Yes! Rookie ball hasn't even got started yet. Its better known as a short season. Most of the time when kids come out of college they bypass rookie ball all together. They normally start in A ball and depending on how they do could go up to A "Advanced". Both are full seasons and the Advanced club is very close to AA. AA is where its at! When you get to AA you are one phone call away to the show. AAA is used to drop guys down from the bigs, most of the AAA rosters are filled up with guys who has already made the big league debut
MLB 2011 Draft starts tonight
- Thread starter baseballfanatic
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The word used to be is that the hardest jump in baseball was from A ball to AA ball. Once you get to AA ball you are one call away because the guy in AAA may be out of options once called up and the safe bet may be to go with the AA kid with multiple options and quite possibly a brighter future. I do not know if the jump to AA ball is as pronounced as it once was with High A leagues but the Minor League ball has changed. I remember there used to Florida rookie leagues that lasted from spring through the summer. Now with the camps in the Caribbean, short season rookie leagues and 2 levels of A ball, I would guess most organizations (if funded) may have as many as 225 or 250 players. You probably do get better one on one instruction at the college level unless an organization taps you out of high school as a high A ball player. It does seem that most of our recent draftees from Bama have gone short season rookie or Low A ball. But we have quite a few alumni in the Majors since 2005.
As a Cub/Bama fan I am absolutely estatic that Dugas was drafted by the Cubs. As as Cub fan I hope they help Bama out by signing Dan Vogelbach. I really do not want to have to face this kid.
Vogelbach was yet another brilliant draft pick for the Cubs, who must've forgotten that the National League does not have the designated hitter. Sure, he can hit the ball a long way, but that kid is really, really fat, and he'll have to work like crazy to keep from becoming morbidly obese. If he ends up at Florida, opponents can just walk him. He's more of a threat to eat a base than steal one.
It was a real good pick. The Cubs have this thing call "Camp Colvin" (named after Tyler Colvin) in which certain prospects/young MLB players go and work out together. Vogelbach would clearly be a candidate to be invited to "Camp Colvin". Trust me when I say this but the Cubs DO NOT HAVE ANYBODY in the system with his kind of power, and if the Cubs sign either Fielder or Pujols (I know both are extreme longshots, but hey nothing to lose) they could developed Vogelbach (aka White Prince Fielder) to a point in which they could use him in a trade especially with an AL team.
Sometimes you take players in the draft strictly to build up trade value and move said player to fill a hole in your organization. That's what the Cubs did with Vogelbach. If Vogelbach doesn't pan out, well...........he can joined fellow HS power bats from Florida, Ryan Harvey and Brian Dopirak in the all-bust team. As of right now, Vogelbach is a really good pick for an organization that needed a good pick.
Kennon McArthur was another kid that should have went to college instead of pro. I think 75th round, and was one of the top Catchers in the nation out of Sylacauga. Signed with the Phils and stayed in A ball and I dont think ever batted over .210. I think he briefly held the state HR record, he came out the same year Phenix City product D.J. "something" (I forget his last name) and he signed with UGA and played and had a pretty good career in college.
Dugas was a good pick, and an obvious exception to the Jim Hendry/Tim Wilken tradition of horrible drafts. Wasted 1st round picks on Harvey and Dopirak simply because they went to Hendry's high school. Mark Pawelek. Bobby Brownlie. Major league contract to Jeff Samardzija. 13th overall pick on Tyler Colvin, a fourth outfielder with terrible plate discipline who's useless against lefty pitching. Vitters, 3rd overall, is a bust. Hayden Simpson at #16 when several clubs had him listed as a 4th-5th round talent. Yep, Baez and Vogelbach have their work cut out for them. And I'm a Cubs fan. But it's long past time for the current front office to get the boot.
I agree with the premise of the post as I think Hendry should had been gone what 3 years ago. Hendry should have been the fall guy for that embarrassing two straight playoff sweeps. As for Wilken..........he does have a good history with draft picks but if he were to be let go I would not be opposed. Now I wouldn't mind either Beane (A's) or Friedman (Rays) since both names are rumor to potentially be available this offseason.
I'm taking this with a grain of salt, but according to at least one guy on TigerDroppings, Taylor Guilbeau is wanting to sign. Of course he may just have been razzing the Bama fan asking about this kid, but nevertheless, it's out there.
EDIT-- Just to prove that somebody's lying, I found this little blurb in an MLB draft blog today.
