Draft Breakdown, 2034

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ballmark
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Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by ballmark »

Once again - or the first time for the new guys - my usual attempt at matching draft class projections with the order taken and a dash of relevance to your roster speculation. The last time I did this was back in 2031 and can be found here. All the player names below are clickable/tappable. If you click while holding the CTRL key, it should open the Card in a new tab. If you tap and hold, most phones and tablets will give you the option to open the player card in a new browser tab.

A word about our analysts' projections: they value pitching over hitting, Control over Velocity, Youth over Age (in most cases), and Speed is usually the first tiebreaker. Health is only a concern with hitters, not pitchers, as it affects playing time. In Dynasty Leagues, it is generally a negligible concern. Catchers, middle infielders, center fielders, and then other hitters are our favored pecking order.

With all that in mind, here we go:

CLASS of 2034: FIRST ROUND

Image Pick #1: SP Ray Spruance (nee Dave Greene), Miami. Age 17, RHP-Greenbrier Christian Acadmeny High School, Virginia. (World War II Admiral, portrayed by Glenn Ford in 1976 "Midway" movie, Jake Weber in 2019 remake; commanded naval forces in Midway and the Phillippines)
An interesting #1 overall pick, as we had him pegged down at #11 and the #3 overall starter in this class, with Aurelio Herman and Akira Ikeda ranked higher; but Miami scouts didn't like Herman's frailty and Ikeda wouldn't have done the rebuilding Admirals any good without flipping him in a trade and Miami is playing the long game so they went with what they thought was a surer bet in Spruance. He sits as the team's #2 prospect now, behind Bull Halsey as a potent 1-2 punch on top of their future rotation.

Pick acquired by Los Angeles-NL from Boston Red Sox for SP Pinky Pasqua and 2 other first round picks in this round.
Image Pick #2: 1b Billy Franco, Los Angeles-NL. Age 21, LHB-Ball State University.
Here's our #1 pick for the best player in this class, ranked with the best bat, and the second worst glove...but he'll only spend a year in the minors and that's all the Youngstuds can afford to give him, with current first sacker Bill Baldwin aging out in 3, 2, 1...all in all, a dynamite pick.

Image Pick #3: RP Javier Moore, Kansas City. Age 21, RHP-San Diego State University.
#3 overall, and the #2 relief pitcher on the board, but the one who's slightly closer to reaching the majors than Phil Porter, who we have ranked just ahead of him. It was a fairly savvy pick by the DynastyBot, and we are impressed.

Image Pick #4: SP Jack Kuhn, Chicago-AL. Age 20, RHP-NE Texas Community College.
Due to projections of a low B- and low A+, we had Kuhn pegged for a late first round pick or early second rounder so it was a little unusual to see him go this high, with Herman and Ikeda still on the board. But Chicago has a dozen hurlers rostered, and a nice quartet of arms on the farm growing into major league threats, so time will tell is this was a gamble or a dark horse that will pay off big.

Image Pick #5: 3b Steve Carpin, Chicago-NL. Age 18, LHB-Liberty High School, Brentwood, California.
Ranked #5 overall and the only third baseman worth drafting in this class, Carpin will absolutely rake with the bat, especially against RHP, but projects to just average defense. Paul Ferrer and Travis Hobbs are above him on the team depth chart and there will need to be some position training or deals somewhere to create room but that's a few seasons down the road.

Image Pick #6: RP Craig Mendoza, San Diego. Age 22, LHP-University of South Carolina.
One of four relief pitchers worth drafting in this class, but at the back of the group and we had him down toward the end of the round at #14, but he does have a good A-/B+ projection and shouldn't need much seasoning. But he does need Coach Points, and stat. Phil Porter (the overall #2 prospect) and Gil Wetteland are still on the board in the RP category.

Image Pick #7: RP Phil Porter, Atlanta. Age 19, LHP-Fraser Valley Christian High School, British Columbia.
And now he's off the board. Porter projects to A-/A- with A+ Health. His only drawback is his Endurance. He'll be a one inning Closer. If he needs to go more than that, he'll likely get lit up. Atlanta is quietly building a nice stable of young pitchers and players and it won't be long until they rise to challenge the power base in the National League. The Federal Reserve was, undoubtedly, delighted that Porter fell all the way to 7 in this draft.

Pick acquired from Los Angeles, who acquired it from Minnesota for a couple of veteran SP and a 2nd round pick.
Image Pick #8: SP Steve Lamb, Boston. Age 23, RHP-Virginia Tech.
Lamb may surprise but we have him pegged for A/B- though high in both those attributes and he may get lucky and touch low A+/B. Our analysts had him ranked going early in the second round as a solid upper B+ overall player. Like Atlanta, Boston is working on a quartet of early 20s SP on the farm and the triumvirate of Detroit-Oakland-Baltimore can't last forever in the AL. They hope to be ready to step up when rebuilds are announced.

Image Pick #9: SP Woody Adcock, Baltimore. Age 19, RHP-Cypress Falls High School, Houston, Texas.
Adcock is in the same group as Lamb, but projects higher due to being younger. In fact, upon review of some of the numbers, our analysts are going to review our pitcher projections but we're too deep into this breakdown to do it this year. The National Bohemians have a good start on their pitching rebuild, and that's where all good rebuilds begin.

Pick acquired from Washington for Denny McLain/reverted to Babe Ortiz/changed to Benny Ortiz. Ortiz won 13 games for the Phantoms.
Image Pick #10: RP Elmo Zumwalt (nee Gil Wetteland), Miami. Age 21, LHP-Clemson University. (Zumwalt was an Admiral during the Vietnam War and the youngest person to ever serve as Chief of Naval Operations.)
Zumwalt was the #3 ranked RP in this class, behind Porter and Javier Moore and projects to a high A+ and a low B. A nice pickup this far down in the draft.

