On Thursday, the St. Louis Cardinals completed the Major League Baseball 2009 First-Year Player Draft with 20 selections on the third and final day. The Cardinals selected 14 pitchers, four infielders, an outfielder and a catcher on day three. (Pictured is shortstop Devin Goodwin from Delta State, taken in the 33rd round.)
For the entire draft, the Cardinals selection breakdown was as follows:
29 pitchers (21-RHP, 8-LHP)
11 infielders
six catchers
four outfielders
The Cardinals second-round pick, Robert Stock out of USC, will begin his pro career as a catcher and that is reflected in these numbers. St. Louis selected 43 college players and seven high school prospects.
2009 FIRST-YEAR PLAYER DRAFT – CARDINALS’ DAY 3 RECAP
| Rd. | Player | Pos. | B-T | Ht. | Wt. | School | Hometown |
| 31 | Tyler Bighames | SS | R-R | 6-2 | 190 | Estero HS | Estero, FL |
| 32. | Travis Lawler | RHP | R-R | 6-3 | 180 | Midland College | College Station, TX |
| 33. | Devin Goodwin | SS | R-R | 5-11 | 185 | Delta State University | Russellville, AL |
| 34. | David Kington | RHP | R-R | 6-2 | 200 | University of So. Illinois-Carbondale | Coquitlam, B.C. |
| 35. | Andrew Moss | RHP | R-R | 6-1 | 210 | Lincoln University | Piedmont, MO |
| 36. | Justin Smith | RHP | R-R | 6-0 | 190 | Utah Valley University | Pleasant Grove, UT |
| 37. | Richard Racobaldo | 3B | R-R | 6-2 | 215 | Mt. Olive College | Marlton, NJ |
| 38. | John Durham | LHP | L-L | 6-1 | 170 | Warner Southern College | Port St. Lucie, FL |
| 39. | Taylor Terrasas | SS | R-R | 6-0 | 185 | Santa Fe HS | Santa Fe, TX |
| 40. | Jesse Simpson | RHP | R-R | 6-0 | 185 | College of Charleston | Baton Rouge, LA |
| 41. | Cale Johnson | RHP | R-R | 6-2 | 200 | McKendree University | Greenville, IL |
| 42. | Aaron Terry | RHP | R-R | 5-11 | 185 | Southern Arkansas University | Rison, AR |
| 43. | Manuel De La Cruz | LHP | L-L | 6-2 | 225 | Imperial Valley College | El Centro, CA |
| 44. | Kyle Heim | LHP | L-L | 6-4 | 220 | University of Iowa | St. Joe, MO |
| 45. | Adam Heisler | OF | L-R | 5-11 | 180 | University of South Alabama | Mobile, AL |
| 46. | James Klocke | C | L-R | 6-0 | 195 | Southeast Missouri State University | St. Louis, MO |
| 47. | Michael Thompson | RHP | L-R | 6-0 | 200 | Bellarmine College | Newburgh, IN |
| 48. | Jason Novak | RHP | R-R | 6-2 | 205 | UCLA | Agoura Hills, CA |
| 49. | Andrew Hillis | RHP | R-R | 6-6 | 218 | Brentwood HS | Brentwood, TN |
| 50. | Tyler Lavigne | RHP | R-R | 6-0 | 190 | San Diego State University | Las Vegas, NV |
Our last selection was a team-mate of Steven Strasburg at San Diego State U. He pitched well. Why available at rd 50? Maybe its signability? Maybe he wanted a certain bonus, but does not have the pitch quality to go quite that high. Teams could think he will then choose to stay in school and play again next year as a senior. Maybe the Cards have taken a flyer, just in case he changes his mind.
The same kind of question can be asked about rd 48, pitcher from UCLA. Why would he still be available, after we have been collecting pitchers from some off the beaten track schools? There would be a reason.
One way the Cards are a moneyball team is they tend to be open-minded about the size of players for a given position. Last year, we took one southpaw rated 5’7″. The 4th round selection was an RHP 5’10″. 2007 second rounder Jesse Todd is 5’11″. Shane Robinson, 5th rd 2006, is not a large CF, though he is effective owing to centering the ball and foot speed. Some years back we selected RHP Shane Konine from U Nebraska in the 9th round, IIRC, 5’8″ or so.
So too in 2009, we selected RHP McCully in rd 9. He’s 5’10″. In the 16th round, Bilbana is a 5’11″ southpaw from UC Irvine. Some other teams might not select these guys. We value them for their results, a moneyball trait.
The round 48 RHP, Novak, made the 6th most appearances in UCLA history, after his freshman year, in relief. Now a senior, Novak had better results as a sophmore and junior. Nice to give him a chance at pro ball.
There is a video of Hillis at the MLB Tracker. He probably was well scouted this year, since he has a pro body. Scouts were not high on his attitude, however. He probably has a scholarship from a big time college program, the University of Tennessee. We took a flyer on him in rd 48. If he prefers pro ball, we can give him a fair bonus, for where he is at in terms of his development. But we are unlikely to offer such a large bonus as to stop him from going to Knoxville, if he likes that idea.
