As we embark on the 2023 amateur draft his week, let's look back at the draft that happened 10 years ago. The players were drafted were generally between the ages of 18 and 22 and at the time when selecting teams might have been thinking they just signed a star for the future in those rounds. Or possibly just taking a waiver on someone late not thinking they would ever see a ML roster. I will warn you, the 2013 draft was light.......to say the least.
The 1st overall pick in the draft went to the New Orleans Looters who selected 5-tool potential CF Arturo Rodriguez out of Maris High School. He signed for $8M and was assigned to the Looters minor league system where he would spend nearly 5 years before making his debut in New Orelans during the 2018 season. He would spend 5 years there peaking in the 2020 season with a 7.4 WAR before leaving this past offseason and signing with Los Cabos. Career wise for a #1 pick his stats are a little under whelming. .285/.330/.456, 17.8 career WAR, 110 HR, 447 RBI.
Picks 2 and 4 were taken by Reno and Maui and were not signed, so let's take them out of the equation.
Pick 3 went to the Seattle...at the time....Kings, who selected SP Drew "Onion" Schaefer, 22 year old starting pitcher out of Texas A&M. He signed for $9.69M and was given a 2 year major league contract worth $2.9M. Less than 2 months after he was selected there was some controversy, but it will go down as Niagara Falls claimed Schaefer off of waivers. He would spend 2 season in the NFF system before being called up at age 25. He was traded to Jersey Shore 2 years later where he would struggle, bounce around the league to 5 more franchises before ultimately being released by Vista early this season. He is currently a 32 year old free agent. It was a tough ride. At the moment he has a 16-20 record, 6.20 ERA and a career WAR of 0.4.
Rounding out the Top 5, St. Louis selected 2B Joe Sanders out of Purdue University. He signed for $5.29M. He spent almost 3 years in the Browns system before being called up. He won the 2017 ROY award, has a gold glove and has been selected to 2 AS games. While he has a great bat and even better eye, injuries have really limited his production. Nonetheless at age 32 he is starting for the Browns, has 26.9 career WAR and a .310/.384/.379 line and is probably the best pick of the Top 5.
The best player overall in the draft is the unquestionable Dave Dodd of Jersey Shore. Selected as the 2nd pick in the 2nd round by Reno, Dodd was released the same year he was drafted. Jersey took a flyer on the power bat where he toiled around the Jersey Shore system for 3 seasons before making his debut in 2016. Always good speed and glove, Dodd started out as a boom or bust hitter, hitting a lot of home runs and striking out more often than not. Dodd since then has established him as one of the game's most feared hitters, posting a league record in WAR at 12.1, winning a triple crown and 2 MVP trophies.
Currently the best pitcher in the draft would be SP Carlos Lopez, selected by St. Louis as the 1st pick in the Supplemental 1st round. Lopez was drafted out of Texas Tech and made his debut in 2015. 2016 was his break out year where he would 10-3 and a 2.56 ERA. His season was cut short with major arm surgery and he was never the same pitcher. He would pitch in the Browns rotation until 2021 where he came out of the bullpen. He signed a 3 year deal with Austin prior to the 2022 season and is currently part of their rotation. His career stats stand as: 54-50, 4.11 ERA and 9.8 WAR.
Other notable picks include All-Stars OF Alden Lindsey picked 6th overall by Irvine, 3B Richard Coker picked 20th overall by Jersey Shore, and Eliot Helen selected in the 2nd round by St. Louis.
Late round steals include Ryan Campbell selected in the 4th round by San Francisco, Tom Carey 5th round pick of Baffin Island and Jose Padilla 6th round pick of Greenville. All 3 have played in more than 350 games at the major league level.
The 2nd to last pick in this draft actually made the Major Leagues, which is mind boggling. SS Finley Frogley was taken by Hendersonville out of the University of Michigan in the 10th round, pick 27. A pure utility infielder, Frogley appeared in 1 game for the Hitmen in 2018 and actually started 22 games for them in 2018. While his bat was well......not good. .167/.183/.218, he did put up a +1.7 ZR playing shortstop.
As for pitchers, the last pitcher selected to make the Majors was Ramon Soto taken as the 3rd pick in the 8th round by Seattle. He appeared in 3 different seasons from 2018-2020, pitching in 34 games to the tune of a 5.77 ERA. He is currently pitching for Maui's AAA club.
What will this year's draft bring? Will you draft a bust like Schaefer? Will you find a gem like Dodd in the 2nd round or maybe a utility man late? That's the fun in the draft, no one knows what will happen. Happy Drafting!
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