AL East 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 AL East.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST 2018 DRAFT SUMMARY

PITCHING

Pitcher Breakdown
TBR: 20 Signed | 17 C | 1 JC/CC | 2 HS | 14 RHP | 6 LHP
NYY: 19 Signed | 18 C | 1 JC/CC | 18 RHP | 1 LHP

TOR: 18 Signed | 16 C | 1 JC/CC | 1 HS | 17 RHP | 1 LHP

BAL: 16 Signed | 10 C | 6 HS | 10 RHP | 6 LHP
BOS: 13 Signed | 10 C | 2 JC/CC | 1 NS | 10 RHP | 3 LHP

Cumulative Stats for 2018 Draft Class (Pitchers)
BOS: 2.83 ERA | 1.239 WHIP | 295.1 IP | 13 Active Pitchers

TBR: 3.07 ERA | 1.179 WHIP | 563.1 IP | 20 Active Pitchers

TOR: 3.22 ERA | 1.149 WHIP | 389 IP | 16 Active Pitchers
NYY: 3.85 ERA | 1.274 WHIP | 301.1 IP | 16 Active Pitchers
BAL: 3.97 ERA | 1.449 WHIP | 330.1 IP | 16 Active Pitchers

Position Player Breakdown
BAL: 16 Signed | 13 C | 1 JC/CC | 2 HS | 1B | 2B | 2 3B | 3 SS | 6 OF | 3 C
BOS: 15 Signed | 9 C | 6 HS | 1B | 2B | 3 3B | 2 SS | 6 OF | 2 C
NYY: 15 Signed | 10 C | 1 JC/CC | 4 HS | 1B | 3 2B | 3B | 2 SS | 4 OF | 4 C
TBR: 15 Signed* | 10 C | 2 JC/CC | 3 HS | 2 1B | 2 2B | 3B | SS | 6 OF* | 3 C
TOR: 14 Signed* | 10 C | 1 JC/CC | 3 HS | 1B* | 2B | 3B | 3 SS | 4 OF | 4 C

*Add one to the totals to account for two-way players already counted in the pitching totals.

Cumulative Stats for 2018 Draft Class (Position Players)
BOS: .266/.347/.374/.721 | 15 Active Players

TBR: .265/.368/.388/.756 | 16 Active Players

TOR: .245/.348/.371/.719 | 15 Active Players
NYY: .237/.335/.363/.698 | 15 Active Players
BAL: .219/.298/.322/.619 | 14 Active Players

MLB Pipeline Top 30 Prospects
BOS: 5 Total (C RHP, HS 3B*, 2 HS 3B, HS OF)
BAL: 4 Total (C RHP*, HS RHP*, C SS*, C OF)
NYY: 4 Total (C RHP, JC/CC C, HS C*, HS OF)
TBR: 4 Total (C LHP*, HS LHP*, C 2B, HS OF)
TOR: 3 Total (HS RHP, HS SS/3B*, C OF)

*Top 10

AL EAST DRAFT CLASS NOTES: PITCHERS

Tampa Bay signed the most pitchers from this group and got both quantity and quality in their initial results. The Rays' top pick, a high school lefty, had a particularly good debut as did their second round pick (a two-way player). But it was the middle of the pack that really impressed me and could portend good depth from this college-heavy group going forward. Only one player was promoted beyond Short Season A, but this group combined to pitch a lot of innings in their inaugural season and that should provide a good foundation. All of the remaining affiliates were college-heavy as well with the exception of the Orioles who signed six high school pitchers. Most of the high school players pitched well and performed as expected in rookie league. However, only two of the college players (both with good numbers) had much of a track record at the Short Season A level and none were promoted above that level. And four of the college players pitched 13.1 innings or fewer. It's hard to get much of a feel for the class, but my initial impressions are ambivalent. Three of the Yankees draft picks didn't play at all and ten of their college picks didn't play beyond rookie league. The top three picks performed well at Short Season A, but most of the rest of the class gets an incomplete until they actually put up a few innings and show some success at a higher level. The Blue Jays class doesn't look quite as strong as Tampa, but it does appear to have some nice depth with several lower round pitchers performing nicely. Their top pick, a high school right-hander, only pitched two innings and two other players did not appear in 2018. Boston had the smallest pitching class, but had one of only two players to advance beyond Short Season A out of the entire group. RHP Durbin Feltman made 11 relief appearances at Advanced A in 2018 and appears to be on the fast track for the Sox. Beyond Feltman, it was more of a mixed bag, but there were definitely a couple of bright spots in that mix. However, it is definitely Tampa Bay that stands out in the initial results.

