FanPost

2008 Draft Review

Today we're looking at the results of the 2008 draft. Unlike my and IHSB's articles on the 2009 draft, this one isn't going to be a 5 part long epic. Instead it's all in one part, since honestly, this is just not nearly as good of a draft, and there's less players to talk about.
To begin, the Arizona's 2008 draft was rather disappointing, with the Diamondbacks unable to sign 22 of their draft picks. After the jump I've put a table that lists off the 28 picks they did sign. All the noteworthy players, and although i know that's a bit subjective, are bolded. Each players name links to their stat page on fangraphs.com. I've added in a column for their current status in the minors. In addition, I've put in the player's OPS and/or ERA and FIP at each level in a column.

NAME POSITION STATUS 2008 BA/OBP/SLG OR ERA/FIP 2009 OPS OR ERA/FIP Bats/Throws Height/Weight Birthday Draft round/Pick Number
Daniel R Schlereth LHP TRADED - DET


L / L 6'00" /210 1986-05-09 1/26
Wade A Miley LHP HI-A 4.91 ERA/2.56FIP (A-) 4.12 ERA / 3.38 FIP(A) 4.80 ERA / 2.53 FIP(A+) L / L 6'02" / 195 1986-11-13 Comp A/43
Bryan A Shaw RHP High A 6.75 ERA / 4.64 FIP (R)
4.03 ERA / 2.71 FIP (A)
4.70 ERA / 3.70 FIP(A+) S / R 6'01" / 215 1987-11-08 2/73
Kevin A Eichhorn RHP Rookie Ball 6.75 ERA / 2.82 FIP (R) 3.38 ERA / 2.58 FIP (R) R / R 6'00" / 170 1990-02-06 3/104
Ryne C White 1B TRADED - CUBS


L / L 5'11" / 205 1986-10-17 4/138
Collin B Cowgill OF HIGH A 304/415/785 (A-)
249/346/358 (A)
277/343/445 (A+) R / L 5'09" / 195 1986-05-22 5/168
Justin D Parker SS Mid-A 210/306/293 (A-) 252/349/373 (A) R / R 6'01' / 190 1987-03-14 6/198
Miles T Reagan RHP Rookie Ball 7.31 ERA / 4.92 FIP (R) 11.91 ERA / 8.05 FIP (R) R / R 6'02" / 185 1990-11-16 7/228
Patrick R McAnaney LHP Hi-A
0.55 ERA / 2.16 FIP (A-)
1.50 ERA / 3.59 FIP (A)

4.41 ERA / 4.08 FIP (A+) R / L 6'03" / 200 1986-03-11 8/258
Brett B Moorhouse RHP Mid-A 8.37 ERA / 5.36 FIP (R)
13.50 ERA / 4.70 FIP (A-)
4.52 ERA / 4.00 FIP (A) R / R 6'02" / 190 1987-06-28 9/288
Kyle M Greene 3B A+ (3 games in AAA) 302/351/439 (R) 237/313/376 (A+)
500/429/1000(AAA)(6ABS)
L / L 6'02" / 200 1986-05-26 11/348
Winston Ollie Linton CF Hi-A
246/325/333 (R)
277/381/307 (A)

295/394/399 (A+) L / L 5'08" / 160 1986-04-07 13/408
Trevor A Harden RHP Hi-A
1.91 ERA/ 1.78 FIP (R) 2.39 ERA / 3.55 FIP (A)
4.43 ERA / 4.21 FIP (A+)
S / R 6'02" / 215 1987-09-01 14/438
Robert C Stone OF Rookie Ball 213/289/369 (R) 240/310/473 (R) L / L 6'02" / 205 1989-11-14 15/468
Ryan P Babineau C/DH Mid-A 231/369/320 (A-) 125/282/250 (A) R / R 6'02" / 210 1986-12-13 17/528
Joseph Gautier LHP Low-A 10.13 ERA / 7.33 FIP (R)(2.2IP) 6.00 ERA / 4.37FIP (A-) (6IP) L / L 5'10" / 165 1987-12-31 19/588
Jordan D Meaker RHP Mid-A 1.47 ERA / 3.80 FIP (A-) 5.67 ERA / 4.68 FIP (A) R / R 6'06" / 220 1986-09-22 20/618
Bryan Woodall RHP Mid-A 3.72 ERA/ 3.81 FIP (A-) 3.24 ERA / 2.35 FIP (A) R / R 6'01" / 200 1986-10-24 21/648
Nelson O Gomez 3B Hi-A 276/336/462 (R) 218/277/317 (A)
192/323/231 (A+)
R / R 6'01" / 210 1986-10-21 24/738
Ryan W Cook RHP Mid-A 4.64 ERA / 4.84 FIP (A-) 3.66 ERA / 3.35 FIP R / R 6'02" / 210 1987-06-30 27/828
Daniel Rodriguez CF HI-A .080/385/080 (A-) 145/266/200 (A+) R / R 6'02" / 205 1987-01-20 30/918
Jacob Elmore SS Mid-A 296/390/464 (R) 258/365/351 (A) R / R 5'10" / 180 1987-06-15 34/1038
Chris W Davis C Mid A (10ABs in AA) 282/400/410 (R)
173/253/304 (A) R / R 6'00" / 200 1986-09-22 35/1068
Terry Hose RHP Hi-A
4.48 ERA /3.61 ERA (A-)

