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Zephon

joined Mar 29, 2008 last login Dec 15, 2009 posts 27 comments 1205

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2009 Draftee Report Card, Part Four Pitchers Allen-Hale

by Zephon on Dec 9, 2009 5:54 PM EST Comment 12 comments

The Diamondbacks entered the 2009 draft with 4 extra draft picks in the first round and the 1/2 sandwich round, and came out of the draft with 37 out of 55 picks signed. Keith Law ranked the D-backs as having the best draft in 2009, and other reviews of the Diamondbacks' draft have been positive as well. With so many quality players signed, this draft certainly has the potential to be best draft the Diamondbacks have had in their short history, and the team had a nice balance of high-upside high school talent and safer college picks at each stage of the draft. In this series of articles, we're going to take a look at each signed draftee's debut season, and see how they performed. If a scouting report on a player is available, we'll also take a look at that.

For this, the fourth part of the piece, we'll begin to look at the arms added to the system, eighteen in all. How to break up these picks was perhaps the biggest dilemma for this week's piece. It's impossible to know which guys will end up as starters and which will end up as relievers, so that distinction was a no-go. Lefty vs. righty would have resulted in two really lopsided articles, with the Snakes picking fourteen righties to just four lefties. So we got creative, and first split the article alphabetically, so that the first article will cover A-Hale, and the second article will cover Harvil-Z. Then, within each article, the prospects are organized from highest to lowest draft position. It's not a perfect organization, but it works well enough, especially when given the alternative options.

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2009 Draftee Report Card, Part Three: Outfielders and Catchers

by Zephon on Dec 2, 2009 1:00 PM EST Comment 84 comments

The Diamondbacks entered the 2009 draft with 4 extra draft picks in the first round and the 1/2 sandwich round, and came out of the draft with 37 out of 55 picks signed. Kieth Law ranked the D-backs as having the best draft in 2009, and other reviews of the Diamondbacks' draft have been positive as well. With so many quality players signed, this draft certainly has the potential to be best draft the Diamondbacks have had in their short history, and the team had a nice balance of high-upside high school talent and safer college picks at each stage of the draft. In this series of articles, we're going to take a look at each signed draftee's debut season, and see how they performed. If a scouting report on a player is available, we'll also take a look at that.

For week three of our 5 part prospect extravaganza we're looking at outfielders and catchers. I know someone is going to ask why we chose to stick the outfielders with the catchers, so I guess i should explain. The Dbacks just didn't draft all that many outfielders or catchers, so we chose to put them together to make the articles even in size. Next week we're looking at the first half of the whopping 19 pitchers the organization selected and subsequently signed. Then, when we're all done with the five weeks of '09 additions, both of us will offer our respective 2010 Amateur-opinion Diamondbacks top prospect lists.

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2009 Draftee Report Card, Part Two: Middle Infielders

by Zephon on Nov 25, 2009 9:00 AM EST Comment 14 comments

The Diamondbacks entered the 2009 draft with 4 extra draft picks in the first round and the 1/2 sandwich round, and came out of the draft with 37 out of 55 picks signed. Keith Law ranked the Dbacks as having the best draft in 2009, and other reviews of the Diamondbacks' draft have been positive as well. With so many quality players signed, this draft certainly has the potential to be the most productive draft the Diamondbacks have had in their short history, and the team had a nice balance of high-upside high school talent and safer college picks at each stage of the draft. In this series of articles, we're going to take a look at each signed draftee's debut season, and see how they performed. If a scouting report on a player is available, we'll also take a look at that. There will be five parts of the '09 draftee piece, grouping the players by position each week, with a sixth week to take a quick overview of the system. This week we're looking at the middle infielders. Next we're going to lump the outfielders and catchers together (due to the relatively small number of players picked at each spot). Finally, we'll spend two more weeks looking at the whopping 19 pitchers the organization selected and subsequently signed. Then, when we're all done with the five weeks of '09 additions, both of us will offer our respective 2010 amateur opinion Diamondbacks top prospect lists.

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DBacks acquire Aaron Heilman

by Zephon on Nov 19, 2009 4:42 PM EST Comment 100 comments

According to MLBtraderumors and SI.com, the Diamondbacks have acquired Aaron Heilman.

Thanks to emilylovesthedbacks for spotting this on twitter, more info to come.

[Updated] The deal sees the Cubs getting a pair of prospects, in left-handed reliever Scott Maine and infielder Ryne White. Said Josh Byrnes, "Aaron has been a successful, durable reliever who will add experience and stability to our bullpen." The right-hander is 31, and had a 4.11 ERA in 72.1 innings for the Cubs in 2009.

(Update) Credit also goes to Counsellmember, who also mentioned this in the Lincecum Cy Young post.

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What kind of Minor League related articles would you like to see on the snakepit?

by Zephon on Nov 19, 2009 3:42 PM EST Comment 13 comments

Along with the 5 part draftee report card, me and IHSB are already working on a two-three part top 25 prospect list. My question for the posters on the Snakepit is, what other kind of minor league focused articles would you like to see on the Snakepit? Should I do more spotlight articles like i used to write, that focus on one player? Prospect smackdowns between two prospects, that ask the question of who is the better prospect? Minor league affiliate Reviews/Previews? Draft report cards for other years? I'm just trying to get some ideas for some articles down the line, now that I'm actually writing with some frequency now. I'm asking now because I like plenty of time in advance to work on my articles. Any suggestions and ideas are welcome.

Poll

What kind of articles would you like to see Zephon work on after he's done with the Draftee Report Card and Top Prospect list?

Prospect Spotlights?

3 votes

Prospect Smackdowns?

7 votes

Draft Report Cards for other years?

2 votes

Minor League Season Previews/Reviews?

2 votes

Other? (Make suggestions in Comments)

0 votes

14 votes | Poll has closed

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The 2009 Draftee Report Card - Part One, Corner Infielders

by Zephon on Nov 17, 2009 8:19 PM EST Comment 33 comments

The Diamondbacks entered the 2009 draft with 4 extra draft picks in the first round and the 1/2 sandwich round, and came out of the draft with 37 out of 55 picks signed. Keith Law ranked the Dbacks as having the best draft in 2009, and other reviews of the Diamondbacks' draft have been positive as well. With so many quality players signed, this draft certainly has the potential to be the most productive draft the Diamondbacks have had in their short history, and the team had a nice balance of high-upside high school talent and safer college picks at each stage of the draft. In this series of articles, we're going to take a look at each signed draftee's debut season, and see how they performed. If a scouting report on a player is available, we'll also take a look at that. There will be five parts of the '09 draftee piece, grouping the players by position each week, with a sixth week to take a quick overview of the system. This week we'll start off with the power bats of the corner infielders. Next week we'll feature the middle infielders, then lump the outfielders and catchers together in week three (due to the relatively small number of players picked at each spot). Finally, we'll spend two more weeks looking at the whopping 19 pitchers the organization selected and subsequently signed. Then, when we're all done with the five weeks of '09 additions, both of us will offer our respective 2010 amateur opinion Diamondbacks top prospect lists.

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Samurai Baseball

This is so cool! Can't explain, you just need to watch it.

4 months ago Zephon 26 comments 0 recs

The Draft Pick Signing thread

by Zephon on Aug 9, 2009 5:18 PM EDT Comment 67 comments

With the 2009 draft signing deadline approaching us on the 17th, I thought it'd be appropriate to list off those who have and haven't signed with us. Special thanks to the DBBP for the list.

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