S18 Draft Review by holer

AL West

Seattle Water Wolves

Needs: All positions and pitchers
This team is the ultimate rebuild project. I personally hope reigny can start stocking the lower minors with some talent that will ultimately pull this franchise out of it's funk.

Draft Expectations: Low
Hard to believe that the team with the 1st overall pick has low draft expectations, but such is the state of the Seattle franchise. Reigny had no departing free agents of any value to bring in extra compensation, and he had to give up his 2nd round pick to sign some free agent talent. As such, he has 4 picks in the top 5 rounds.

Draft Preparation: By signing the high priced free agents that he did, reigny left his budget allocation heavy on player salary, and dangerously light on administrative infrastructure. As a result, the team which is a perrenial last place finisher, is 8th this year in team salary. Fortunately he has enough funding set aside to sign some prospects, but very little money to actually find any prospects.

Prospects

Round 1 Pick 1 CF Tom Diaz
When drafting 1st overall, you try to follow one basic rule. Find the best player available in the draft. Sometimes this can be a very daunting task as we all have our own vision of what constitutes "the best player". As I look at Tom Diaz, I have a very difficult time quantifying him as "the best player". Don't get me wrong, he is definitely a very good player, but the player I see as 1st overall has very few weaknesses. Diaz, who is listed as a CF has very limited range for that position, and a glove that is not strong enough to compensate for that lack of range. He may in fact be better suited, and far more comfortable as a 2B. Although capable at running the bases, he won't steal any games for you. At the plate, he has an elite contact rating to go along with good power and a good batting eye. his effectiveness ratings are pretty average, and a mediocre makeup rating makes those weaknesses stand out even more. In the end I would say that in Diaz, reigny got a good player, but not a great player.
ML Projection: 25-30 HR/.290-.300 BA/10 SB

Round 3 Pick 90 SS Greg Lush
Lush would be a stretch to make most lineups at any point in time, but in Seattle he may be asked to help hold the fort until more, and better, help arrives. Defensively, he is substandard at SS, but is a player reigny can turn to in the very near future. Offensively, he will often be overwhelmed by big league pitching, but has enough power, and a good enough batting eye, to produce some runs.
ML Projection: 25 HR/.225-.235 BA/5 SB

Round 4 Pick 122 RP Michel Rijo
Once again, in other organizations, Rijo would probably be held to AAA, but in Seattle he will see plenty of time in a set-up role. Considering he was a 4th round pick at no. 122, he was a pretty good pick-up. He has good command of his 2 plus pitches, and an attractive groundball/flyball ratio. He will perform adequately against righthanders, and struggle against lefties, but such is life in the Water Wolf bullpen.
ML Projection: 70 G/80 IP/3 W/.280-.300 OAV/4.00-4.50 ERA

Round 5 Pick 154 RP Harpo Davis
A surprisingly good find for reigny in the 5th round. Davis would be able to spend ML bullpen time on most ML teams and really only has one flaw, which is his occasional loss of control. He has 4 very good pitches, and a good groundball/flyball ratio. If he were fortunate enough to be DITR'ed, you would probably be looking at Seattle's future closer. In fact, you may be seeing the closer regardless of DITR.
ML Projection: 50 G/50 IP/2 W/20 SV/.260 OAV/3.50 ERA

Hidden Gems: C Kiko Stein?, RP George Forrest?

Overall Grade: C+
When I first saw Diaz selected as 1st overall, I thought this was going to be a disaster. But then I started seeing some very helpful pieces starting to emerge in later rounds, and I had to re-think my overview of what this draft actually represented. In summation, I believe this draft has been a mild success for reigny and gives him something to build on.