The Underground 2007 Draft Class: Where are they now?

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#1 Post by **Nigel** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:41 pm

With London being in a pretty obvious rebuilding mode this year we thought we would look back on the ‘07 draft class and see who is booming and who is busting from the inaugural PEBA amateur draft.

CL Jose “Stool” Diaz Age: 22 Throws: Right Drafted: 1st Round, 7th Overall

Career: Jose started his first professional season playing for the Dover White Cliffs in A ball. He got into 25 games and immediately showed that he was more than ready. A 7.88 K/9 and a 2.17 ERA to go along with zero home runs given up were things the Underground brass had to be excited about. 18 BB in 45.2 IP was the only slight worry on the season.

Jose moved on to AA Montreal for the 2008 season and continued to show that he is probably on the fast track to PEBA. K/BB did drop from 2.22 to 1.97, but his K/9 actually increased to 9.09. Overall he showed that he deserves a shot at AAA this year.

Analysis: Jose is a very nice closer prospect, but he was drafted way too high with the 7th overall pick. With a franchise as starved for minor league talent as London is, this would have been a nice spot for a position player or starting pitcher.

1B George Shaw Age: 22 Bats: Right Drafted: 2nd Round, 31st Overall

Career: George also started out in A ball with the White Cliffs. He got into 29 games, but struggled mightily, hitting .172/.202/.253. He was so bad in his first pro season that he had to repeat the league for 2008. This didn’t help anything. Shaw played in 51 games for Dover this last year and only hit .172/.226/.227. He has failed to show any plate discipline and may be on his way to finding a job in the real world.

Analysis: This was a disaster of a pick for London. The type of pick that gets front office personnel fired. Shaw was basically a replacement level college player. He should have never been picked in this spot.

1B Matt Ramey Age: 20 Bats: Right Drafted: 3rd Round, 55th Overall

Career: Matt was drafted out of South Caldwell High and was immediately sent to Dover in the Amber Waves League. He struggled as an 18 year old there, hitting .196/.217/.232 with only 3 extra base hits. 2008 brought more of the same, splitting time between short season Maui and Dover. He did show some overall improvement in Maui with a .328 OBP, but nothing to write home about.

Analysis: Matt is another pick that leaves me dumbfounded. He never even played for his high school team. This should tell us something.

1B Jeffrey Wilkinson Age: 23 Bats: Right Drafted: 4th Round, 79th Overall

Career: Jeffrey really struggled in ’07 coming out of Marshall, hitting .214/.236/.297 in Dover. He turned things around in a big way hitting .341/.371/.453 and being selected to the A ball All-Star game in '08. Not long after he was promoted to AA and didn't skip a beat hitting .339/.377/.464. The big question for him now is can he start turning those doubles into home runs.

Analysis: Jeffrey was the 3rd 1B selected by London in this draft and maybe the first to ever make something of himself in this league. There are no guarantees, but Jeffrey looks like he will crack the London lineup at some point in the next few years.

RF Cristian Gonzales Age: 19 Bats: Right Drafted: 5th Round, 103rd Overall

Career: Crisitan has been all over the map playing in S-A, A and AA ball in his two years in professional baseball. He was most impressive in 2008 with limited AB’s in AA hitting .213/.248/.389. Yes, this is his most impressive line.

Analysis: Cristian still has youth going for him, but he needs to turn things around quickly or he may find himself out of baseball for good.

C Jose Lara Age: 22 Bats: Switch Drafted: 6th Round, 127th Overall

Career: Jose struggled early on in his professional career with a line of .180/.217/.207 in 2007 for Dover. 2008 brought improvement for Lara with a .234/.299/.304 line repeating the league. Lara also won the Glove Wizard at catcher for the AWL.

Analysis: Catching seems to be a rare commodity and Lara seems to benefit from that. If he can stay strong defensively and improve slightly with the bat, he could possibly be a backup catcher in PEBA someday.

MR Mitch O’Clery Age: 20 Throws: Right Drafted: 7th Round, 151st Overall

Career: O’Clery was not ready for A ball coming out of high school as an 18 year old and his stat line proves it. 5.11 ERA 49.1 IP 66H 24BB 14K. Luckily for him S-A Maui opened up shop in 2008. He earned a 0.86 ERA for Maui in 2008, but still had a worrisome 18 BB 25 K ratio. He got a second chance in Dover in ’08 and still struggled once again with control.