<meta charset="utf-8">1:34 - The NY Yankees selected Zachary HS southpaw Taylor Guilbeau in the 39th rd. Guilbeau was one of the top lefty pitchers in the state as a senior and is an Alabama signee. The 6'4 Guilbeau gave scouts a large bonus figure that discouraged teams from taking him higher. He pitched for Redemptorist earlier in his high school career.
Too bad the Yanks may choose to meet said "large bonus figure."
EDIT-- Just to prove that somebody's lying, I found this little blurb in an MLB draft blog today.
<meta charset="utf-8">1:34 - The NY Yankees selected Zachary HS southpaw Taylor Guilbeau in the 39th rd. Guilbeau was one of the top lefty pitchers in the state as a senior and is an Alabama signee. The 6'4 Guilbeau gave scouts a large bonus figure that discouraged teams from taking him higher. He pitched for Redemptorist earlier in his high school career.
Too bad the Yanks may choose to meet said "large bonus figure."
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I wonder how much money he's looking for. Last year, the Yankees signed their 30th round pick away from a Texas Tech commitment for $265,000. In 2009, they gave their 44th round pick $500,000. I guess if the Yanks want to sign him bad enough, they'll pay him.
No idea. More than likely depends on how much they end up having to pay everybody else unless he signs early. Without knowing these kids, it's hard to guess what they'll do. I would've figured 39th round would be too low to get a "large bonus figure."
Ideally, I was hoping we'd get at least two of our three drafted signees on campus this fall, but I guess realistically now, I'm just hoping we get one in.
You're right, Wilken does have an impressive track record with draft picks, thanks to a truly remarkable run with Toronto in the 90's when he drafted the likes of Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter, Vernon Wells, and Alex Rios in the first round. Later in his Toronto tenure, though, the results left a lot to be desired. First rounders included a couple of "Four-A" role players in Gabe Gross and Russ Adams, and Miguel Negron, who never made it to the majors. Of course, this is just the perspective of a frustrated Cubs fan. The Cubs taking Javier Baez this year was one of only four first round selections I picked/guessed correctly/luckily before the draft. The only reason I pegged Baez to the Cubs was because he's precisely the type of player I would have steered clear of, yet the Cubbies, much to my chagrin, always seem to love to draft. All of the scouting reports said "raw talent" with "undisciplined approach" and "makeup issues." Maybe Dugas, if he does sign, can save this draft for them.
As for other players who spurned Alabama for the pros...
*Austin Bailey pitched in one game in the Red Sox system in 2008, got hurt, and is now out of baseball.
*Chase Weems played a couple of years in the Yankees system, couldn't hit his weight, got released, spent some time with the Reds, and was released in April after appearing in four games with High-A Bakersfield. Should have gone to school.
*Josh Styes, a pitcher from Clay-Chalkville, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and passed on Alabama for Walters State Junior College as one of the last draft-and-follow players. The Yanks didn't bother to sign him after his freshman year, and he was never drafted again. He finished his collegiate career at NAIA Southern Wesleyan University.
*Catcher Yusuf Carter, nephew of Joe Carter, was recently released by the A's.
*A few others: Ray Liotta, Nick Tisone, Patrick Bryant, Eric Campbell, Jaye Chapman, Danny Danielson, Shaun Garceau, C.J. Bressoud
Here's an article about the Cardinals signings so far. They've got 27 of them. Hopefully, they won't get the guy in the 22nd round (Kamplain). That's pretty much the only thing to take away from this article is the 22nd round is missing.
Scout.com: Cardinals Sign 27 Players from June Draft
Scout.com: Cardinals Sign 27 Players from June Draft
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Gardeck has a commitment with the University of Alabama, but he told me during a phone interview on Monday that he expects to sign and is ready to make the jump into the system
White Sox prospect-in-waiting: Ian Gardeck - South Side Sox
White Sox prospect-in-waiting: Ian Gardeck - South Side Sox
Not too surprised by that, I've been saying he'd sign first chance for months now. Would've been nice to get him on campus, but he looks like he just wants to sign no matter where he was drafted.
Read in a Yankees blog where they were probably going to "follow" the late-round picks this summer and try to sign the ones they want before the deadline.
Also, from Aaron Suttles on Tidesports, supposedly he's been told that Dugas told the Cubbies their offer was too low, and right now he's about "95%" leaning towards coming back.
Dugas is only being offered 65-80 grand for the 8th round. Now Morgan should be getting anywhere from 350-450 K. Big difference, so I think Dugas will return for his senior year to finish his degree. The same money he is getting offered now will be the same next year.
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