11th rd 1B Ahmady and 30th rd pitcher Corrigan got dropped from their college teams this season. Current Cards SS Brendan Ryan had a falling out with his college coach before he was drafted. This may have lowered him in the draft and helped the Cards be able to select him. This year, a couple of our minor leaguers were suspended for drug abuse. Not everyone is a alter boy. In the long run, few fans will recall or care what rule violation happenned in college. I already could care less. They get a clean slate when they start pro ball. The Cards look for value in the draft, so if other teams backed off because of scuh infractions, it time for the Cards to move in and buy while the stock price is undervalued for these two.
Justin Edwards expected to sign Sunday, report to Batavia:
http://savannahnow.com/node/737391
Tyler Bighames’ mom played agent to get him drafted and he’ll report to GCL (linking to my page, multi-article post):
http://cardinalsbestnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/tyler-bighames-mom-works-magic-to-get.html
Matt Adams, who was scouted by Brian Hopkins, is leaning toward signing and will report to either Johnson City or Batavia:
http://www.centredaily.com/146/story/1339122.html?
Shelby Miller, if/when he signs, could land as high as Quad Cities per Jeff Luhnow:
http://mosports.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1185&CID=954375
5 Outfielders listed
#6 V. Hill
#7 K. Conley
#14 R. Smith
#26 C. Beatty
#45 A Heisler
All in all, I am happy with this collection of draft choices.
For perspective, if the Cards can eventually reap 3 to 5 ML players out of the 2009 recruits, this would be a good draft. There seem plenty of guys who may develop during a 3 to 6 year minor league apprenticeship, so they can contribute at a ML level. We also have obtained additional players to staff up 7 teams in the US.
One of the best teams nowadays in scouting and development are the Red Sox. They too do a blend in selecting players from different amateur backgrounds. They chose a collegiate senior pitcher as their second round choice. They selected 5 collegiate seniors total, so obtain a younger draft than the Cards. The Red Sox also spent about $10MM last season on signing amateurs; deep pockets can influence any team’s approach to selecting amateurs.
It seems fair to note that the Cards sign a bunch of guys at lower rounds who have completed college. After round 20, they selected 13 college seniors in rounds 25, 27, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 47, and 48. Most of these guys should sign, since done with school and could welcome a job playing baseball for a few years.
Will any reach the majors? Josh Kinney was an undrafted senior out of Quincy College who became a fine reliever and was able to help the Cards to a WS win in 2006. Kinney clearly illustrates how it would be wrong to say no low round senior can reach the majors. At the same time, Kinney beat long odds.
Some could argue the Cards should be drafting a lot of high school kids from rounds 25 to 50, in case they could be developed into top players. Yet this could have disadvantages too, like clogging the minor league system with guys who need years of basic training. The Cards could prefer to focus on a manageable handful of premium prospects, instead of loading up on a lot of undeveloped talent. We have a lot of training to accomplish already, after signing 16 year olds from around the Carribean.
Baseball is a tough gig, for many workers (ballplayers). Some great talents will suffer career ending injuries. Its a physical game and bad luck can happen. A lot of minor league players do not get big bonuses, nor collect enormous monthly paychecks. Its easy to lose track of this, when the newmedia is devoted to the latest doings of rich glamor boys in the major leagues. Mr. Boras prefers not to use the term “baseball career”, since it is misleading in implying a career. Most pro careers are short, a year or two or three or four, and then its over, time to look for the next job.
This context, for workers in this industry, even relates to choices in the draft, believe it or not. The probability of draftees ever reaching the majors falls quickly, at lower rounds. Yes, some longshots can occasionally achieve surprising success, but most do NOT. This is a reason why the Cards load up on collegiate seniors in the back half of the draft. These men are done with school and might welcome a chance to play ball for a few summers, before getting on with the rest of their lives.
The Cards are going to be careful about when they choose to recruit high school ballers. They will want to give them a longer chance to develop their skils. This costs money, because they have to train for more years than older players. There are downsides to only recruiting young players. We will select a few elite high school talents like Miller, Kozma, Rasmus, Ankiel, and give them good bonuses to provide them some financial security for turning pro at an early point. But we do not recruit lots of high schoolers, since many are well served to continue in school.
If you missed the Milton Bradley mystery, be sure to watch baseball high lights. Its get getting deep.
I should offer more examples of senior collegiates from small schools doing well in pro ball. This year, Luke Gregerson is pitching for the Padres; he was a senior, IIRC, in 2006, out of an NAIA school near Chicago. In 2.5 years, Luke has taken his slider to the bigs.
At AAA, OF Shorey was a senior from High Point College in North Carolina. He too is a 2006 draftee and playing well.
Another possible interpretation of the 2009 draft is the Cards continue to invest in closers. In 2005, there was Webber in rd 2. In 2006, Perez in 1S and unsigned Ericksen in rd 10 who was rumored to have turned down an above slot bonus offer. In 2007, Adam Reifer. Now in 2009, Kelly in round 3. Maybe it is chance or maybe the Cards like to invest in closers.
