The London Times

Friday, July 31, 2009

We recently had a rare chance to sit down with Scott Miller, the GM of the London Underground, and talk about the 2009 amateur draft.  He was surprisingly candid about certain picks and what he and scout Kent Eaton felt about the grueling weekend.

Rd. 1 – Decheng Wen, 1B

Going into the draft, I had an idea of who was going to be around at #4 and had told myself that if Brad Cain was available I would be taking him.  I knew Bradley and Robles would most likely be gone, so pitching was out of the question.  Our scout had Cain, Wen, Traux and Watts all fairly even behind the two pitchers.  I wanted to try and avoid choosing an injured player for the obvious reasons, and a high school player wasn’t the best option for me.  I did a little homework and felt that Wen was the best pure bat in the draft.  He really has a very patient approach at the plate with power to boot.  Speed is above average and will most likely end up DH’ing at some point.  Our system is void of really top notch hitters and it was really nice to pick up a bat like this.

Rd. 2 – Juan Zúñiga, SS

With our second pick I was eyeing some of the better middle infield prospects left on the board.  The two that stood out to me at the time were José Morán and Juan Zúñiga.  Morán was chosen two picks ahead of me, so it made the decision all too easy.  I really feel that Zúñiga could have easily been selected in the first round, but fell for whatever reason.  In fact, I think our scout had him as maybe the 11^th best prospect in the draft.  In his three years at Rutgers he never really had a down season, hitting .346/.423/.495 for his career.  Add to that above average speed and average to above average defense and you have a really good looking prospect on your hands.

Rd. 3 – Rory Baker, RF

This pick is where I deviated a little from our scout.  Through my own homework on the draft I found Rory to be an excellent hitter at the college level.  Never having a season below a .400 OPS with a .554 career slugging, he seemed too good to pass up given the dearth of hitting in our system.  Our scout doesn’t think as highly of him, so this will be a pick I watch closely to see how he develops.  This could be a boom/bust type of guy for me.

Rd. 4 – Steve Jordan, C

Great defensive ability with good offensive output for a catcher.  His work ethic scares me a little bit, but overall, with the need for catching in our system, he will fit in nicely.

Rd. 5 – Miguel Rosa, SP

Our first pitcher is taken in round 5.  I had Rosa as one of our top 6-7 college starters available, so I feel pretty good about getting him here.  K/9 of 9.72 in college is very solid, but will have to work on his control to climb the ladder.  His velocity is a little weak, topping out at 88 MPH.  Right out of the gate he becomes one of the best starters in our system.  I’m not sure if that is a compliment or not.

Rd. 6 – Robert Johnson, 2B

Another middle infielder for me in Round 6.  Johnson was someone that caught our eye because of his patient approach in a small sample of at-bats.  He is pretty crude defensively, but if he can hit he will rise in our organization.

Rd. 7 – Eduardo Mejía  SP

Eduardo is our second starter taken in this draft.  Another soft-tosser, barely able to hit 87 on the gun.  His intelligence and work ethic are solid and he had a good ability to keep the ball in the park.  Best case scenario: probably a back end of the rotation guy.

Rd. 8 – Eduardo Pérez, LF

Pérez is our first high school player chosen in this draft.  Going in, I really felt I needed a quick injection of talent into our system.  What better way to do that then draft older, more experienced guys?  This late into the draft, though, I felt that I could take a few more shots at some younger guys.  Pérez looks like he could be a pretty good LF in the future and showed some ability with the bat as well.  It will be a few years down the road before we can grade the Pérez pick adequately.

Rd. 10 – Stanton Jewell, SP

Our first starter that can hit 90 on the gun!  He is an extreme groundball pitcher that has decent size and a 4-pitch repertoire.  He had a very nice K/BB ratio for this late in the draft as well.

Rd. 11 – Joe Sawyer, MR

5’11’’ righty that shows promise in his K/9 rating, but also worries with a fairly high BB/9.  He will need to work on his control to succeed at the next level.

Rd. 12 – Enrico Longoria, 2B

18-year-old second baseman out of Bishop Moore HS.  He may never be more than average defensively, but he did OPS .803 in his high school career with 42 doubles.

Rd. 13 – Alejandro Andrade, SS

I let our scout draft this guy and I’m not sure I like the pick.  Never showed any ability with the bat at Penn State, OPS’ing a measly .571 for his career.  The one shining spot for this guy is his ungodly infield defense.  Our scout has this guy off the chart.

Rd. 14 – José Mejía, SP

At this point in the draft I started looking at our SS-A roster and noticing that I was very short on pitching.  This need dominated the rest of our draft.  Mejía is a guy with a strong frame, great endurance and 4 pitches he uses regularly.  He doesn’t project to be someone who will rocket through the system and I’ll be surprised if he’s ever more than a minor leaguer.

Rd. 15 – Bill Heath, MR

Righty who tops out at 89 on the gun.  Another extreme groundball pitcher.  His best asset is keeping the ball in the park.  Let’s hope he does just that.

Rd. 16 – Sergio Valentín, MR

Righty out of USC that was injured most of the ’09 season.  This was a flub on our part.  I was trying to get some pitchers onto our SS-A team and didn’t even notice this guy was injured for the year.

Rd. 17 – Mark McDonald, 2B

This is where our scout took over for the rest of the draft.  Strong defensive second baseman that was a very pedestrian hitter in his limited at-bats in college.

Rd. 18 – Román Sánchez, SP

6’5’’ righty out of Purdue that posted a -29.6 VORP for his college career.  Yep, this guy has a long road ahead if he ever hopes to make the PEBA.

Rd. 19 – Joe Perry, C

Decent ability behind the dish with a replacement level bat.  Besides being raised by crazy Aerosmith fans, there is little to see here.

Rd. 20 – Nick Henderson, LF

Decent ability in LF, but only had 3 ABs in college.  He will be lucky to get that many for me in SS-A.

London Times: How do you feel about the class now that they have had a few months to play in professional ball?

GM Miller: Well, most of the time we notice it takes a little time for these guys to adapt to the next level.  This year has been no different.  Many are struggling, but I expect the light bulb to turn on for quite a few of these guys.

London Times: How was the experience?  I know this was your first chance at drafting in the PEBA.

GM Miller: It was a great weekend, but also very taxing.  The competition is tough, so you need to stay on your toes through 20 rounds.

London Times: Well, it was great to get your thoughts on these guys.  I'm so glad we had this opportunity.

GM Miller: Thanks for having me.  I always enjoy talking baseball.  I'm already checking out next year’s crop!