8/4/2013: Tempe, AZ – The draft was almost two months ago, but now that Bakersfield has signed most of their picks, Bears’ Insider is going to take a look at the new crop of young talent that joined the organization.  We’ll also give readers a peak into the Bears’ war room and what went down on draft day from a Bears perspective.

Round 1, Pick 20 – Bakersfield Bears: SP David Barton

Sources tell us that Bakersfield did not stay true to their board in this draft.  There were other players that were much higher rated, including some of the players the Bears later drafted, but they believed that Barton had the most value at this pick.  He was the 5^th-highest rated pitcher on their board.  This 21-year-old right-handed starter had been a solid pitcher for the South Florida Citrus for all four year of his college career.  Bakersfield really was impressed with his sophomore season, when he was 8-2 with a 2.67 ERA, and believed he had the ability to return to that form.  Unfortunately, his professional career has not started off as planned.  On July 11^th, Barton sustained a serious season-ending injury when he tore his rotator cuff.  The Bears hope that he can make a full recovery in four to five months, but this was a blow to the draft class.  David’s morale is good as he recuperates, though, and he is said to be enjoying his recovery watching Mr. Belvedere and Benson reruns.

Round 1 (Supplemental Round), Pick 2 – 1B Carlos Sáenz

With the second pick, the Bears took a player that they had considered with the first pick.  It came down to Carlos and 2B Manny De Los Santos, LF Lorenzo Valenzuela and RF Gabriel Domínguez.  Despite the fact that the Bears’ would have preferred to get a more seasoned college prospect and their concerns about his injury-plagued senior season, the Bears’ took Carlos.  They were impressed with this ability to dominate at the high school level.  His career .811 SLG% and 1.326 OPS are both high school records.  Carlos was really hoping that his hometown New Orleans Trendsetters would have been able to draft him, but he did not want to wait until the 7^th round to hear his name.  Carlos was very relieved when he heard there are many Cajun restaurants as well as a Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken restaurant.

Round 2, Pick 11 – RF Gabriel Domínguez

The Bears were leery of drafting another high school star but again could not resist the talent they saw after watching Gabriel explode offensively in his senior year with a .432 batting average and 1.235 OPS.  Gabe was disappointed that he dropped into the second round but was excited to be drafted along with Carlos Sáenz.  After playing each other in high school, they had become very close friends.  Gabe calls Carlos the “youngster” because he was born one day earlier.  The Bears were not really considering any other players at this pick, as Gabe was the guy they really wanted.  Gabriel and Carlos are both fully aware of the demands of professional baseball and are both down-to-earth young men even though they are both now 18-year-old millionaires.  The only luxury splurge was the diamond encrusted best friends charm necklace they both wear.

Round 2, Pick 20 – CF Liam Meyer

Bakersfield sees Liam as a professional hitter.  He was a great college performer with his career .403 batting average.  The Bears have started him out in Single-A and he has struggled, yet the organization remains very high on Liam.  He dominated in college for the Penn State Pride and was probably the best player on his team all four years despite an injury-plagued junior season.  Liam has a great work ethic and the Bears are expecting him to move through the system quickly.  There was also some interest in Wade Wilkins at this pick, but though he was briefly considered, the team wanted a college player.  Bakersfield actually considered Liam earlier in the day and even discussed him in the first round, so they were delighted to get him with the 52^nd overall pick.

Round 3, Pick 20 – SP Wade Morris

The Bears were not expecting to take another high school player and didn’t believe that any more pitching prospects were going to be available, but when they took a closer look at the senior year that Morris had just completed, they could not resist.  His 8-0 record, 2.86 ERA and 35.5 VORP were all league-leading stats.  Up until his senior year, Morris was not on the Bears’ radar at all, but they are now very excited about his future.  Signability did come in to play with this pick because the two other players Bakersfield was interested in would have been difficult to sign.  Jim Griffin would have been too expensive with the amount of money already planned for earlier picks, and Yifu Chen appeared to be a difficult signing for the Bears but looks to be one of the steals of the draft.

The rest of the picks are either unsigned or not considered to be top prospects and thus not particularly noteworthy.  Although rumors do persist that the 7^th round pick Glen Ross was chosen because bears mistakenly believed they were drafting Bob Ross the artist.

Other players that the Bears really liked were Kane Carney, who looks like he was another one of the better steals of the draft, and Rick Kramer, who also looked pretty good until his career-ending injury setback.

Overall, the Bears are very excited about their draft, but as always, it will be years until they will know if the prospects pan out – especially with the higher-priced high school signings.