And I ain’t getting my haircut, neither.
No, not that Dante…The Yanks picked Dante Bichette Jr. in the amateur draft yesterday. And I’ve no idea if he’s a scrub or not, no matter how much I disliked watching his old man’s theatrics back when. Here’s the early returns from Rivera Ave and The Yankee Analysts.
The Red Sox drafted four players before the Yankees grabbed Bichette. Their first pick, U Conn pitcher Matt Barnes, is a big Yankee fan. Or was, I should say.
But we have Rafael Soriano, so it works out fine.
[2] Papelbon came out of St. John's and was a Yanks fan until Boston drafted him, so I guess it's subjective considering how that turned out.
Wowzers, Jr's a dead ringer for his dad, huh?
I enjoy watching the draft and reading the prospect experts, but I think we and they take themselves way too seriously. This isn't the NFL and NBA, where physical size and measurable attributes like speed are major components of performance. Also, we and the experts don't have the opportunity to watch them regularly in games featuring a comparable level of competition. In other words, what the scouting services provide are very brief snapshots. As good as Keith Law and Kevin Goldtein may be, this isn't Mel Kiper Jr. watching countless hours of NCAA Division I footage.
Watched a few minutes on MLB TV with "HALL OF FAMER" Peter Gammons...click.
[2] I think you are talking about the other pitcher to come out of St. John's, whose name is escaping me right now. I remember him being a big flamethrower and he did play in the majors but wasn't that good, I also remember he was a big Yankee fan.
Papsmear went to Mississippi State University, not St.John's.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/papeljo01.shtml
[5] Craig Hansen. The Sox drafted him in '05 and everyone immediately said "well if their bullpen needs a boost down the stretch, they can just slot him into the closer's role" as that was the year Foulke imploded...and apparently its JUST THAT EASY (!!!) to be a major league closer.
De La reference!
Craig Hansen, yes I remember now, thanks. Yeah, that didn't work out to well, huh... Why does Matt Barnes' name sound so familiar? Was there another player by that name or is Matt Barnes just a baseball-sounding name?
Yankees drafted someone named Zachary Arneson in the 9th round. He's obviously going to be a stud.
William, as usual, you're right on. This is so much more a guessing game than the NFL or the NBA, and those are not exact sciences either. Projecting a college player, or worse a high school player, and whether he has the stuff to make the major leagues involves so many variables that no one can really be considered a true expert. That doesn't mean that teams shouldn't do as much research and preparation as they can; it just means that they can forget about words like "guarantee" and "can't miss" and "future star." We've all seen too many Brien Taylors, Todd Van Poppels, David Clydes, Dave Hiltons, and whoever that guy was that the Mets took ahead of Reggie Jackson.
Heck, it's hard enough trying to project a Triple-A player as a major leaguer. A college or high school prospect is about two to three rungs (or more) below that level, unless you're talking about Strasburg or Harper, and even then the injury bug will have its say.