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Originally Posted by renner
Jeff - Great stuff. I see that TWB is having their draft, how have the Pirates done the last 5,6,7 years in the draft ?
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I brought this over from the
Time Warp: The Return thread, since it's more applicable to this thread.
Interesting question, Renner. Teams in the hunt in Time Warp often don't hold on to their drafted players very long, swapping them for established players that will help now. Since we've been in the hunt for several years now, it's interesting to see what's happened to our draftees. I'll run through the first rounders, and point out any late-round surprises. We'll start 7 years ago, with the 1967 draft.
1967:
P Lou Hamberrez: Hamberrez was drafted as a high-endurance reliever and turned into a starter in the minors. In 1967, he spent the year at AA and went 6-12, 3.10 with a 1.21 WHIP. Not too bad. He was sent to St. Louis the following season with backup OF
Ray Eshelman for middle infield prospect
Darrel Watson (who happens to be my father). Watson will probably spend most of the '72 season with the Pirates, but might be waiting for
Tim Crusher or
Ben Trome to finish their careers before he becomes a starter.
No late round surprises in '67.
1968:
"Golden" Joe Prentice: He wasn't the #4 prospect in the game when he was drafted, that's for sure. Prentice was swapped a couple months into the '68 season for super reliever
John Patterson. We needed one more solid relief arm in the pen to complement
Lynn Willmon, and Patterson was it. A one-for-one swap that's turned out well for both teams. Prentice has been slow to develop, though he's got tremendous talent: he's never pitched above AA and is 24 years old.
Remarkably, Prentice is the only player we drafted in '68 not to get big league action. 2nd round pick
Terrell Phillips spent the '71 season as a platoon partner with longtime 2B
Alberto Val and looks like a solid contributor. He's rated 7/6/5/9/5 against 7/7/5/10/6 talents. RF
Hank Bailey was pressed into emergency duty as a backup outfielder in '71, which is all the higher he'll ever get. 4th rounder
Dave McDonald looks like he'll be a quality middle reliever (5/4/5 over 9/5/6) and got 1 inning in September of '71.
1969:
Joe Horan: Horan is looking like the heir apparent to
Henry Cruz and
Fred Tackett behind the plate. Rated 5/5/2/4/5 over 7/7/3/9/4, he ought to be a dependable bat, but he's a little weak-armed behind the plate. I can deal with that. A good hitting catcher is hard to find.
No surprises in 1969.
1970:
Rod Yantis: The second-to-last pick in the first round was swapped instantly to the Red Sox for catcher
Fred Tackett.
Henry Cruz hadn't hit well, and we needed another catcher that wouldn't be an automatic out. Yantis hasn't been anything special for the Red Sox, and Tackett's filled in nicely as a sometime-starting catcher for us.
No surprises in 1970 either.
1971:
Terry Barrak: One of those tantalizing swingmen that might have the stamina to become a starter, Barrak is rated 4/3/4 over 7/8/6 talents. He's been starting since he joined the organization, and put up a 2.89 ERA in 13 starts at single-A his first season. He got 3 AA starts and went 1-2, 4.50. He might just be a dependable back-of-the-rotation starter.
No surprises from the 1971 draft yet.
1972:
Antonio Calvo: This year's first round pick is a rangy center fielder with slightly better than average speed but not a lot of smarts on the basepaths. His bat is average, but a bump up in any talent could make him a useful player.