AL EAST DRAFT CLASS NOTES: POSITION PLAYERS


The Red Sox probably have the most interesting group of position players from the 2018 draft. Four of their high school picks appear on their Top 30 prospect list (although the top two only appeared in two games each in 2018) and several of their college players had very strong starts as well. If even a couple of these high school prospects pan out, this could turn out to be a very strong group for Boston. None of the college players were hidden away in rookie ball and two of them were promoted to full season teams. The Yankees also have some interesting younger players at the top of their class who performed as could be expected (and received much more playing time than the Red Sox top players). Further down in the draft, the results are mixed, but there are a few bright spots peppered throughout the group. Tampa Bay and Toronto also picked high school players as their top position player picks. Toronto's SS/3B Jordan Groshans got off to the best start of any of the top high school players out of this group, but there doesn't appear to be much depth in the Blue Jays class based on the early results despite a couple of very nice debuts among the lower picks. On the other hand, Tampa Bay's high school picks didn't exactly wow me in their inaugural seasons, but they had several college players up and down the ranks who showed good promise. The Orioles had two players who didn't appear in 2018 and seven more who batted under the composite group batting average of .219. Not exactly inspiring. Only three players batted over .250 and one of those three was a college player appearing in low rookie league. So once again, not inspiring. Boston does inspire me with their early results, just edging out the Rays as the most interesting group to watch.

Baltimore Orioles Draft Review
Boston Red Sox Draft Review
New York Yankees Draft Review
Tampa Bay Rays Draft Review
Toronto Blue Jays Draft Review

MLB Draft Deep Dive: Tampa Bay Rays

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

TAMPA BAY RAYS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 951 | Signed 596 | Pitchers Signed 314 | Position Players Signed 282
Total WAR 399.8
Total Players to MLB 82

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 4 to MLB | WAR 29.9 | High WAR 20.4, 3B Aubrey Huff, 5th rd
1999 | 6 to MLB | WAR 70.9 | High WAR 39.2, OF Carl Crawford, 2nd rd
2000 | 5 to MLB | WAR 41.4 | High WAR 30.6, RHP James Shields, 16th rd
2001 | 6 to MLB | WAR 0.8 | High WAR 2.8, OF Jonny Gomes, 18th rd
2002 | 6 to MLB | WAR 30.5 | High WAR 16.5, SS Melvin Upton Jr., 1st rd
2003 | 5 to MLB | WAR 12.2 | High WAR 10.9, C John Jaso, 12th rd
2004 | 7 to MLB | WAR 23.0 | High WAR 13.0, RHP Wade Davis, 3rd rd
2005 | 1 to MLB | WAR 12.2 | High WAR 12.2, RHP Jeremy Hellickson, 4th rd
2006 | 7 to MLB | WAR 77.8 | High WAR 51.9, 3B Evan Longoria, 1st rd
2007 | 3 to MLB | WAR 49.2 | High WAR 37.9, LHP David Price, 1st rd
2008 | 2 to MLB | WAR 5.4 | High WAR 5.2, SS Tim Beckham, 1st rd
2009 | 2 to MLB | WAR 0.2 | High WAR 0.6, RHP Andrew Bellatti, 12th rd
2010 | 7 to MLB | WAR 30.5 | High WAR 24.0, OF Kevin Kiermaier, 31st rd
2011 | 7 to MLB | WAR 8.8 | High WAR 9.4, LHP Blake Snell, 1st rd
2012 | 6 to MLB | WAR 5.8 | High WAR 2.0, OF Andrew Toles, 3rd rd
2013 | 6 to MLB | WAR 0.5 | High WAR 1.3, RHP Ryne Stanek, 1st rd
2014 | 1 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR 0.00, OF Braxton Lee, 12th rd
2015 | 1 to MLB | WAR 0.7 | High WAR 0.7, 2B Brandon Lowe, 3rd rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date, both total and individual, is from 2006. The bulk of the productivity comes from 3B Evan Longoria (1st round, 51.9 WAR), but OF Desmond Jennings (10th round, 13.4 WAR) and RHP Alex Cobb (4th round, 11.9 WAR) also contributed double-digit WAR for that draft class. Jennings's entire MLB career (7 seasons) was played for the Rays; he last played in 2016. Cobb played for the Rays in six of his seven seasons before signing with the Orioles as a free agent in 2018. But, obviously, the big story from this draft class is Evan Longoria. A three-time All-Star, Longoria was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2008 and went on to win three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger in his 10 seasons with the Rays. Longoria was traded to the Giants in December 2017 for four players, including two minor leaguers. Notably, Longoria's first season with the Giants in 2018 was the least productive offensive year of his career thus far.

