Nationals Farm Authority

… and so ends the 2006 portion of the draft class. Todd Jacobson of the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reported in his blog that the Nationals learned that 2nd round selection Sean Black went to class at Seton Hall today, thereby ending his negotiations with the Nationals. If the player attends a four-year college, the club’s negotiating rights are lost as soon as the player enters his first class at the end of the summer.

I’ve split the group up into three groups, first are the players whose negotiating rights have expired::

Player	Drafted	Pos	School	1st Day
Sean Black	2nd	RHP	Seton Hall	9/6
Sam Brown	7th	RHP	North Carolina St	8/23
Dustin Dickerson	15th	3B	Baylor	8/21
Sam Dyson	19th	RHP	South Carolina	8/24
End Top 20 rounds
Forrest Beverly	23rd	LHP	South Carolina	8/24
Jim Birmingham	25th	LHP	Penn	9/6
Khris Davis	29th	OF	Cal St Fullerton	8/19
D’Vontrey Richardson	35th	OF	Florida St (football)	8/28
Austin Hudson	37th	RHP	Central Florida	8/21
Zach Von Tersch	38th	RHP	Georgia Tech	8/21
Andrew Doyle	39th	RHP	Oklahoma	8/21
Nick Pierce	40th	RHP	Maryland	8/30
Brad Peacock	41st	CA	Florida Atlantic	8/19
Javier Martinez	42nd	RHP	Fordham	8/30
J.J. Pannell	50th	RHP	George Mason	8/28
Jarred Holloway	49th	LHP	Miss St	8/17

Here are the unknowns:

Player	Drafted	Pos
Taylor Kinzer	34th	OF
Chad Jenkins	44th	LHP

And here are the draft-and-follow candidates, the Nationals have until one week prior to the 2007 draft to sign them:

Player	Drafted	Pos	School
Joey Rosas	9th	LHP	Yavapai CC
Marcus Salmon	10th	RHP	JuCo in FL
Michael Robbins	28th	LHP	Meridian CC
Burt Reynolds	30th	SS	JuCo in FL
Tyler Moore	33rd	1B	Meridian CC
Adam Kramer	45th	RHP	New Mexico JC
Jayson Brugman	46th	SS	South Mountain CC
Josh Rodriguez	47th	CA	JuCo/CC
Kyle Page	48th	OF	Brevard County CC

Teams typically will focus on getting around half of their draft class signed (roughly 25 guys, which is exactly where the Nationals are as of 9/6). Roster sizes dictate the number of players a team get realistically sign. When you add the players from the Dominican Summer Leagues, the spots fill up. Most of the second day of the draft is spent assembling a class of draft-and-follow-candidates (this year Rounds 20-50 took place on day two).

However, teams do typically hope to sign most of their first 10 rounds, when possible. The Nationals currently have 8 of their 12 players selected in rounds 1-10 under contract. The outstanding candidates were Sean Black (2nd round committed to Seton Hall), Sam Brown (7th round committed to NC State), Joey Rosas (9th round), and Marcus Salmon (10th round). Rosas and Salmon are potential draft and follow candidates who will pop back onto the radar in 2007.

I like what the Nationals have accomplished with the 2006 draft. While the additions of Sean Black, Sam Brown, Dustin Dickerson, and Sam Dyson would have been nice, the class they acquired is solid. The Nationals made the conscious effort to draft high ceiling players in hopes of rebuilding the farm system, by adding the likes of Marrero, Willems, King, Englund, and Gibson, the Nationals did just that. There are those who will criticize the Nationals for “wasting” a second round pick, but I believe it requires risks to put the farm system back on the developmental track. Taking a risk on Sean Black was precisely the type of gamble the Nationals needed to take.