It’s a remarkable turn of events and expectations.

Dodgers rock around the clock with Joc

It appears he Dodgers will record at least one deadline signing, even if they don’t get Zach Lee. Eleventh-round draft pick Joc Pederson, son of 1980s cup-of-coffee Dodger Stu, has agreed to terms with the Dodgers, according to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

The report is attributed to multiple sources, albeit anonymous. Pederson, whose salary demands caused his drop from the draft’s highest rounds to the double-digits, reportedly would get a $600,000 signing bonus, higher than any 2010 Dodger draft signee to date.

Here’s a draft-day report on Pederson from Chad Moriyama of Memories of Kevin Malone.

Deadline for Dodgers to sign top draftee: 9 p.m. Monday

With little for me to talk about regarding today’s 13-1 defenestration of the Dodgers – Tony Jackson has everything you could possibly want to know, including the tidbit that the Dodgers have gone three straight games without a run-scoring hit – I can finally turn my attention to Monday’s 9 p.m. deadline to sign 2010 draft choices, including No. 1 pick Zach Lee.

Bullet points:

  • The Dodgers aren’t the only team going down to the wire on their first-round draftee, as the chart accompanying Ken Gurnick’s MLB.com article indicates.
  • Kevin Baxter of the Times details how little the Dodgers have been spending on amateur talent lately.
  • Steve Henson of Yahoo! Sports bucks the conventional wisdom and suggests that the Dodgers will make Lee a legitimate bid, with lots of explanation why. Henson has a quote from Lee saying, “I know I’m going to have to make a decision if they make an offer.”

No single draft pick is a referendum on the Dodgers’ amateur talent strategy. The cupboard isn’t barren. But let’s just say that a team that spends its past year not signing its first-round pick, not offering salary arbitration to free agents and thereby forfeiting more first-round picks, not investing in international signings and not stopping from trading away handfuls of prospects each year is checking off a lot of boxes on the negative side of the ledger.

Let’s see what the news is at 9 p.m. Monday.

Controversy remains over Dodger draft

The controversy over the Dodgers’ top draft choice continued Tuesday.

Dodger assistant general manager Logan White insists that the Dodgers think they can sign Zach Lee, writes Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com, despite speculation that the Dodgers purposely chose a player whose salary demands would be unreachable, in order to save money.

Louisiana State football coach Les Miles said Tuesday that he met with Lee and his parents and that Lee intends to go to college to play football and baseball. White addressed that statement directly.

“He might go to school,” White said. “That is always a possibility. We certainly knew that was a possibility when we drafted him.”

Even so, White adamantly denied that the Dodgers would ever draft a player knowing they couldn’t sign him.

“I can understand why people might think that,” he said. “But that is one of those things where people create what they want to create, and it is just so far from the truth. I certainly want to sign Zach Lee, as much as any player I have ever drafted.”

White also dismissed a suggestion that he was under orders from McCourt to tank this year’s first-round pick.

A similar (though perhaps less intense) drama brewed around the Dodgers’ sixth-round pick, pitcher Kevin Gausman, who is also an LSU recruit. Writes Evan Drellich of MLB.com:

Gausman told The Denver Post he too was leaning toward going to college.

“Because of the amount of money that I want, they are going to follow me and see if I’m actually worth that,” Gausman told The Post.

“Being drafted in the sixth round, I think I have a chance to next year come out and really be a big influence at LSU and maybe even be their No. 1 guy on the mound,” Gausman said. “As of right now, I’m set on [LSU].”

White called Gausman’s statement “a normal part of the process.”

“He would’ve been a potential late first-round sandwich pick, but he’s got significant signing demands as well,” White said. “And he may not sign. We’ll see what happens.”

If Lee doesn’t sign with the Dodgers, the team will get a compensatory pick in the 2011 draft. Some believe this might be a smart move, because that draft is expected to be deeper in talent – so that even if the Dodgers acknowledge (to themselves, if no one else) that Lee isn’t coming, it doesn’t mean that they are avoiding paying amateur talent. We’ll see.

On a brighter note, Drellich writes that second-round pick Ralston Cash said he is interested in signing with the Dodgers despite having a scholarship to Georgia. Cash flew out last weekend for a last-minute workout with the Dodgers, and he and White bonded.

* * *

  • Vicente Padilla went 4 2/3 innings with one run allowed in a rehab start for Inland Empire on Tuesday. Padilla gave up three hits, walked one and struck out four.
  • Kyle Russell singled and tripled in his AA debut for Chattanooga on Tuesday, while Chris Withrow threw seven innings without allowing an earned run, striking out six.
  • Elisaul Pimentel allowed one run over six innings in Great Lakes’ victory. Brian Cavazos-Galvez had three hits.

