Mocking the Draft
The Chicago White Sox chose IF Gordon Beckham yesterday in the MLB draft. Whoo hoo.
Forgive my lack of excitement. Face it kids, the MLB draft doesn't have nearly the impact as the draft does in other sports. Why? Because the odds of a lot of these guys making it are not that great. It's rare, as in almost impossible, for a player to have an immediate impact with a major league team. Almost every draftee will report to a summer league and then move on to A ball, and in some rare cases, AA ball next year. By 2010, some of these guys will be in the high minors and a few of them may have a cup of coffee with the big club at the end of the season. Some of these guys will be in the bigs in 2011, some in 2012 and most not at all.
The influx of Latin and Asian players (who aren't part of the draft) also hurt their odds. It's a lot easier for a team to go get an Alexi Ramirez or a Tadihito Iguchi as opposed to spending the thousands of dollars it takes to develop a player. Many will flame out (Joe Borchard, Kip Wells, Matt Gintner, Scott Ruffcorn), some will make it and not live up to their top billing (Brian Anderson), even more will be used as bait to acquire players and populate under financed organizations (Royce Ring) (Oakland.) Some will never be heard from again (Kris Honel, Chris Clemmons, Scott Cristman, Eddie Pearson, Kurt Brown).
There is no doubt that Chris Williams will have an impact for the Chicago Bears this season. There is no doubt that no matter who John Paxson uses his first round pick on, they will also have an impact. Gordon Beckham is a kid no one will see or hear from for at least a couple of years. Given the Sox track record, it may even be in a different uniform.
The one thing that interests me about this draft is that it is the first time in 35 years that Duane Shafer isn't involved in it for the White Sox. We'll see what kind of job Kenny Williams and his merry band of drafters can do somewhere around 2011.
Forgive my lack of excitement. Face it kids, the MLB draft doesn't have nearly the impact as the draft does in other sports. Why? Because the odds of a lot of these guys making it are not that great. It's rare, as in almost impossible, for a player to have an immediate impact with a major league team. Almost every draftee will report to a summer league and then move on to A ball, and in some rare cases, AA ball next year. By 2010, some of these guys will be in the high minors and a few of them may have a cup of coffee with the big club at the end of the season. Some of these guys will be in the bigs in 2011, some in 2012 and most not at all.
The influx of Latin and Asian players (who aren't part of the draft) also hurt their odds. It's a lot easier for a team to go get an Alexi Ramirez or a Tadihito Iguchi as opposed to spending the thousands of dollars it takes to develop a player. Many will flame out (Joe Borchard, Kip Wells, Matt Gintner, Scott Ruffcorn), some will make it and not live up to their top billing (Brian Anderson), even more will be used as bait to acquire players and populate under financed organizations (Royce Ring) (Oakland.) Some will never be heard from again (Kris Honel, Chris Clemmons, Scott Cristman, Eddie Pearson, Kurt Brown).
There is no doubt that Chris Williams will have an impact for the Chicago Bears this season. There is no doubt that no matter who John Paxson uses his first round pick on, they will also have an impact. Gordon Beckham is a kid no one will see or hear from for at least a couple of years. Given the Sox track record, it may even be in a different uniform.
The one thing that interests me about this draft is that it is the first time in 35 years that Duane Shafer isn't involved in it for the White Sox. We'll see what kind of job Kenny Williams and his merry band of drafters can do somewhere around 2011.
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