The Ones That Got Away: American League West
Los Angeles of Anaheim
Meet the megaton of getaways. Here’s a list:
Aaron Hill (2000: Round 7, Pick 200)
Bobby Crosby (1998: Round 34, Pick 1,021)
David Murphy (2000: Round 50, Pick 1,439)
Rich Hill (2001: Round 7, Pick 209)
Brian Matusz (2005: Round 4, Pick 133)
Buster Posey (2005: Round 50, Pick 1,496)
2010 draft connection: Matt Harvey (2007: Round 3, Pick 118), who went to the University of North Carolina and should be a first round pick.
Oakland
Best positional player: Justin Smoak (2005: Round: 16, Pick 491). Undoubtedly mentioned every time Smoak hits a homer against the Athletics.
Best pitcher: Jonathan Papelbon (2002: Round 40, Pick 1,208)
Honorable mention: Daniel Schlereth (2007: Round 8, Pick 270)
Seattle
Best positional player: Juan Pierre (1995, 1996: Rounds 30 and 48, Picks 818 and 1,406) was drafted twice by the M’s, although later in the second year which is counterintuitive, and signed neither time. He’d wind up in Colorado instead.
Best pitcher: Barry Zito (1996: Round 59, Pick 1,587). Undoubtedly mentioned every time Zito pitched a gem against Seattle throughout his Oakland career.
Honorable mention: Rich Harden (1999: Round 38, Pick 1,145)
Texas
Barry Zito is a nice fellow, I’m sure, but he’s not interesting enough to write about twice. Instead, let’s focus on the Rangers’ two 2010 draft ties.. In the 2007 draft the Rangers really went to work in the 16th round, selecting Anthony Ranaudo and Drew Pomeranz. For those living under a rock for the last several months, Ranaudo and Pomeranz are two of the top three or four college arms in this year’s draft and will go in the first round.
0
BTW, Ranaudo never gave the Rangers a chance to sign him. He really wanted to play for LSU and Pomeranz backed out of a deal at the very last minute on deadline day.
2011 future first rounder Zach Cone is also an Angels original draftee.
As a bonus, the Los Angaheims also placed Bobby Jenks on waivers, having him snatched up and made into a closer by the White Sox.
Doesn’t this reflect draft strategy. If you are always going for players that are HS kids with big upsides and commitments in hand this situation will occur. Only one of those players were picked before the 7th round.
Sure it’s disappointing but hardly surprising.
In 2006 A’s drafted 7th round mike leake who opted for college at arizona state
Couple of thoughts.
Can we truly consider Bobby Crosby, one who got away? I mean aside from 2004-2005, he has been pretty putrid. I think he’s been below replacement for two years now.
Also on Smoak, the Oakland A’s fan in me cries over him choosing college over a 950K bonus. Damn him all to hell.
Of course there’s another version of “the one that got away” — the future superstars who were drafted (by others) lower than the “sure thing” guys who turned out to be busts. But even if you restricted yourself to just first-round busts, that list would be huge for every team.
What about Brandon Morrow for the Angels? They drafted him in 2003 but he went to Cal instead.