On Monday, the St. Louis Cardinals announced that they have agreed to terms with 32 of their 50 selections from last week’s MLB Draft.
The earliest draft pick to agree to a contract was OF Virgil Hill from Los Angeles Mission College, the Cardinals sixth-round choice. The former MLB Youth Academy Participant is the son of former light-heavyweight boxing champion Virgil Hill.
Among the others coming to terms was first baseman Alan Ahmady of Fresno State (pictured), who was suspended last month for a violation of athletic department policy. It was the junior’s second suspension this season and third in two years.
Below is the complete list of players from the 2009 MLB Draft who agreed to terms with the Cardinals on Monday.
| Rd. | Player | Pos. | B-T | Ht. | Wt. | School | Hometown |
| 6 | Virgil Hill | OF | R-R | 6-0 | 185 | Los Angeles Mission College | Valencia, CA |
| 11 | Alan Ahmady | 1B | R-R | 5-11 | 195 | Fresno State University | Fresno, CA |
| 12 | Pat Daugherty | LHP | L-L | 6-5 | 215 | Pearl River CC | Bailey, MS |
| 13 | Matt Carpenter | 3B | L-R | 6-3 | 208 | Texas Christian University | Sugar Land, TX |
| 14 | Ross Smith | OF | R-R | 6-2 | 200 | Middle Georgia College | Eastman, GA |
| 15 | David Washington | 1B | L-L | 6-5 | 200 | University City HS | University City, CA |
| 17 | Jonathan Rodriguez | 1B | R-R | 6-2 | 215 | Manatee JC | San Juan, PR |
| 18 | Anthony Garcia | C | R-R | 6-0 | 180 | San Juan Educational School | Carolina, PR |
| 19 | Travis Tartamella | C | R-R | 6-0 | 205 | California State University at LA | Alta Loma, CA |
| 20 | Scott Schneider | RHP | R-R | 6-0 | 175 | St. Mary’s College | Fallbrook, CA |
| 23 | Matthew Adams | C | L-R | 6-3 | 245 | Slippery Rock University | Philipsburg, PA |
| 24 | Keith Butler | RHP | R-R | 6-0 | 175 | Wabash Valley College | Morgantown, KY |
| 25 | Josh Squatrito | RHP | R-R | 6-1 | 205 | Towson University | Willow Street, PA |
| 26 | Christian Beatty | OF | S-R | 5-10 | 190 | North Carolina A&T | Winston-Salem, NC |
| 27 | Johnathan Fulino | RHP | L-R | 6-4 | 190 | University of Connecticut | Quincy, MA |
| 28 | Justin Edwards | LHP | L-L | 6-2 | 188 | Kennesaw State University | Guyton, GA |
| 29 | Daniel Calhoun | LHP | L-L | 6-2 | 205 | Murray State University | Evansville, IN |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
I guess that’s a good number so far? I assume that the picks below 10 just take longer to negotiate?
This seems impressive. 32 out of 50, 64 percent of the total, already, in this first pass, in less than a week. This suggests good research on signability.
The top 5 round selections may involve larger bonuses. Agents sometimes like to see what other players receive, so it can take a little while for high round contracts to get finalized. This was seen with Wallace and Kozma. There are rumors Stock has signed, but the Cards are holding off on an announcement at this point.
Looked at another way, we have signed 31 of the bottom 40 picks. This would be about 77.5%. among the bottom 40 selections. That seems very strong, at this juncture.
Hill (6), Washington (15), Jon-Rod (17) who had an offer from Old Dominion U, Garcia (18), Bighames (31) who had an offer from U Oregon, and De la Cruz (43) had alternative options. Hill was selected out of high school and again after freshman year at junior college; now, he feels more ready for pro ball.
For encouraging perspective, Brendan Ryan had a falling out with his NAIA college in Idaho and left the team early. Brendan seems by all accounts a good guy to this day. Sometimes coaches or other teachers, can be a tad difficult, as many of us may have learned in our own lives.
Matthew Leach is reporting that Robert Stock has confirmed signing also. 33 contracted already is outstanding and this doesn’t even include most of the top picks who should follow shortly. I’m not sure we have enough room for all of them. Could see some new releases from EST coming soon.