Analysis: O’Clery will need to drastically improve his control if he is ever going to make it past A ball.

3B Sacha de Lijser Age: 22 Bats: Right Drafted: 8th Round, 175th Overall

Career: Sacha came out of Rutgers straight to Dover in ’07 to post a .261/.297/.331 line. He was relatively impressive taking into account the other hitters from this draft. Sacha repeated Dover in ’08 and improved his line slightly to .273/.312/.370.

Analysis: Sacha is a nice player considering he was drafted so low. With a little work on plate discipline he has an outside chance of reaching PEBA.

9th and 10th round picks: they were so bad there is no record of them ever existing. It’s like a bad twilight zone episode.

Overall, there are probably 2 players from this class that I can say will see time in London in the future. The second and third picks have proven to be disastrous and really hurt the depth of the minor league system. London needs to draft well in the future if they ever have a chance at competing with the big boys of this league. Here’s hoping GM Miller and Head Scout Eaton know what they are doing.

* This series will continue with the 2008 draft recap in the coming weeks.

#2 Post by **John** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:37 pm

I actually enjoy these draft retrospectives even more when some time has passed. Everyone is usually breathlessly optimistic about their picks the day after they've made them, but the truth begins to reveal itself a few years down the line. Sometimes that truth is even brighter than the original optimism; other times it's a harsh light cast on a once-promising picture.

This retrospective is particularly interesting because Scott wasn't responsible for the draft being analyzed. Chris Jones was the GM back when the '07 amateur draft was held. It'll be interesting to see how Scott's picks from the '08 draft stack up (although obviously less time has passed, so judging them will be more difficult).

Tyler · #3 Post by **Tyler** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:42 pm

Add me as another who thoroughly enjoyed this. Once I get time I should look back through the Coal Sox drafts...

Denny · #4 Post by **Denny** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:50 am

I liked it a great deal as well.

I'm always curious about what factors into other folks' decision-making process at draft time. Scouts' opinions? Amateur stats? Physical attributes? Positional need? Hunches?

Not ranking players and letting the system do it for you?

#5 Post by **John** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:00 am

Amateur stats personally factor in heavily for me. Scouting reports, yes, but not as much as performance. The same can be said for physical attributes. It was for these reasons that I was so high on Michael Burton. The scouts liked him, but not as much as others. Physically he's certainly no amazing specimen (just 5'10"). But oh, that performance! He was arguably the best offensive player in the USCBA for two straight years. I'm willing to overlook a lot for that.

Bill · #6 Post by **Bill** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 9:45 am

As I read this article I thought, "Man, now here's a guy who isn't afraid to recognize his own mistakes." Then I recalled that he was actually recognizing his predecessor's mistakes. All that makes him is a 2008 Presidential candidate.

#7 Post by **Nigel** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:21 pm

Warriors wrote:As I read this article I thought, "Man, now here's a guy who isn't afraid to recognize his own mistakes." Then I recalled that he was actually recognizing his predecessor's mistakes. All that makes him is a 2008 Presidential candidate.

Well, to be fair, when I read this before posting it I thought to myself, “Man, this is pretty negative in some spots.” But I was writing it from the perspective of a newspaper man who has followed the club since its inception. London has been a pretty bad team since the creation of PEBA, so I figured a local sports guy would not hold back on some punches.

The problem with writing the article was that it had to be based on hindsight and results. I don’t know the circumstances of some of the picks mentioned. It’s possible the London scout absolutely loved George Shaw. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing that, so I went with a results based article. If the players had really developed well you would have seen a much more positive piece. It wasn’t really meant to bash a former owner, although I do not agree with some of his drafting philosophies.

2009 will be my first draft and I’m pretty excited to get some players in the system that I actually have to take ownership for. If they crash and burn, I don’t think I would hold back on myself either.

#8 Post by **John** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:46 pm

Ah, that's right, Scott came on just after last year's amateur draft (three weeks after, to be exact). So the '08 retrospective will also be without the benefit of having personally picked those players. Interesting... I wonder if they'll fare any better, particularly seeing as they were selected more recently?