Next up in our draft coverage is the AL East. The teams in the AL East have been playing well on the field as of late, let's see how they did on draft day.
AL EAST
Atlanta Expos
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With the 23rd pick, the Expos got right handed pitcher Duffy Hughes. Hughes has superb control, very good splits, and 3 good pitches. He keeps the ball down fairly well, and has average velocity. He won’t give you a ton of innings, maybe 180 or so per season. His downside is that he could probably use a 4th pitch to mix it up a bit, that may hold him back from reaching all star status, but he should be a solid #3 or #4. In rounds 2-4 they got three interesting LF/1B/DH types who could be useful in the majors, although none will be all stars. After that, they got a few defensive specialists, and the rest are career minor leaguers.
Final Analysis: Hughes was good value for #23, and one or two of those hitters they got in rounds 2-4 should be able to help the big league club.
Grade: B
Boston Massacre
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With the 15th pick, Boston got a crafty righty in Dave Munson. Munson is a workhorse type, with excellent control and RH split. He also keeps the ball down well. He appears to be a bit vulnerable to lefties, doesn’t have a lot of velocity, and his pitches are just ok. He should be a nice #3 or #4 starter who will eat up a ton of innings. Kane Hemphill was a nice value pick in round 2. If he hits his projections, he looks to have closer type ratings. They got a few interesting offensive players in rounds 3-5, and got some fringe major league type relievers in the later rounds.
Final Analysis: Call us biased, but this looks like a pretty nice draft for the Massacre.
Grade: A-
Burlington Huskies
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With the 24th pick, the Huskies landed Giovanni Shelley, who is a great bat with excellent power and contact, and very good batting eye and splits. He will particularly pose a problem for lefties, especially if they leave it up in the zone. Defensively he is a fringe 2nd baseman, he could probably pass for one, but ideally you’d play him at 1B, LF or DH, and his bat is definitely good enough to play him at one of those positions. They also had the 30th pick and got CF John McCarthy, who has a good bat to go with excellent defensive skills. He also has nice speed. On the downside, injuries may be a problem. In the supp round, they landed Amp Harriger, a hard throwing righty with great control, and good pitches. He’ll eat up a lot of innings too, but his splits aren’t great, particularly vs. lefties, but he’s still good value for the supp round. After that, they landed a couple of fringe major league types, including a nice defensive shortstop, a solid arm, and a decent 1B.
Final Analysis: Burlington had 3 picks in the top 35, and they put them to good use.
Grade: A
Durham Radicals
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With the 4th overall pick, the Durham Radicals landed lefty pitcher Alan Henley. The combination of superb control, splits, pitches, velocity, and GB/FB factor projects him to be one of the pitchers I’ve seen. If only he had more stamina. At least he has above average durability, but the low stamina will probably hold him back to 150-160 innings per season. But what a 150-160 innings those will be. SP Carlos Felix was a nice 2nd round value pick. Any way he can lend some of his 100 stamina to Henley? After that, they got a couple of great fielding shortstops, and a slew of mediocre arms that probably won’t see the majors.
Final Analysis: Henley should be phenomenal. They got a couple of decent prospects after that too, although it wasn’t an incredibly deep draft for them.
Grade: B+
UP NEXT: AL SOUTH