Brian has a head count of 60 at Jupiter. Let us guess we ink up 45 US amateurs this summer, this would add up to 105. The three rookie league teams have large rosters, let us assume 33 each, 99 total. Allowing for a few future injuries, there is not a large excess. Yet, some guys may well choose to pack it in, if dissatisfied with limited playing time.
One reason to move fast on signing draftees is it enables us to plan the short-season rosters and identify remaining needs. This speed can give our scouts an advantage in recruiting within the talent pool of undrafted players.
The pace of signing is comparable to past years. For example, in 2008, the first batch of 30 signings of 51 draftees was announced on June 10, less than one week after the June 5-6 draft.
I saw a headline that the Nationals had announced signing 16. Perhaps this owes to the amateur status of their draftees (more high school and juco). But this anecdote may illustrate the Cards move faster than at least some of the opposition. Last year, the Cards had a few more difficult draftees at lower rounds, more juco and high school, who ultimately did not sign. This year we have inked a lot of lower round guys from the onset. If we signed about 80 percent last summer, which seems excellent, the overall signing rate for this year group looks like it could go still higher.
I recall older times when signing rates seemed low (maybe 50-60 percent?), relative to today. IIRC, we drafted a kid pitcher out of Oklahoma, Mike Moore, maybe the 3rd round, and a few years later, he went #1 overall coming out of college. In so far as possible, its nice to get guys signed.
Mr. Josh Jones turned up some obscure news links with quotes from a few amateurs who mentioned they worked out for the Cards, but were drafted to their surprise by other teams with which they had had less contact. We also worked out the big catcher from Slippery Rock, who worked out for some other teams, so we also worked out guys who we did get a chance to sign. These anecdotes seem interesting if they imply that the Cards invest in more cross checking/tryouts. We get to know guys better than some other teams and not just top of the draft candidates. This gives us more information about the talent pool in the short run of one year’s draft and it may provide information that confers benefits far off in the future (as when Mo recalled scouting Ludwick as an amateur).
More money for travel may enable a few promotions within the minor league system. We inexplicably promoted even Ferris and Webber to AAA. Increasing roster moves may mean a bit more money for a few more airline or bus tickets from Springfield to Memphis. Even if the Cards did not pick up the huge tab on Porcello, we may shell out more travel money for moving amateurs and minor leaguers around.
We may still have a couple of guys out there of interest that were scouted but went undrafted. The Cards seem to pick up a couple of these types pretty often.
Meanwhile a word of caution. Chris Carpenters decision to forgo the breaking pitch and slider in the early innings of Sundays game isn’t a good sign. What it means is he is starting to feel some wear and tear on the elbow. This is a common tactic, exploring less stressful pitching strategies. He threw plenty of breaking pitches in a valiant effort to win, but the Cardinal offense isn’t allowing any slack at all for these guys. This will be what your talking about in July because his loss will become the end of the run one way or another. Collateral damage as a result of the business plan.
Westie, I am glad you are back to warn us of things. Pitching tends to bring about injuries. Pitchers either are injured or could be about to become injured. Or could enjoy an extended period of effectiveness. Its can be hard to foresee where they will be at.
One aspect of the business plan is to shell out big bucks on effective starting pitchers. Hence a 4 year deal for Lohse at $10MM+ per year. And big bucks this year for Joel P., a gamble that is turning out about as well as could be hoped. We pay Carp big bucks and he has been outstanding. The business plan seems effective.
In 2007, after we could not sign LHP Freeman, we added LHP Justin Fiske. Maybe that was the same draft a low round senior catcher passed up pro ball. Soon we signed Vasquez, now catching at Palm Beach. It seems possible at least some UDFAs may be signed to fill short-season roster vacancies. If so, the more draftees we sign, the fewer opportunities for UDFAs. The sooner we can identify where gaps will be, this could enable us to make a quicker offer to an UDFA, ahead of a potential competitor.
The Rockies are touting their 26 signings (plus one UDFA).
http://blogs.denverpost.com/rockies/2009/06/16/rockies-agree-in-principle-with-wheeler-sign-27-others/
The Cards are now at 38 and counting.