BrassWorld 2004 1^st Round Draft Analysis

A few months ago, Bill Galanis presented an interesting article on the BW startup draft. Since our 2005 draft is coming soon, I thought I would look back to the BW 2004 draft 1^st round for some insight.

The BW 2004 draft 1st round went as follows with my draft analysis after each pick:

PICK	ROUND 1	PLAYER
1	Silver	Brandon Webb
	Webb started 35, with a 1.50 whip, still young very good pick by Silver esp. if you value starting pitchers
2	Northwoods	Edwin Jackson
	Jackson had a limited unproductive season, still very young and should bounce back to become a good major league pitcher
3	Port Richey	Horacio Ramirez
	Injuries had a big effect on Ramirez last season and he remains questionable for future
4	Savannah	Scott Podsednik
	Lots of games with .677 OPS now in CWS, stole 70 bases, needs to improve OB and slugging
5	San Bernardino	Jae Seo
	21 Starts and 1.55 whip, uncertain future but provides starts
6	Baltimore	Ryan Wagner
	Injuries again effects performance, limited to 51 IPs and 1.67 whip, young and should return to good value
7	Taggart	Greg Miller, p, LA, (min)
	Shoulder surgery and uncertain future for Dodgers prospect
8	Rivendell	Jody Gerut
	After 134 games with .739 OPS, Jody Gerut had successful reconstructive surgery on his right knee to repair a torn ACL
9	Portland	Cole Hamels, p, Phi, (min)
	Philly pitching prospect limited to 4 starts last year in minors
10	Northwoods (Annadale)	Jason Bay
	Excellent pick at #10, .908 OPS in 120 games for Pittsburgh with bright future. This may be the best pick of the 1^st round.
11	Gotham City	Dan Haren
	The A's acquired Dan Haren from the Cardinals in the Mark Mulder deal. Haren will get a shot in the Oakland rotation next season, could be a great pick.
12	Buckeye	Brandon Claussen
	14 shaky starts for Cincinnati last season, uncertain future
13	West Oakland	Rob Hammock
	Another injury story with cloudy future, may have to give up catching due to knee injury
14	Williamsburg	Jeremy Reed, of, CWS (min)
	Jeremy Reed would start 2005 in center field alongside Randy Winn in left and Ichiro in right, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
15	Greenville	Adam LaRoche, Atl, 1b (min)
	Again injury limted season to 110 games but productive .821 OPS. Should start at 1b for Atlanta
16	Northwoods (Virginia)	Chad Cordero
	This would have been my pick (:< Expo Closer with 82 IPs and 1.34 whip.
17	Williamsburg (Plum Island)	Jeff Niemann, p, Rice (min)
	College pick with unknown pro future, may be a good one
18	Tampa Bay	Matt Kata
	Another injury, after only 42 games, dislocated shoulder, ouch!
19	Rivendell (Maryland)	Claudio Vargas
	Spot starter for Washington. 14 starts with 1.55 whip.
20	Waukesha	Reed Johnson
	Toronto OFer with 141 games and .700 OPS, may be 4^th OFer next year
21	Toontown	Jeriome Robertson
	Bounced around with several teams and winds up with the Reds. Uncertain future at this time.
22	Aspen	Jason Stanford
	Another injury here, Jason Stanford underwent Tommy John surgery. He won't return to action until sometime after the 2005 All-Star break.
23	Lafontaine Park	Brian Fuentes
	Decent and useful lefty reliever (although in Colorado now). Good pick for Daniel, gave us fits in the playoffs last year too.
24	Syracuse	Franklin Gutierrez, of, LA, (min)
	Dodger of prospect with good future

Well, as you can see from the table above, injuries played a large part in limiting the draft picks value last year. It was surprising how many young players were plagued by injuries.

Each of us values players and especially prospects using different yard sticks.

After reviewing the 2004 1^st round BW draft, Virginia has traded both its 2005 and 2006 1^st and 2^nd round draft picks. The Patriots with 40 players on our roster will be drafting only amateurs in the 2005 BW draft.

Hope that you enjoyed looking back on last years BW 1^st round and I wish you well in the BW 2005 draft and upcoming season.