It's time to move over to the AL East to see who the newest stars in the division are going to be!
Boston Massacre
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First rounder Willie Seay projects to be an excellent fielding shortstop with a good bat, particularly against lefties. He has above average power – we’ll say maybe 25 HR a year, which is a bonus at the shortstop position. Supp pick Phillip Owens is a catcher with great contact and power, a nice batting eye, but only mediocre splits. He projects to be a decent, not great catcher defensively, and has an eye-popping 100 projected durability, something you don’t see often from a catcher. 2nd rounder Jerry Wise and 3rd rounder Dingo Farquhar are fairly good arms with a shot at making the majors. They got a few other decent players in the later rounds who could be fringe major leaguers.
Draft Analysis: Seay and Owens are good hitters – but you would have thought pitching would have been more of a priority – at least there’s always trades!
Grade: B+
Burlington Huskies
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First rounder Dwight Weatherford is a speedy 2B with great baserunning skills. He has great range, but only an average glove on defense. His strength at the plate is against lefties – everywhere else batting wise he is good, but not spectacular. He should put up decent numbers, but will never be an all star. Supp pick B.C. Willis has tremendous power and is solid at the plate vs. lefties – but has weak contact and below average batting eye. Seems like a platoon type at best vs. lefties in the bigs. 2nd rounder Harry Dorsey was a good value pick, with major league potential. Later on, they landed a couple of defensive wizards and a few decent arms.
Final Analysis: It was a fairly deep draft for Burlington – but lacked any real standouts.
Grade: B-
Chicago Chokers
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First rounder Larry Ramsay projects solid across the board in splits, contact, power and batting eye, although isn’t spectacular in any one category. He’s good defensively, and would be an excellent 2B or 3B – he’d be a reach as a shortstop. Not a bad pick up at the #30 spot. They landed some decent arms in the 2nd and 3rd round in Bonilla and Valdes – they could each possibly make it to the majors. And they had a few other good arms later on with potential as well.
Final Analysis: Not a bad draft for Chicago, but not spectacular
Grade: B-
Durham Radicals
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The Radicals landed 2BJumbo Almanzar with the fifth overall pick, and did quite well for themselves. He has outstanding power, splits and batting eye, and nice contact as well. In Durham, he could easily hit 40 HR a season with a .290 average. He’s not spectacular defensively, but with his hitting skills, we’re sure Durham is willing to overlook that. 2nd rounder Eduardo Hernandez is a nice hitting first baseman, with a great batting eye, especially against lefties. He doesn’t have a lot of power, but should put great AVG and OBP. Durham picked up a handful of useful arms in the later rounds. Unfortunately their 3rd and 4th rounders wanted top 5 pick money and probably won’t be signed. But some of the ones that did sign do have major league potential.
Final Analysis: One superstar, a good bat, and a bunch of good arms – I’d say that’s a nice draft.
Grade: A