Day 2 Draft Recap

With the second day of the 2009 MLB first year amateur day coming to a close, teams will now comb over all the scouts info in hopes of finding a diamond in the rough over the last 20 rounds tomorrow. Some teams are going to strike it big, it's inevitable with another 600 names being called out tomorrow, it's happened before. Some notible names over the years...

The Dodgers took Mike Piazza in the 62nd round (1390 overall)in 1988.
Keith Hernandez went in the 42nd round in 1971.
Kenny Rogers in the 39th round in 1982
Jeff Conine was had in the 58th round in 1987.
Rual Ibanez was taken in the 36th round in 1992.

... so the question is, can the Giants make that find? Only time will tell...

The more important question to ask is "How did the Giants do on day two?" Everyone is familiar with the first round picks, everyone knows the first 3 rounds should be studs... but teams... no franchises (not Timmy) are made on day 2. Scouts live to find that one guy who know one knows about,who can be had on day two. Some of the best players from our generation, heck even the 2009 Giants were taken on day 2.

Some of the Greats of the past/present include Ryan Sandberg (20th), Don Mattingly (19th), Ken Griffy Sr. (29th), Andre Dawson (11th), Mark Grace (24th), Brett Butler (23rd), Orel Hershiser
(17th), Jose Canseco (15th), Jim Thome (13th), & Albert Pujols (13th)

The Giants success on day two, by rounds:
-Brian Wilson, 24th, 2003
-Billy Sadler, 6th, 2003
-Kevin Frandsen, 12th, 2004
-Jonathan Sanchez, 27th, 2004
-Joe Martinez, 12th, 2005
-Alex Hinshaw, 15th, 2005
-Sergio Romo, 15th, 2005
-KevinPucetas, 17th, 2006
-Travis Ishikawa, 21st, 2002

(No need to look back through the draft classes of 1996-2000, the took those years off. Actually, the Giants drafted 248 players over that 5 years span and only 7 played more than 150 major league games, the best being JACK FREAKIN TASCHNER!!!)

Back to this years draft though. History & logic appear to be on our side though. (Did I really just refer to something Brian Sabean did in the same sentance as history & logic?) It appears that Sabean has reversed course in recent times, especially since getting a better scouting dept & LISTENING to them. If this all holds true,we should see a few gems out of this group. Now, onto todays picks:

4th- Jason Staffel, a top ranked closer in the draft out of Arizona. He was hit more than expected this year,probably causing his slide to here, but is in the right organization to learn. Expect him to develop well.
5th- Brandon Britt, 1B, U Texas Austin
6th- Matt Graham, RHP, Oak Ridge HS, TX. Reportedly a project that can thrown 95 already. Likely to go to UNC.
7th- Nick Liles, 2B, Western Carolina
8th- Karl Benusa, CF, Riverview HS, PA
9th- Evan Crawford, CF, IU... He's on Twitter
10th- Jeremy Toole, RHP, BYU
11th- Josh Eshleman, SS, Mt San Jancito JC, CA
12th- Chris Heston, RHP, East Carolina U
13th- Shawn Sanford, RHP, U South Florida
14th- Bryan Salsburg, RHP, MT San Jancito JC, CA
15th- Kyle Vazquez, RHP, Franklin Pierce U
16th- Ryan Cavan, SS, UC Santa Barbara
17th- Chris Gloor, LHP, Quinnipiac
18th- Jonathan Walsh, OF, Coppell HS, TX- is a catcher with below average skills so far but above average bat & is Switch hitter. It's believed to be difficult to sign him away from U Texas at this point. Likely position change in future for him.
19th- Jason Walls, RHP, Troy U
20th- Mitchell Morman, RHP, Des Moines area CC
21st- Zach Wasserman, 1B, Lake Shore HS, MI
22nd- Andrew Biery, 3B, Kansas ST
23rd- Adam Champion, LHP, U Arkansas Little Rock
24th- Alexander Burg, C, Wash St
25th- Steven Rogers, RHP, Tulane
26th- Luis Munoz, CF, Puerto Rico BB Academy
27th- Kyle Mach, 3B, U Missouri
28th- Jamaine Cotton, RHP, Western Oaklahoma St College
29th- Luke Demko, RHP, U Rhode Island
30th- Craig Wescott, RHP, Bellhaven College

Cross your fingers...we'll find out about summer 2013...