2018 DRAFT
43 Drafted | 35 Signed | 20 Pitchers | 15 Position Players
27 College | 27 Signed | 17 Pitchers | 10 Position Players
5 JC/CC | 3 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 2 Position Players
11 HS/NS | 5 Signed | 2 Pitchers | 3 Position Players

Notable: The Rays received one additional draft pick for Competitive Balance (Round B). They were also awarded two first round compensatory picks, one for losing free agent RHP Alex Cobb to the Orioles and one for failure to sign 2017 first round supplemental draft pick RHP Drew Rasmussen. Tampa Bay signed their first 23 draft picks with the top holdout being 21st round HS RHP Kerry Wright.

PITCHERS
All of the 20 pitchers signed (14 RHP, 6 LHP) logged at least some playing time. One player was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (to Full Season A). Two of the pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Rays, both in the Top 10.

Top Prospects

🔟 LHP Matthew Liberatore, 1st round, Mountain Ridge HS (AZ), Rk
32.2 IP | 9 G / 9 GS | 1.38 ERA | 1.041 WHIP | 13 BB : 37 K

🔟 LHP Shane McClanahan, 1st round, University of South Florida, Rk
7 IP | 4 G / 4 GS | 0.00 ERA | 0.571 WHIP | 1 BB : 13 K

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Simon Rosenblum-Larson, 19h round, Harvard University, A
38.2 IP | 18 G / 0 GS | 1.16 ERA | 0.724 WHIP | 9 BB : 62 K | 8 Saves

RHP/OF Tanner Dodson (S/R), 2nd round, University of California, Berkeley, SSA
25 IP | 9 G / 0 GS | 1.44 ERA | 0.680 WHIP | 5 BB : 25 K
58 G | .273/.344/.369/.712 | 20 BB : 34 K
(Dodson is included in the Draft totals as a RHP, but could easily be included as an OF as well.)

In total, the Rays 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.07 ERA and a 1.179 WHIP over 563.1 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All of the 15 position players signed (2 1B, 2 2B, 3B, SS, 6 OF, 3 C) logged at least some playing time. (Note: One additional OF can be added to the totals breakdown to account for two-way player Tanner Dodson.) One player was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, to Advanced A. Two players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Rays.

Top Prospects

OF Nick Schnell (L/R), 1st round, Roncalli HS (IN), Rk
19 G | .239/.378/.373/.751 | 14 BB : 23 K

2B Tyler Frank (R/R), 2nd round, Florida Atlantic University, SSA
51 G | .288/.425/.412/.837 | 33 BB : 28 K

Noteworthy Debut

1B Russ Olive (L/L), 29th round, University of Massachusetts Lowell, A+
58 G | .317/.410/.436/.845 | 32 BB : 53 K

OF Jordan Qsar (L/R), 25th round, Pepperdine University, SSA
62 G | .289/.422/.573/.996 | 50 BB : 80 K | 12 2B / 3 3B / 14 HR

In total, the Rays 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .265/.368/.388/.756 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees

COMING NEXT
Toronto Blue Jays