Draft Day: Florida Marlins 1988

The next Rule 4 Draft is loaded with talent and after a discrete regular season with a 73-89 record we own the #10 pick. In the next paragraphs I’ll try to explain my process for selecting the next Marlins bus- top prospect.

My first step is to reduce the pool from 1369 players to a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20. The tools at my disposal are a sheet with some projections, my scout’s list and the use of filters on OOTP. After some internal deliberation I came up with this list:

*OSA Ratings Second step is to group the players in different tiers. This is when things get a bit more complicated and personal preference will influence the most since I need to balance batting, fielding and development. TIER 1 Scott Ellis Jabari Hunter Bob Cockrell TIER 2 Ruben Cabrera Kyle Madden Zach Peak Justin Tirrell Sean Hamm Mike Sapp Simon Strong TIER 3 Garrett Coward Jaiden Herring Nate Pierce Jordy Hartman TIER 4 Theodosio Embaraador Mike Mechling Brickyard Davenport Matt Romo Tier 1 contains the undeniable studs of the draft. I’d expect to get one of them only if people above me have no money to pay his demands. There is a remote chance for that but not worth investing emotions on it. Tier 2 is where good bats with really good defense and really good bats with some faults appear. I’d expect to have some of these players available when my turn comes. Tier 3 and 4 include mostly outfielders a step below the rest of players in the preselection. Really good players on a normal draft, not the best on this one. Having selected Pat Goosby in the previous draft is making me not want to pick another top bat with not so great defense. Although if the options at #10 are not close and the best option has a similar profile I’ll pick him anyway.

Tiers are a guide and not the final word. I’ll ignore them if my mind changes when I’m on the clock. DRAFT! DRAFT! DRAFT! The clock is running and I’ll review every pick until my turn comes. #1 Jabari Hunter Seattle Mariners

MFW he’s a player from my top tier. But Mike is a good dude and deserves to enjoy this amazing talent. Now let’s hope teams start picking outside of my top tiers. #2 Scott Ellis St. Louis Cardinals

Another player from my top tier is selected. I can’t be surprised, they’re the clear top talent in the pool.

#3 Sean Hamm Toronto Blue Jays

Excellent pick, the only reason he wasn’t on my top tier was a big difference on my scout evaluation compared to OSA, 55/65/75 according to my scout.

#4 Nick Harper

Houston Astros

First player outside of my preselection. Solid player. My scouting accuracy is low on him because my focus was mostly on bats for the first round. I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed a good dev report but he’s really good regardless.

#5 Nate Pierce

Minnesota Twins

One of the best bats in the pool. Tier 2 probably if Goosby wasn’t my first pick last season.

#6 Garrett Coward

New York Mets

Another great pick, 70/60/50 according to my scout. Scout differences with OSA and catcher being well covered in my minors with Pero and Swanson made me not put him any higher but it’s a reasonable pick.

#7 Mike Mechling

Los Angeles Dodgers

Top power in the pool according to OSA. Some scouts had crazy reports about him but my scout wasn’t on the same page, for that reason and his bad defense he was low on my consideration with respect to my other shortlisted players.

#8 Simon Strong

Pittsburgh Pirates

I like him a lot because he’s almost ready for the majors. I’m glad he was taken because it’s hard for me to say no to this safe bet but I didn’t want another OF with not stellar defense if I could avoid it.

#9 John Listro

Montreal Expos

Second player outside of my preselection but a really good pick. He wasn’t in it for the same reasons as Mechling and Strong, scout differences with OSA and Goosby.

#10 ???

Florida Marlins

One of my top tier players is available, easy choice, right? Not so fast! I reduced my options to Cockrell, Madden, Cabrera, Tirrell and Peake and I'll explain my concerns one by one.

Bob Cockrell: Contact monster and solid defense but his demands give me no flexibility for later rounds, everyone else will need to be paid slot or lower and I really could use some money for my current team or to end the year with some profit and reduce our negative cash.

Kyle Madden: Complete player with above average bat and really good range for a position where it’s hard to find good players and no one trades you one unless you give an arm an a leg. He’s well developed for his age.

Ruben Cabrera: Best bat available in my eyes with good defense but he’s injured and also has high demands.

Justin Tirrell: Like Madden, good all around, in this case with demand over slot value.

Zach Peake: Elite defense on the infield and outfield but sadly my scout ratings are a bit lower than OSA.

My selection is… *drum roll* Kyle Madden

Here’s the rest of the players and where they ended:

Zach Peak (#11, Kansas City)

Bob Cockrell (#12, Cleveland Spiders)

Mike Sapp (#14, Philadelphia Phillies)

Justin Tirrell (#18, Cincinnati Reds)

Ruben Cabrera (#19, Milwaukee Brewers)

Jaiden Herring (#22, Chicago White Sox)

Brickyard Davenport (#23, New York Yankees)

Jordy Hartman (#27, San Francisco Giants)

Theodosio Embaraador (#25, California Angels)

Matt Romo (#26, San Diego Padres)

All my preselected players were taken in the first round, which says something, not sure what but it says something.

Who was the steal of the first round?

• Jabari Hunter
• Scott Ellis
• Sean Hamm
• Nick Harper

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