"We entered this draft with specific players we wanted to acquire and we are happy to say we got many of the guys we were targeting", stated GM Luddington.
The Posse had two selections in the first round (including the 9th overall selection) and then had to wait until the compensation round to make their third selection. With their first selection they went for 17 year old Seattle shortstop Carlos Triunfel.
Triunfel was signed as an internation free agent in 2006 by the Mariners and was assigned to Low A Wisconsin, which is quite rare for a young 17 year old. Baseball America currently projects Triunfel to be a 5-tool premium position player, and so far he is demonstrating many of the tools. Currently Triunfel is showing he has a very mature bat as he has demonstrated the ability to hit both fastballs and offspeed pitches and uses the whole field. He also has demonstrate very good range defensively and a great arm. What Carlos has not shown yet is the ability to take a walk, which may never come, and the ability to hit for power, which is expected to come. "We are extremely excited about Carlos. Only one other player on our list received a rating similar to Carlos. We expect he will replace Derek Jeter in a few years.", claimed GM Luddington.To conclude the first round the Posse went the usual route they go for during the draft and that is to select the top talented "next draft" prospects. California High School junior Isaac Galloway was the first target on that list. Galloway is a 5-tool prospect that has the ability to hit for both power and steal bases. His package seems to be very similar to current Posse prospect Andrew McCutchen. Posse management then orchestrated a trade, which could not be completed until after the draft, by sending recently acquired prospects Carlos Gonzalez, Joel Guzman and CJ Henry to the Rampage for the next pick after Galloway, a compensation pick, a player acquired through the auction and the Rampage 2008 1st round minor league draft pick. With the sandwich pick just acquired they Rampage selected on behalf of the Posse, California high school junior Aaron Hicks. "To be honest, the direction of the first round really forced us to react.", stated GM Luddington. "So many high schoolers went in the first round, and when the Millers took Eric Hosmer (who we rated #3 on our 2008 high school list) we got worried that we would not get our top two 2008's. We got Galloway with one, but did not think Hicks would make it until our next pick in the compensation round. Giving up Gonzalez was difficult but with current outfield youngsters Quentin, Maybin, McCutchen and Marrero we figured we could afford to. Guzman and Henry were really throw in's to balance out the rosters to 36. In return, we got Hicks who we covet, we got what should amount to a top 3 pick in the 2008 draft and we knew we probably would get a couple solid pitching prospects late".
The Posse did not pick again until the compensation round where they made two selection. The first one was made by the Posse and they took another high school junior, but this time it was Harold Martinez from Florida. "We have been following Martinez probably longer then any prospect since we took over the reigns in Oak Ridges. In our opinion Martinez and Triunfel are very similar players, and both have the tools to be superstars. This allows us to be extremely deep at SS as both join Justin Jackson
on our depth chart" With the second compensation pick, the Posse had the Rampage select Yu Darvish from Japan. This is actually the second time GM Luddington has drafted Yu Darvish, with the first time being when Darvish was a high school senior in Japan and GM Luddington was running the show for NAFTA. "There is no pitcher I wanted in this draft more then Yu, but I also knew I could get him later in the draft. I first draft Darvish because I knew he had the talent and rolled the dice that he may come to the majors instead of the Japanese league. That did not pay off, but I knew that in a few more years I would re-acquire him.", claimed FM Luddington. Darvish was draft 1st overall, and at the age of 20 is already in his third full season in Japan. So far he is the "next one" in Japan as he already has started 10 games, tossed 80 innings, allowed opponents to bat only .167 against him, walked only 19 batters, struck out 9.11 players per 9 innings and compiled a 2.03 ERA....and he is only 20! Darvish cannot become a free agent for 6 more years, but he is expected to be posted earlier then that. When asked about how long it will be until Darvish will be in a Posse uniform Luddington stated "It is worth the wait. Any high schooler is probably 4-5 years away anyways, wo there is not much of a difference. Just a more experienced and proven option."In the midst of the compensation round, the Posse made another trade, but this one was much more surprising as they dealt top high school senior Matt Harvey to the Pioneers for Los Angeles Angels Korean youngster Young-Il Jung and the Pioneers 1st and 2nd rounders in the 2008 minor league draft. "Basically we were approached by the Pioneers about acquiring Harvey. We love Harvey's talent but also recognize that Matt's family are very close with the Pioneers management. We actually feel that Jung has as much talent as Matt and were able to acquire another 1st round pick for next year.". Sounds like a win-win trade! Jung is a 17 year old pitcher that has three above average offerings and has the ability to become a #2 or #3 starter. He currently is pitching extremely well in extended spring.
In the auction round the Posse picked up two more players, taking high school junior Casey Kelly and high school senior Neil Ramirez. Ramirez was the final player acquired in the Rampage trade and has the pure stuff to be a top of the rotation starter but so far has not shown any consistency. Casey Kelly was ranked 5th on the Rampage's high school junior draft board, but
also brings a ton of doubters with him. Kelly is an incredibe athlete who can be a top notch baseball prospect as either a pitcher or as a hitter. He has a large frame and will probably outgrow shortstop, but a move to either third base or right field is an option. He has all the tools to do either. He also happens to be one of the top pitching prospects, as evidence by taking the ball in the Florida 6A finals and throwing a complete game 2 hit shutout including striking out top high school senior Michael Main 3 times. What raises questions around Kelly is that he also plays quarterback in football and may not be willing to give up that sport. The good news is he is not being recruited by many top football programs (Alabama, Duke, Ole Miss, Rutgers, South Florida, Tennessee and UCF)."We are extremely happy with this draft. We acquired top talent at key positions which is always our goal", stated GM Luddington. The Posse also have three first round picks and two second round picks in 2008.
No comments:
Post a Comment