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The major-league phase of the draft was quiet as far as the Arizona Diamondbacks were concerned, but it was the Triple-A phase where things got busy. There are a couple of difference between the major-league and Triple-A sections. Players picked in the latter do not have to be kept on the major-league roster for the entire season, and the price of a pick is $25,000, half the cost of the major-league phase. In the AAA phase, the Triple-A affiliate can pick unprotected players from other teams' lower-level clubs i.e. Double-A or lower, and in the AA phase, the same goes for teams' Double-A affiliates.
These later two sections are not nearly as earth-shattering as the major-league level [I am using "earth-shattering" in an ironic sense]. Per Baseball America: "Almost no future big leaguers emerge from this process. It's basically a tool for major league teams to fill out affiliates rather than obtain talent." So, there's a certain amount of robbing Peter to pay Paul going on here, with Paul then being able to turn around and mug John, who engages in thievery on Ringo, who breaks into Peter's house and steals his VCR. [Kids, ask your parents!] Here are the picks involving the Diamondbacks and their affiliates in the Triple-A portion of the draft. Additions are in bold, subtractions in italics.
- #1. Ariel Hernandez to Cincinnati Reds
- #11. Eduardo de Oleo, C from Yankees
- #17. Blayne Weller, RHP to Angels
- #19. Yefrey Ramirez, RHP to Yankees
- #20. Garrett Weber, IF to Rangers
- #24. John Brebbia, RHP to Cardinals
- #27. Alex Glenn, OF to Athletics
- #31. Robelys Reyes, SS from Cardinals
- #40. Chad Oberacker, OF from Athletics
- #46. Devin Harris, OF from Giants
There are some names here I recognize from doing minor-league write-ups this season. Weller is likely the one I know best, since he had some insane starts in 2014. He pitched a no-hitter for the A-ball South Bend Silver Hawks, and later in July at High-A Visalia, struck out 16 in an eight-inning outing. However, he was old for that level, at 24, and this year, when he pitched at Visalia, Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno, the results were less impressive: a 4.95 ERA over 151 innings of work. Weber put up decent numbers between Mobile and Reno, batting a combined .302 with an .826 OPS, though as usual, the presence of Reno needs to be taken into account there.
Of the players we selected, outfielders Oberacker and Harris are the only ones with experience above High-A. The 26-year-old Oberacker had decent numbers for Oakland's Double-A affiliate in Midland, with a triple-slash of .294/.360/.425 in 101 games there. Harris is a year older, and showed more power but a worse approach at the plate, resulting in a line of .240/.301/.418 in 108 games for San Francisco's AA team in Richmond.