Texas Rangers 2007 Draft: Where are they now?
by Brett Perryman on May 12, 2008 7:44 PM CDT
18 comments
Almost a year has passed since the ’07 draft, and just about every player who will get a full season assignment prior to short season leagues starting has one. Here is where (and how) last year’s draftees are playing:
1. Blake Beavan HS RHP -
1. Michael Main HS RHP - DL -
1S. Julio Borbon U CF -
1S. Neil Ramirez HS RHP - Extended Spring Training - he’s a guy who probably only needs an opening to move to
1S. Tommy Hunter U RHP - Bakersfield - 50.1 IP, 57 H, 8 BB, 42 K, 5 HR, 3.75 ERA in 8 starts - allowing too much contact and too many HRs, nice K/BB ratio…tough call on how close he is to promoting
2. Matthew West HS 2B/3B - Suspended - figured to be ready to start at
3. Evan Reed U RHP -
(4th rounder Garrett Nash and 5th rounder John Gast did not sign)
6. Bobby Wilkins HS RHP - Extended Spring - mixed results in rookie ball last summer, presumably headed for one of the short season staffs
7. Tim Smith U OF -
8. Jonathan Greene U 3B -
9. Ralph Stoneburner U IF -
10. Andrew Laughter U RHP - Frisco - 17.1 IP, 14 H, 4 BB, 9 K, 0.00 ERA - fast riser hasn’t allowed an earned run this season in High A, will finally be challenged in AA
(11th rounder Anthony Ranaudo and 12th rounder Drew Pomeranz, both intriguing prospects, did not sign)
13. Kyle Ocampo HS RHP - Extended - received the largest bonus of anyone drafted after Reed (and only 24k less than him), presumably will join one of the short season staffs
14. Matt Lawson U 2B -
15. Hector Nelo HS RHP - Clinton - 4.0 IP, 3 H, 2BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA - sparingly used in the pen with three appearances in about two weeks, just beginning his season
16. Josh Lueke U RHP -
17. Mitch Moreland U 1B -
18. Ryan Tatusko U RHP -
19. Kyle Murphy U OF - Extended
20. Kenny Smith U 2B - I think that he’s been released but not completely sure
(21st rounder did not sign)
22. Donnie Ecker U OF - Extended
23. Jake Kaase U SS -
24. Chris Gradoville U C -
(25th - 27th round picks did not sign)
29. Ryan Falcon U
30. Ben Henry HS RHP - Extended
31. Anton Maxwell U
(32nd rounder did not sign)
(34th - 41st round picks did not sign)
42. Jason Sowers JC 1B - Released
(43rd and 44th round picks did not sign)
45. Ryan Turner U
18 players are on active rosters (or have been at some point) out of 27 signed players. Of the nine we have yet to see, five are pretty highly anticipated high school players:
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I'm still optimistic
about Greene, but yeah, that’s a real disappointing start. This seems like much more upward pressure than recent years. If the major league rotation actually gets healthy at some point it’s going to create a logjam to move up a guy like Harrison, and therefore Hunter. A trade of Milly or Padilla would certainly change things, but you’d still have a whole bunch of 6th starter types in Oklahoma.
The other arm logjam is at Clinton. Does Castillo join the rotation at some point? Still need room for Main when he’s healthy. Does Holland move up soon?
...and curse Sir Walter Raleigh, he was such a stupid git.
by t ball on May 12, 2008 8:22 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Matt West...
Does anyone know anything about what Performance Enhancing Drug he got suspended for using? Anybody heard/have any information about whether he was using anything he shouldn’t have before he was drafted? Did Texas draft somebody who would have been a significantly lower-round pick had he not been using PED’s?
by YourNameHere on May 12, 2008 8:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
of the ones that did not sign
are any of them eligible for this draft?
"I thought that was bull," Washington said. "What is he 6-13? That's just frustration. He overreacted." - Wash on Sexson
by Longhorn on May 12, 2008 8:52 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Yes
but not any of the early rounders. They are all at major DI schools as freshmen.
Draft eligibele guys that I can find.
21st round – Erik Davis – SR – RHP – Stanford (Nice year)
27th round – Drew Gray – JR – C – Nebraska (Hasn’t played this year, but is on their roster. Don’t know why)
34th round – Chase Hutchinson – LHP – FR – Univ. of Ark – Ft. Smith (JC) Pretty nice numbers
39th round – Tyler Fleming – RHP – JR – Wichita State (pretty good results out of the pen)
41st round – Tom Edwards – 1B – SR – Rutgers (not good)
43rd round – Joey Rosas – LHP – JR – U Tenn (Hasn’t had a lot of success as swingman)
44th round – Kris Jiggits – RHP – JR – Tennessee Weslyan (dominating NAIA)
46th round – Yoandy Barroso – OF – FR – Miami-Dade Community College (Blah stats in JC)
47th round – Ben Petralli – C – JR – Oral Roberts (putting up nice offensive numbers)
48th round – Dillon Baird – SS – JR – U of Arizona (decent offense for a ss)
50th round – Paul Zarlengo – 1B – FR – Triton Junior College (nice freshman year)
by badradiorules on May 12, 2008 11:26 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Thanks Z
I don’t post much, but i visit the site everyday for this very reason, to see how the kids are doing.