After Whitey Herzog became GM, he made Fred McAlister the scouting director. Fred’s fist draft was 1981 and he stayed in the role through 1993, succeeded by Marty Meier, who oversaw the drafts of 1994 – 97. Ed Creech came over from Montreal to handle the 1998 draft, with Mo as his understudy, before leaving for the Dodgers. Mo oversaw the 1999-2000 drafts. I am unsure who handled 2001. The Cards brought Meier back for 2002-03, whereafter Mo oversaw 2004 with Luhnow as his understudy. Luhnow has overseen five drafts now, 2005-9 .
The Cards became more oriented toward drafting collegiates under McAlister. In his second draft, Todd Worrell, Terry Pendleton, and Vince Coleman were all collegiates, Worrell and Coleman from low profile baseball schools. The Cards were practicing Moneyball two decades before a sportswriter coined the term.
The Cards have improved amateur selections and/or development since 2005. They probably invest more in bonuses. They have enhanced what they do and sign more young players. At the same time, they have not radically changed what they do. Rather they are doing it more effectively. Now they have enough players to staff the farm system with their own singees and do not need to rely as much on minor league free agents at AA and AAA.
Brian,
The Cards took 20 players on day 3, right? — numbers 31-50?
Yes, corrected to note 20, not 30.
The Cards are probably pleased with this haul of talent.
In the first round, Miller is a terrific talent.
We generally do not use high picks on catchers. The most recent have been Molina, 4th round, 2000, and Anderson, 4th in 2005. (We selected Barton in the first round in 2003, but his favorite position was hitter; after Barton gave up catcher, we traded him.) To select Stock in the 2nd round, we must like his defense. He entered college a year early. Since young, he can improve at hitting.
A ML closer can command $10MM/yr. Thus we invested the 3rd round pick in Kelly.
In the fourth round, Bittle has a devastating cutter, was first team All American in 08. If his shoulder is ok, he is near ML ready.
In the fifth round, Jackson is ML ready defensively. He can lift weights, fill out and become stronger, which would help him as a hitter.
The Cards probably feel they did well with the first five picks!!!!
Everyone after that will be icing on the cake. In the 8th rd, Stidham is a good hitting middle infielder they may try out at SS. We gambled on less developed upside talents in OF Hill (6), LHP Hernandez (10), 1b Washington (15), C Garcia (18). SS Bighames (31). And loaded up on collegiate pitchers and some proven collegiate hitters.
Another example of a collegiate senior who became an effective MLer. David Eckstein did not get an athletic scholarship to the Univ of Florida. He was a walk on who made good. Eckstein was a senior sign in the 19th round by the Red Sox, who moved him to SS.
Eck has been the starter on two WS winners, and was a series MVP in 2006. He has made a lot of money and is married to a tv actress.
Sometimes college senior signs can turn out to have ML value.
Who will be the hardest to sign?
One kind of difficult sign is a college junior at a low round. He could figure that he does not have anything to lose to remain in school. He would generally not get a large bonus at a low round and the MLB teams are sending him a message that scouts do not see him as a budding star. If you hoped to get drafted in round 15 and get drafted in the 40s, it would be understandably disappointing, so a kid could be lukewarm about turning pro. Players know its long odds to the majors and want to feel that teams value them and that they have a chance.
Another kind of potentially difficult sign is a junior college or high school player also at a low round. The Cards will generally offer a bonus competitive with their college offers. The bonus offered may be significantly higher than it would be to a college junior at the same round. So it is possible to sign such young players even at a low round, because if they instead go to college and are injured, they may never be drafted again. They have something to lose by turning down a fair offer from a pro team. However they will have college offers and these are valuable too, so signing depends on the preferences of a player and his family.
The negotiations for the highest picks can take a while, because the stakes are highest for the player and team. However, since both sides want an agreement and the dollars are significant for the players, deals are generally completed.
You would assume that a relatively easy sign would be the son of a Cardinals scout, in this case, 14th rounder Ross Smith. He provides an interesting case. Smith played 4 high school sports, baseball, football, track, and one that I forget. He had one or two knee injuries during high school. The Cards drafted Smith in rd 32 in 2006. This was low enough to hint he was uncertain to sign. Indeed, he matriculated to Auburn University, a baseball powerhouse. Smith went on to have a very fine freshman season there.
Then, as happens, fate intervenes and bad things can happen. He incurred some sort of injury and did not play (was redshirted) during the spring of his second year at Auburn. When we get to 2009, now, Smith has transferred to Middle Georgia College, a juco in Georgia. Its not as rigorous competition as at Auburn. And he did not collect a large number of at bats.
http://www.njcaa.org/colleges_college_stats.cfm?sid=7&divid=0&slid=3&seasonselect=425&collegeid=1481&report_id=2822&requesttimeout=500
The Cards are rolling the dice on Smith continuing to rebound physically. He played well in 2007, when one of the better Division 1 freshmen, but missed 2008. He got back to playing ball this spring, he’s an athletic guy, we know him well and would like to give him an opportunity to move up.