NL West 2018 Draft Summary

In conjunction with the MLB Draft Deep Dive series that I've been rolling out over the last few weeks (see links below), the following is a down and dirty summary of the early 2018 draft results for the NL West.

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST 2018 DRAFT SUMMARY

PITCHING

Pitcher Breakdown
SFG: 19 Signed | 14 C | 5 JC/CC | 16 RHP | 3 LHP
ARI: 18 Signed | 17 C | 1 HS | 17 RHP | 1 LHP
COL: 18 Signed | 18 C | 10 RHP | 8 LHP

SDP: 16 Signed | 10 C | 1 JC/CC | 5 HS | 9 RHP | 7 LHP

LAD: 13 Signed | 10 C | 1 JC/CC | 2 HS | 8 RHP | 5 LHP

Cumulative Stats for 2018 Draft Class (Pitchers)
ARI: 3.09 ERA | 1.230 WHIP | 422 IP | 17 Active Pitchers

LAD: 3.65 ERA | 1.306 WHIP | 285.2 IP | 11 Active Pitchers
COL: 3.70 ERA | 1.322 WHIP | 435.2 IP | 16 Active Pitchers

SFG: 4.04 ERA | 1.348 WHIP | 437 IP | 18 Active Pitchers
SDP: 4.09 ERA | 1.345 WHIP | 297.1 IP | 13 Active Pitchers

Position Player Breakdown
LAD: 19 Signed | 15 C | 4 JC/CC | 2 1B | 2 2B | 3B | SS | 10 OF | 3 C
SFG: 16 Signed | 9 C | 3 JC/CC | 4 HS | 3 3B | 3 SS | 6 OF | 4 C
COL: 15 Signed | 13 C | 1 JC/CC | 1 HS | 1B | 4 2B | 2 3B | SS | 5 OF | 2 C
SDP: 13 Signed | 9 C | 4 HS | 2 1B | 2 2B | 3B | 2 SS | 5 OF | C
ARI: 11 Signed | 9 C | 2 HS | 2 1B | 2 2B | 3B | 2 SS | 2 OF | 2 C

Cumulative Stats for 2018 Draft Class (Position Players)
COL: .291/.371/.479/.850 | 15 Active Players
ARI: .288/.374/.440/.815 | 11 Active Players

LAD: .275/.367/.433/.800 | 19 Active Players

SDP: .264/.349/.379/.728 | 13 Active Players

SFG: .248/.333/.384/.717 | 16 Active Players

MLB Pipeline Top 30 Prospects
ARI: 6 Total (2 C RHP, HS RHP, HS SS, C OF*, HS OF*)
SDP: 5 Total (C RHP, HS LHP*, C SS, HS SS, C OF)
SFG: 4 Total (C RHP*, C RHP, JC/CC RHP, C C*)
LAD: 3 Total (C RHP, HS RHP, C LHP)
COL: 3 Total (C LHP*, HS 1B*, C SS)

*Top 10

NL WEST DRAFT CLASS NOTES: PITCHERS

The Diamondbacks pitching class put up the best numbers of this group which is not surprising given that all but one of these players were college picks. I would be more impressed had the D'Backs challenged any of these top picks to the higher levels (the 18th round pick was the only player to pitch above Short Season A), but they did have a good number of pitchers who saw a lot of action and that should help them get a jump start on their professional development. Similarly, the Colorado's entire class consisted of college players and none of them were promoted to the higher levels. Three of their five top pitching draft picks were not promoted beyond rookie league clubs (and the other two from the top five didn't play at all) which makes their good cumulative numbers a little less impressive. But this group as a whole also made enough appearances to really get their feet wet as professionals. The Giants pitching class was a mix of college and juco. A few of their higher picks had pedestrian starts to their professional career while several mid and lower round picks performed extremely well. San Francisco's 28th, 31st, 35th and 39th round picks were all promoted to High A by the end of the season for limited time with mostly good results. The performance of some of these mid and lower round pitchers could portend some nice depth to this class. Los Angeles drafted the fewest pitchers from this group and of that already smaller class, two pitchers did not appear in 2018 and one was traded in January 2019. However, the Dodgers were fairly aggressive with those who did play, promoting five of them to Full Season A with mostly good results. The Padres were also aggressive with promoting players, including the promotion of their top pick (a high school lefty) to Full Season A. However, three players from this class didn't play in 2018 and, of those who did play, only two pitched more than 30 innings. I'll be interested to see how these pitchers fare when faced with a full workload in 2019. Overall, I would give Arizona the edge on initial results albeit a very slight edge.

NL WEST DRAFT CLASS NOTES: POSITION PLAYERS

As to position players, Colorado had the best overall numbers as they probably should have given that the group is very college heavy and no one was promoted beyond Short Season A. Their top prospects, including a high school first baseman, got off to a very good start as well. The Diamondbacks had the smallest group, but it was a very solid group overall including excellent starts from those in the Top 30 prospect group. However, none of the players in this group were promoted to full season clubs. Two of those top prospects were high school players; all remaining players in the class were college picks. Conversely, the Dodgers had the largest class of position players. Their cumulative numbers fall in the middle of the group, but actually play up since Los Angeles was much more aggressive than the other clubs in promoting several of these players to a higher level of competition. This class was made up of 15 college players and four juco players. The Padres position players, a mix of college and high school players, had somewhat lackluster debuts with a few exceptions, most notably two of their Top 30 prospects, both shortstops (one high school and one college). Two players of the group were promoted to full season teams. Aside from their number one overall top prospect (C Joey Bart), I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the initial results from San Francisco's draft class. Yes, almost half of the group are high school and juco players, but a total of 11 players were not promoted beyond rookie level and six players didn't make it over the Mendoza line. Obviously, they can all develop into very good players, but the initial results were not impressive. I will give the Rockies the slightest of edges on initial results, but I like the depth of the Dodgers group and the high risk/high reward potential of the Diamondbacks high school draft picks as well.

Arizona Diamondbacks Draft Review
Colorado Rockies Draft Review
Los Angeles Dodgers Draft Review
San Diego Padres Draft Review
San Francisco Giants Draft Review