Next up in the draft recap is the NL West - a division that is much closer this season than it has been in past years. Let's see who close the race for the top draft in the NL West is!
NL WEST
Cheyenne Chiefs
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With the #7 pick, Cheyenne landed Denny Morton, a workhorse righty SP. He’s got superb control and a very nice RH split, to go with a respectable LH split, and good pitches. We rate him as one of the top SP’s in the draft, and has upside to be a top of the rotation starter. 2nd rounder Khoury Waters is a nice relief prospect, who could excel in a long relief or setup role in the majors one day. 3rd rounder Quinn Pryce is an excellent defensive catcher, with a decent bat. After that, they landed a few more decent arms, one or two of which could reach the bigs.
Final Synopsis: A deep draft for Cheyenne, and they landed a potential top of the rotation starter in Morton.
Grade: A
Honolulu Haoles
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With the 22nd pick, the Haoles got 1B Stevie Stanley. Although he doesn’t offer much defensively, Stanley can flat out hit, with great contact and power and stellar splits and batting eye. He’ll be a great add to the lineup once he hits the majors. 2nd rounder Mac Breen was a great value pick, the only concern being injuries, given that he’s already landed on the DL with an elbow strain. 5th rounder Doc O’Neill stands out as a good value pick for where he has taken.
Final Synopsis: Stanley will be a stud, and so will Breen if he can stay healthy.
Grade: A-
Los Angeles Lunatics
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L.A. had the first pick in the draft, and selected lefty SP Alex Andrus, and it was a number one pick well used. Andrus looks to be a sure fire staff ace – and he should put up fantastic numbers in a pitcher’s park like L.A. 2nd rounder Darron Wolf looks to have tremendous fielding skills and a solid bat to boot, and definitely looks to have a future as a major leaguer. After that, they got a couple of more decent bats.
Final Synopsis: Andrus alone is enough for a high grade, and they also utilized their later picks well, which is another boost for their grade.
Grade: A+
Sacramento Fighting Cornish Hens
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At #30, the Cornish Hens grabbed lefty workhorse SP Amos Duffy. He’s got very good splits, a killer 4-seam fastball, 2 other nice pitches, and can eat up a ton of innings. He’ll have to get as close as possible to his projections in the aforementioned categories to make up for mediocre control. As mentioned previously, it was a thin draft class, so he was about as good as it got when pick 30 rolled around. Infield prospect Luke Sizemore was a good value pick for a late 2nd rounder, and could be a major league backup. After that, they landed some decent fringe major league type sticks.
Final Synopsis: Not a spectacular class, but Sacto did about as well as could be expected from where they were picking.
Grade: B-
UP NEXT: AL WEST