* * *

Stat of the Day has a fun list of pitchers who have thrown at least five consecutive starts of eight innings or more, without allowing more than one run – fun because the list of course includes the Orel Hershiser and Don Drysdale scoreless inning streaks, as well as Fernando Valenzuela’s beginning to the 1981 season. You’ll also find Don Sutton and Don Newcombe there.

Casey Blake returns to action

Casey Blake returns to the Dodger starting lineup after missing four games with back spasms. Trainer Stan Conte gave the go-ahead.

* * *

Memories of Kevin Malone has information on the Dodger draft picks that came after the third round:

* * *

Scott Elbert had to miss his start for Albuquerque today because of a family matter. Bobby Blevins and his 5.80 ERA for Class A Inland Empire took his place and allowed one run in five innings. Last week’s Dodger hero, Travis Schlichting, gave up two runs in a 9-6 Isotopes loss.

* * *

Former Dodgers Andy LaRoche and Delwyn Young had the first hit and home run, respectively, off Steven Strasburg during his otherwise impressive major-league debut. Strasburg struck out six in his first three innings for Washington before giving up the two-run homer to Young in the fourth, and was still losing 2-1 in the sixth despite having 11 strikeouts and no walks.

But back-to-back homers by Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham in the bottom of the sixth put Strasburg in position to get the victory.

Stat of the Day places Strasburg’s debut in historic context. Through six innings, he had the most strikeouts without a walk in a major-league debut ever.

* * *

Jerry Stephenson, the former Dodger scout and major-league pitcher, passed away from cancer at age 66. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com writes about Stephenson.

And the Dodgers’ second-round pick is …

… Ralston Cash, a 19-year-old, 6-foot-1, 197-pound right-handed pitcher from Lakeview Academy in Gainesville, Georgia. Here’s video on Cash from MLB.com. Cash will go to the University of Georgia if the Dodgers don’t sign him.

  • This article by Bill Murphy of the Gainesville Times describes the hardships in Cash’s life after a single-car accident took the life of his mother when he was 3 1/2 years old.
  • Andy Seiler of MLB Bonus Baby filed this long report on Cash in March.

    … My overall impression of Cash was quite positive. He displayed the solid natural stuff that I expected, though his command wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. He consistently left pitches up in the zone, though the Commerce hitters lacked the strength and bat speed to catch up to the ball. His curveball needs some work, and like I said above, I’d change him to a slider based on his arm speed and angle. The pitch even looked like a slider at times, so I wouldn’t see a tough transition. There’s a good bit of upside here, and I came away still seeing him as a solid 3rd-5th round prospect. He had a bad defense behind him, and every scout that evaluates him will have to completely ignore his final line and actual results on batted balls, but the approach is there for a pro pitcher. He’ll need to learn to adjust to having a competent defense behind him, and he’s going to be a flyball pitcher in the long run, but I’m glad I got to see Cash throw a pretty solid outing.

  • In 2010, Cash had a 2.68 ERA and 79 strikeouts, writes Murphy. In 2009, Cash had a 0.97 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 57.2 innings, according to Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  • Here’s a short writeup from BaseballScoutz.com.

* * *

In the third round, the Dodgers picked Leon Landry, a 20-year-old, 5-11, 195-pound outfielder from Louisiana State (the Dodgers are determined to get themselves someone from there.) Here’s the MLB.com video.

  • Keith Law of ESPN.com ranked Landry 82nd overall on his prospect list.
  • Here’s his official Louisiana State bio. Landry had a .418 on-base percentage and .513 slugging percentage this season, with 16 steals in 20 attempts.
  • Friend of Dodger Thoughts John Klima provides this detailed writeup on Landry at Baseball Beginnings.
  • Check out this catch Landry made in a 2008 postseson game:

And the Dodgers’ first-round pick is …

… Zach Lee, 6-foot-4, 195-pound right handed high school pitcher from McKinney, Texas.

He’s a high-school quarterback committed to Louisiana State, so there are immediate signability issues. This draft choice sets up a new referendum on the McCourt ownership.

Here’s a scouting report with video from MLB.com. An excerpt:

Summary: With above-average to plus stuff across the board — fastball, slider, changeup — good command and tremendous athleticsm, Lee should be one of the high school arms being mentioned up close to the top of the Draft, or at least on a short list of top high school arms. If he’s not, it’s largely because of one thing: signability. As a quarterback recruit, he’s committed to play two sports at LSU next year, and many think he’s unsignable as a result. That said, there’s bound to be a team with deep pockets that will take a shot at luring him away from the gridiron and life as a collegiate athlete.