1.70 ERA / 2.61 FIP (A)

2.78 ERA / 2.19 FIP(A+)

R / R 5'10" / 185 1986-04-15 36/1098
Jesse Orosco RHP Low-A/Traded? See stat page See stat page R / R 6'02" / 200 1987-07-03 38/1158
Brendan M Duffy CF Hi-A 274/423/372 (A-) 308/414/393 (A)
279/383/330 (A+)
L / L 5'11" / 180 1985-05-16 41/1248
Clayton E Suss RHP Low-A 10.61 ERA/10.16 FIP (R)
8.31 ERA/5.20 FIP (A-)
11.57 ERA/3.84 FIP (A-) R / R 6'02" / 190 1988-10-02 43/1308
David J Cooper SS HI-A 252/421/286 (A-) 222/334/238 (A+) L / R 5'08" / 170 1985-06-18 44/1337
Dan J Kauffman 1B Out of baseball

L / L 6'02" / 225 1987-01-01 46/1392


IHSB: Zephon is handling most of this, and has done a phenomenal job in plugging these stats and profiles in. Although he knows these players better than I do, he asked for my two cents so I happily obliged. The first thing I think is necessary to point out is that this class is fairly depressing near the top of the board. Schlereth was a crappy first-round pick in my opinion, as crappy control and injuries have and will continue to limit his career, which already has a closer ceiling. Miley's K-Rate fell in 2009, although I would give him the chance to rebound in 2010 before calling that a bad pick. Eichhorn, the son of a former major-leaguer and a "pedigree" guy, hasn't made it out of rookie-ball, for reasons unknown to me. Ryne White had stalled in the system as a first baseman with no power prior to being a part of the Aaron Heilman deal. Justin Parker, Jarrod's brother, hasn't been anything to call home about. Reagan also hasn't made it out of rookie-ball. So, in one and a half seasons, 6 of the top-8 picks have failed to meet expectations. Not a good rate.

However, don't think that I'm saying that this draft is completely devoid of talent. Shaw has been fairly impressive, despite the ERA's he's put up, as evidenced by his FIPs, and still has a nice fastball/slider combo working for him. Collin Cowgill is widely considered one of the top-10 prospects the Diamondbacks have. Pat McAnaney fell back to earth after a godly 2008, but has still pitched the well and is a lefty starting arm. But perhaps my favorite picks of this draft were in rounds 13-15, where the D-Backs took, in order, Ollie Linton, Trevor Harden, and Robert Stone. Linton is a speedy plus-defender in center field who posted both an OBP and SLG near .400 in 2009, and the best pure leadoff prospect in the system. Harden is the second-best starting arm the D-Backs have below AA, throwing 93 with ease and racking up strikeouts. Stone finally figured out how to shorten his swing a little, got on base more, and put up a ruthless .233 ISO in 2009 - expect to see him pushed aggressively in 2010. We may not have gotten upper-tier talent near the top of the draft, but we definitely got more than we bargained for from the lower rounds.

Zephon: I really don't have all that much to say about this draft. To say the least, this was a fairly poor one. Not only did we not sign almost half the players we drafted, a good deal of the players we DID sign have failed to meet expectations, especially those picked in the higher rounds. The draft isn't completely devoid of talent; There's a handful of quality arms in this draft, but when it comes to position players we pretty much got bupkis.
In terms of pitching, there's Eichhorn, Shaw, Harden, Miley, McAnaney, Woodall, Cook and Hose. Harden is in my opinion one of the top pitching prospects in the system. Miley is a solid innings eating lefty, a la Doug Davis, except with better velocity. Essentially a low upside, high probability type. McAnaney has a chance at being a solid lefty starter, but I see him eventually being moved to the bullpen. Eichhorn is the one serious sleeper candidate in the system. He's got a great pedigree, good stuff, and is starting to put up good stats, but we're still just not sure what we have in him yet. The rest are all fungible relievers or fifth starter material. One thing worth noting is that the minor league's poor defense definitely shows in the disparity between the pitcher's ERAs and their FIPs, as most, if not all of the pitchers have at least a run or greater difference between their ERAs and FIPs.
Out of the position players, the only players that have really done anything are Cowgill, Linton, Stone, and maybe (this is a bit of a stretch) Jacob Elmore and Brendan Duffy. Out of those five, I'd say only Cowgill and Linton have a real chance at making it as everyday players. Cowgill is a top 10 prospect by most accounts, and Linton has the chance to be the centerfielder of the future. Elmore could be a backup infielder, and Stone and Duffy have a chance to be fourth or fifth outfielders. The rest of the position players have either failed to do anything, or have stalled out as they've progressed in the minors. In addition, with the influx of quality position players we drafted in 2009, the odds of these guys making it becomes even slimmer. Guys like Cowgill and Linton are going to get passed by newer draftees like Marc Krauss, AJ Pollock, and Keon Broxton.
So out of our 52 draft picks, we signed 28 players, and out of those 28 players, maybe 12 have a decent shot of getting a cup of coffee in the majors. And out of those 12, maybe four or five have a chance at sticking. And out of those four or five, only one or two will. And I'd highly doubt there's any all stars in this draft.

So to conclude, this was a below average draft, in both my and IHSB's opinion. Now I'd like to know what YOUR thoughts on this draft are. And once again, thanks for reading.