1. Did the draft unfold as you expected? Was there anything surprising that happened?
We are very excited at how the draft unfolded. Jim Bowden and Dana Brown put together a plan for this draft and we tried to take advantage of it. This was an exciting draft because we were able to start thinking long-term as well as take advantage of having extra picks for the first time in recent years.
2. Dana mentioned at the press conference how different it felt to be able to draft the best available players for the first time. Was it the same perspective for you? Can you describe the feeling?
Obviously Dana put a particular focus on high school players early in this draft. This draft in particular was setup to support taking HS players. It was a down year overall for college players, especially position players. The nice thing was that we are now setting up this organization and moving forward with a plan to succeed in both the present and future. We have some young guys just now in the big leagues such as Zimmerman, Cordero, Bray, Hill, O’Conner, etc and now we’ve got another wave of players who just are coming into the organization. The one thing people need to remember is that it takes time to properly develop players, especially when you are selecting HS players. Patience is something that will be needed for all of these new draft picks.
3. Can you give a generic description of what the next steps are in working with the draft selections? No specifics to anyone drafted this year, more a top level process?
Immediately following the draft the first step is to tender each player with an official contract. We also begin signing players immediately. We’ve already got 18 players signed and ready to report to rookie ball. The GCL players reported yesterday and the Vermont players are reporting today. The goal is to get players signed as close to opening day as possible in order to get a full set of ABs and IPs for the players. The first year of development is very important for players, especially the younger ones.
4. How many players have now signed?
We’ve signed 18 players as of today. We’ve got our 5th and 6th round picks signed and they are reporting to Vermont today. Cory Van Allen is a left-handed starter with three pitches and pitchability. You cannot have enough left-handed pitchers, especially those that can start for you. Zechry Zinicola is a power arm guy who has been used as both a starter and reliever in college. This is a guy that could be a sleeper for us that people don’t know about yet because he wasn’t picked in the first five rounds. We are expecting big things from both of these guys.