This was written yesterday as this AM was the Amateur Draft. Thought someone might like the rambling thoughts of how one deciphers the rankings of their players. Basically I try to figure out off my board who will be available at my draft position. I have been rather successful in the past on figuring out who my #1 pick is before it happens. Sometimes I get the player, sometimes I get the player right before or after. I draft in the 25th position which makes it a little harder but not impossible. First thing is to count how many OVR 90 and 80 players there are. In this draft I have 14 on the board, whether those are all true is tough to say. But 25 - 14 = 11. Knowing that not everyone has all 14 on their boards makes it easier. Will one slip through to me? That question is harder to answer, but just in case I have the best ones in position 1 thru 8. But out of those 14, I know 5 of them won't be drafted by me. 4 of them are "iffy" and 1 is a LF which I don't value highly unless he can hit 50 HRs. Out of the first 10 picks, there are usually 2 to 3 pitchers taken. The rest are normally power hitters. Picks 11 thru 20 are rather split between pitching and hitting. Picks 21 thru 32 leaves the good scraps.
Knowing all this makes it a little tougher instead of easier. But as I look at my board I can determine that my first 8 ranked players won't make it to me or at least shouldn't. So, in my thinking in this draft the player I put in position 9 will be the one I need to pay the most attention.
That player is Bryan Blanton, if I get anyone before him I will be happy. If I get one after it will either be Damian Mills, Paul Klassen or Felix Wayne It is possible that I could pick up one of those players in the 2nd round also but doubtful. In all reality I don't want Blanton, he is listed as a RF with a weak glove, my thoughts is he could play a gold glove 1B and hit for average and a lot of dingers. Klassen looks like he could be a shut down closer and Wayne a possible 3 or 4 starter.
Now for what really happened form my board by OVR, those 14.
1. David Cruz drafted 4th.....................my rank 426
2. Roscoe Kubenka drafted 2nd...........my rank 5
3. Stan Oquist drafted 10th..................my rank 6
4. Brace Steele drafted 14th.................my rank 450
5. Torey Duran drafted 3rd..................my rank 7
6. Brian Hara drafted 5th......................my rank 1
7. Charlie Plant drafted 24th.................my rank 439
8. Burt Key drafted 29th.......................my rank 22
9. Eduardo Rincon drafted 6th.............my rank 2
10. Howard Fitzgerald drafted 26th....my rank 440
11. Sammy Pelaez drafted 21st.............my rank 3
12. Lewis Harvey drafted 18th..............my rank 16
13. Wolf Knight drafted 25th..mine.......my rank 8
14. Garry Fischer drafted 7th................my rank 4
Bryan Blanton - went 12th
Damian Mills - went 9th
Paul Klassen- went 43rd
Felix Wayne- went 42nd
Analysis: I didn't expect Burt Key to be there, but I did get a future SS and may have been a little happier with one of the two pitchers but in all satisfied. Biggest surprise was 6 pitchers taken in the top 10.