Image Pick #11: 1b Clarence Murphy, Milwaukee. Age 17, LHB-Apopka High School, Florida.
We originally had Clarence ranked #4 overall with good speed and amazing power against RHP. Defense grades out to a low B-/B- in Range/Arm. He'll be ready for the majors just about the time Bake Benard is hitting his prime so we'll see how this plays out then.

Image Pick #12: SP Akira Ikeda, St. Louis. Age 26, RHP-Yokohama Bay Stars, Japanese Central League.
Somebody had to take a chance on this talented Japanese import and the Explorers, who finished just two games out of the playoffs last year, were happy to do it. He immediately steps into a long relief role, ready to fill in for a SP vacancy should the need for one arise. We had him ranked #6 overall and the #1 SP prospect in this class (prior to our re-evaluation exercise, anyway).

Image Pick #13: RF Erv Pinto, Oakland. Age 18, SHB-Eau Gallie High School, Melbourne, Florida.
Ranked #13 overall, taken #13 overall; nice. Pinto was one of two RF worth drafting, the other being Kevin Martyn. Pinto has the better Health and Speed, Martyn has the better defensive skill set and Martyn grades out a smidge higher offensively, but in the end, Pinto will be on the field more. By the time he's ready to play, the Twins will be using stopgaps in RF so they can't wait for this youngster.

Pick acquired from Los Angeles for RF J.C. Estrada and other compensation.
Image Pick #14: SP Aurelio Herman, Boston. Age 18, RHP-Cypress High School, California.
One of the top three SP ranked in this class! Fell all the way to #14. We would call this the surprise of the draft at this point. What's more surprising is that Boston only has **1** Coach Point on this player, projected to A/A- overall. But when you have so much young talent, it's impossible to train ALL of them, we suppose.

Image Pick #15: 2b George Ranew, Pittsburgh. Age 17, LHB-Wheeler High School, Marietta, Georgia.
Originally ranked #12 overall and the only middle infielder worth drafting here, Ranew projects out to slightly above average speed, with a nice bat and A+ power against righties. Only B to B+ defensively. But current second sacker Charlie Furcal will be on his last legs when Ranew is ready, so he'll be a welcome addition. Good pick.

Image Pick #16: C Steve Secord (nee Secory), Detroit. Age 18, RHB-Rancho Bernardo High School, San Diego, California.
Ranked #8 overall (due to our pecking order) and the only backstop worth drafting, the Diamonds were happy to grab him here at the end of the first round. Duke Sims will be at the end of his career when Secord is ready for the majors so it was a good choice.

FIRST PICKS FOR CLUBS THAT TRADED THEIRS AWAY
I'm looking at you, Minnesota and Washington...

Image Pick #26: 3b Walt Stephenson, Washington. Age 21, LHB-University of North Carolina.
Ranked #67 and already released by the Phantoms, so not much to report here. Let's look at Pick #42: RP Allen Wieneke from Ohio State University and selected in the third round. He has managed to stick with the team and projects to a low B+ overall but could surprise.

Image Pick #30: RP Earl Jeffcoat, Minnesota. Age 24, RHP-Rutgers University.
Earl was ranked #34 before our reevaluation process, and projects to only A-/B but is on a par with the rest of Minnesota's prospects. And you can't argue with a team that is, thus far, undefeated.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Pick #18, Boston - RF Kevin Martyn
Lawrence Elkins High School, Missouri City, Texas.
Projects to good average, good arm, won't steal much.

Pick #25, Baltimore - SP Jim Kinzy
Catholic High School, Tampa, Florida.
Projects to A+/B and will pair well with Woody Adcock in about 4-5 seasons.

Pick #32, Detroit - CF Trey Paul (nee Heinie Schulz)
Parkview High School, Lilburn, Georgia.
Prototypical leadoff hitter with A+ Speed, decent Range. Should hit red letters and hit for good average.

Pick #36, Chicago-AL - RP Alfonso Turk
Stanford University.
Projects to A+/B potential out of the third round. Noice.
frankum
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Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:17 pm

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by frankum »

Awesome read! Thank you, ballmark.
HawkYourSocksOff
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2019 3:27 am

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by HawkYourSocksOff »

Wow, as one of those newbies this was a really cool read. Thank you so much.

Ryan
dgray14
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:53 am

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by dgray14 »

Very cool. Thanks!
winkabob
Posts: 240
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 9:23 am

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by winkabob »

Thanks for the time and effort you put into this Ballmark. It sure was hard to pass on Franco. Time will tell if I messed up.
danno38852
Posts: 462
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:09 am

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by danno38852 »

Great insight and effort. A very good read. Thank you
bpearly69
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Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:45 pm

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by bpearly69 »

Very good as always!!!
dabigtrain
Posts: 557
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:44 am

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by dabigtrain »

Yep, always a good read.

SimD has a suggestion box at https://simdynasty.ideascale.com/a/index, though I don't think they're paying a lot of attention to it anymore. I put in a suggestion I still hope they'll take: After an amateur draft has run, the draft center's "Preferences" page should be updated to include an average ranking for each prospect. Ballmark's rundown always gives a good perspective on at least his draft preferences; I think it would be interesting and probably instructive to see what the league consensus was.
daytonjake
Posts: 558
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2017 2:50 pm

Re: Draft Breakdown, 2034

Post by daytonjake »

Thanks Ballmark!
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