Thanks for all the hard work.
Kevin
"It gets late early out there." - Yogi Berra
by JakeStrait on May 12, 2008 10:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Nice job Z...
thanks for the updates. I try to keep up with all the kids, but it can be tough at times.
"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."-Socrates
by slc ranger on May 13, 2008 12:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, I think Kenny Smith retired.
Did not realize that about O’Campo’s bonus comp.
It still ticks me off that Nash and Gash weren’t signed, or that players who would sign were not selected instead at 4 and 5.
David Ortiz’ bat intrigues me, but Jason Cole sez he needs lots of work on D.
I’m guessing Kaase is back at extended. Don’t trust that BAK homepage roster.
Mitch Moreland has been playing mostly in RF lately – surprisingly well. “1 Mitch, 2 Tools”
Nelo – the Clinton radio guy sez his hook looks nasty
Smith needs to be given Herren’s spot at BAK
Beavan – love the solitary BB, needs to find his velo
Main – reading his interview w/JC, I got the feeling he’ll be out another 6 weeks or so, dang it
Ramirez – read a quote that Beavan thinks Neil’s Clinton material for sure
Hunter – I think I like him a tad more than you
Reed was pretty good tonight, hopefully he’s found his A+ bearings
Jared Hyatt pitches here and there and always seems to be tough, turns 24 in 2 days tho
IIRC, Falcon’s splits don’t scream LOOGY so I guess he needs to get all comers out in AA
BTW, I heard Jim Byers, the OKC radio guy, talking about Andy Hawkins this afternoon. He said Hawkins places ZERO emphasis on K’s. He just wants outs. If the company line is indeed “pitch to contact” then they have the Dalai Lama placed at the end of their developmental chain there in OKC.
by shroomer on May 13, 2008 12:47 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
pitch to contact
and get groundball outs made more sense when you had Blalock 3B, ARod SS, Young 2B, Tex 1B. Now, with Young SS, Kinsler 2B, and Cat or whoever at 1B, I’m not so sure.
"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck
by DJCahill on May 13, 2008 6:23 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Still great
That is a good philosophy no matter what your defense is. I know a few more of those ground balls get through, but for singles. A seeing eye single is better than a walk, I think. At least you are not walking guys and then getting behind and giving up 3 run home runs (theoretically anyways). Also, the more the defense is involved, the more alert they are and that increases their success level (hard to tell from April, but true).
Also, I don’t think that you should ever adjust your pitching philosophy to your defense. If your defense is inadequate, change your defense. And I think that will happen by the time we are ready to compete.
by badradiorules on May 13, 2008 8:16 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I'd rather see a more strikeout oriented approach
with our infield defense I think.
However, I agree with you, a defensive upgrade would also be nice, I don’t see it happening soon. Maybe after they trade Blalock rather than let him go FA, and move “Shortstop” Young over and get a real SS.
"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck
by DJCahill on May 13, 2008 8:39 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
a real shortstop
I think there’s a guy in AA (defense-wise).
Go Strangers.
by hightowersmith on May 13, 2008 10:25 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I would think
that strikeouts are a product of stuff and not an approach that you teach. I would think that if you tried to teach guys to strike people out, you are going to end up with guys nibbling and high pitch counts. Pitching to contact (for starters) leads to less walks and lower pitch counts that would keep guys in the game longer. I agree with your approach for short relievers since they run into a lot of situations that necessitate a strikeout. Of course, none of this matters if you don’t have good arms.
Besides, in the immortal words of Crash Davis, strikeouts are fascist, groundballs are more democratic
by badradiorules on May 13, 2008 10:42 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Groundballs are communist giveaways
with this infield.
"Before I leave, I once again condemn the despicable buffoonery of D.J. Cahill." - Huck
by DJCahill on May 13, 2008 11:11 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Groundballs aren't that bad....
Last year, though they were among the league’s worst at SS and 2B, it wasn’t that bad:
According to Dial’s numbers (Runs above average), they were
-4 for 1B
-11 for 2B
-5 for SS
+3 for 3B
which equates to -17 Runs below average. 5 Runs equates to about 1 Win, so our infield defense cost us about 3 1/2 Wins.
I think if we try to get more Ks, it will lead to significantly more BBs throughout the year.
A BB = .33 of a Run, so just 51 more BB by the entire pitching staff will equate to the Runs lost by the defense. I think we’d be giving up more than 51 BB over the whole season if we pitch more for a K. Considering that we gave up 668 BB last year, I could conceive of a 8% increase in BB with the new philosophy.
R
by Requiem on May 13, 2008 5:09 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Main
Rough news, although better it’s a rib than something in his arm.
It would take a disastrous 2008 to prevent him from seeing BAK next year, though. Overall the progress is about the same.
Go Strangers.
by hightowersmith on May 13, 2008 10:28 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think caution is slowing him down more than injury
I think he’s throwing pain-free now off flat-ground and infrequently. It sounded like what would take so long for him to return was the careful building-up of arm strength the org has planned for him. That was my take from the what Jason Cole wrote. A coupla weeks of bullpens to start out with, then slowly building up innings in extended working his way up to handle a team assignment. Just taking their time.
by shroomer on May 13, 2008 11:01 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
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