Here’s what Marc Hulet of Fangraphs has to say:

A top quarterback prospect from Texas, it will clearly take a lot ($$$) to sway Lee away from his commitment to Louisiana State University. A team drafting Lee in the first round will have to have a pretty good feel on his signability. Lee has a three pitch repertoire that includes a low-90s fastball, slider, and change-up. His arm slot tends to wander at times. Thanks to his focus on the football field, the right-hander is still raw but he does display solid control for his age.

From ESPN.com:

Lee is a star quarterback who has committed to LSU to play both football and baseball, but if he put word out tomorrow that he was willing to sign and focus exclusively on the world’s greatest sport, he’d go off the board in the top 50 picks next month.

Lee will show three pitches, with the changeup already flashing plus, and his fastball velocity is likely to increase as he fills out and if he dedicates himself to baseball.

He has a really bright future if and when he chooses baseball, but if he’s not interested in a pro career now, doesn’t that say something about the kid’s commitment to football and/or school? Buying him out of LSU isn’t the solution, and I think he’ll be a top-20 guy in 2013.

From Baseball America:

Lee’s status as one of the best quarterback recruits in the nation and a top student will make him one of the most difficult signing decisions in this draft. The perception among area scouts is that Lee might require as much as $3 million—and even that might not be enough to steer him away from playing two sports at Louisiana State. He passed for 2,565 yards and 31 touchdowns last fall, and his arm is just as potent on the mound. He already has a 90-93 mph fastball with room for more projection in his 6-foot-4, 195-pound frame. He also throws a sharp slider and a changeup that needs work but shows promise. Unlike many two-sport stars, he has a lot of polish. Lee has a clean delivery that he repeats, enabling him to throw strikes with ease.

Here’s some video of Lee playing football at YouTube. And here he is on the mound last summer at the Area Code Games.

Jim Callis of Baseball America called the Dodgers “the last team” he expected to go after Lee.

Of course, there’s always the possibility that football is leverage, rather than the top priority for Lee. And it’s not as if the Dodgers have no draft budget – they could always have made a conservative pick that would sign relatively inexpensively. But hardcore fans will be watching carefully to see if the Dodgers punted this pick, or if they will complete the Hail Mary. Certainly, there is going to be tons of skepticism.

The draft continues Tuesday.

Update: From Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:

“People can think what they want, he was the best talent available and I want to sign him, absolutely,” said Logan White, assistant general manager of scouting. “I didn’t take Zach to not sign him. You’ll see as the summer goes along we’ll make every effort to sign him, and I want to sign him. I know it won’t be easy, but hopefully we’ll get it done.” …

“If he focuses on baseball, I think he can move quickly, like Kershaw and Billingsley,” said White. “A lot will be made of the two sports, but as a pitcher, he has a real good arm and delivery, a plus breaking ball, he has a feel for a changeup, and when I saw him he was 90-92 [mph] with the fastball and up to 95. The ball comes out of his hand easily.

“The guy’s a competitor, he’s smart. Put it all together and we really couldn’t pass him up. He’s worth the risk of not signing. I like him that much.”

Unlike many recent Dodgers top picks, the club did not hold a special workout for Lee. According to White, Lee was surprised to get the call.

“He certainly was surprised,” White said. “They didn’t have a feel for what we were going to do. It’s part of the gamesmanship of the Draft.”

Update 2: From Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com:

“These are unusual circumstances,” White said. “I can only say that I am optimistic we will sign him. … [But] I can’t sit here and tell you that we’re going to sign him. It will really be Zach’s decision and his family’s decision. But we feel confident that once he and his family are able to get a good look at what this organization is all about, we’ll have a good chance to get him.”

White said Lee’s fastball has been clocked anywhere between 89-95 mph and routinely hits 93 and that he already has a plus changeup and curveball to go with it.

“One thing I will tell you is that he is quite an athlete,” White said. “One thing we liked was his athleticism, his size and his strength. He is tall and has a very good delivery, just easy, easy arm action. He is a strike thrower, and he knows how to change speeds. He has a great feel for pitching. He doesn’t just try to blow it by everybody, even though he has that ability. It’s a chess game for him because he is very competitive.”

White said Lee plans to follow through with his plans to participate in LSU’s summer football workouts, so an agreement with the Dodgers probably isn’t imminent. White wouldn’t rule out an agreement that would allow Lee to play football at LSU while playing baseball professionally in the Dodgers’ system, but it also didn’t sound like the kind of agreement White is eager to enter into.

“I wouldn’t rule anything out, but I just feel like if we can get him into our organization, he is going to be [in the majors] pretty fast,” White said.

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