We're off to a tough start. We go 8-13 in April and follow it up with a 10-17 performance in May. We lose the first four in June as well and we get to the draft with an 18-34 record.
BUT - remember we have the first overall pick. Let's take a look at what we said when the pool was announced:
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But then some good news - we ended up with the #1 pick in the draft lottery. Just taking a very quick look at the draft pool, there's a very solid-looking college SP, Danny Gonzales, available. He's a groundball pitcher who generates weak contact with 7 movement, but is also a 6 stuff and control to go with it. A lefty, as well, so I am definitely thinking about him for the top spot.
Additionally, there's CF Tom Moore, a high-school bat that'll need to move to a corner but has 6's across the board and speed to go with it.
1B Mark Parent looks like a future slugger, with 7 contact and 7 power, but the swing and miss is an issue (rated 3 in Avoid K's) and the personality is a little concerning.
3B Gordie Warren and 3B Andy Stoner, a college and high-school bat, respectively, are also available. But our pick of 3B Steve Bell makes me at least hesitate to take another corner infielder. That said, Bell does have the risk of needing to move to 1B, and Warren looks like more of a definitive 3B.
Finally, last but not least, OF Chris Shaker could stay in CF but would be an absolutely elite corner OF. The eye is a 4 so there's something to be desired there, but a 7 contact and 6 power could easily make up for the lack of discipline.
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My preference is to go high-school bat. At this point in the organization's build process, an older player almost seems like we'd be wasting three years of his control on a terrible team. I'd like to build up with some young talent and then add some college talent through the draft in a few seasons.
OF Chris Shaker is looking more and more like the right option for us. He can play elite defense, has elite contact and power skills, along with terrific speed.
We pick him at #1, and follow him up with a couple pitchers, SP Mike Steers, a 7-movement sinkerballer, and Phil Williams - 6's across the board but some personality risk. After that it's a crapshoot:
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POS Name Age Round ▾ Pick POT GAP P POW P EYE P STU P MOV P CON P C ABI IF RNG OF RNG DrTm
RF C. Shaker 18 1 1 75 7 6 4 2 2 2 2 3 7 New Orleans
SP M. Steers 18 2 4 50 3 4 2 5 7 5 2 3 3 New Orleans
SP P. Williams 18 3 4 55 3 3 3 6 6 6 2 3 3 New Orleans
CF J. Brown 18 4 4 50 4 6 5 2 2 2 2 3 6 New Orleans
3B R. Alires 20 5 4 45 4 5 5 2 2 2 2 6 4 New Orleans
CL G. Alarcon 18 6 4 40 4 3 2 5 8 4 2 3 3 New Orleans
SS F. Hernandez 18 7 4 50 4 4 5 2 2 2 2 7 6 New Orleans
SS L. Valentin 21 8 4 35 5 3 5 2 2 2 2 7 7 New Orleans
SS L. Matchell 21 9 4 40 4 3 4 2 2 2 2 7 7 New Orleans
SP R. DeBose 18 10 4 20 3 3 2 5 4 5 2 3 3 New Orleans
SP J. Hall 18 11 4 20 3 4 4 5 3 4 2 3 2 New Orleans
SP A. Landsmann 18 12 4 20 3 3 3 5 3 4 2 3 2 New Orleans
SP J. DeYoung 19 13 4 20 4 3 2 4 4 4 2 3 4 New Orleans
SP J. Downing 18 14 4 20 4 3 2 4 3 4 2 3 3 New Orleans
3B J. Love 18 15 4 40 4 5 4 2 2 2 2 5 4 New Orleans
C R. Mills 21 16 4 25 4 4 5 2 2 2 6 4 4 New Orleans
C A. Litle 19 17 4 35 3 5 5 2 2 2 5 3 4 New Orleans
SP M. Derryberry 20 18 4 20 4 3 2 4 3 5 2 4 5 New Orleans
C D. Place 18 19 4 35 3 3 4 2 2 2 5 4 6 New Orleans
SP C. Minor 21 20 4 20 3 3 2 3 3 4 2 3 4 New Orleans
With no trades available to us at the deadline, it's a relative snooze-fest throughout the rest of the season. 59 wins is the final tally, down from 68 last year, and based on those results, we unsurprisingly ended up scoring fewer runs and allowing more runs than last season.
1B David Casey, who was our major investment in the off-season via trade, has been a major bust, going from a 114 wRC+ in 1912 to just 80 this season, his first with the Kingfish. However, free agent signing OF Cortez Moralez worked out incredibly well, going from a 92 wRC+ to 124 with our team after coming over from Washington.
OF Mario Aragon who we picked up in a trade, also had a great year. Here's what we said when we picked him up:
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We send him to the Philadelphia Patriots in return for OF Mario Aragon, the #51 prospect in the league (remember though, there's only 14 teams). He's decent in the OF but could play a corner spot in the infield in a pinch, which is nice. While he's struggling so far over 133 PA in the majors, he's been crushing AAA, slashing .351/.430/.564.
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And now he is delivering on that potential. In 557 PA he slashed .298/.362/.442, good for a team-leading 125 wRC+.
The standout arm was SP Juan Garcia, who we said this about
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I go back-to-back SP with our next pick, adding Juan Garcia, 24. He's a side-arming lefty that may end up in the pen but has four great pitches and elite stuff that'll just get better in the pen. We'll let him have his shot in a starting role to kick things off, and he's under team control for four years.
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He's now 26 and the stuff is still electric. He does have a pretty severe split, as I expected, but he's striking out enough guys to sort of make it work. Still, he's top of the staff in WAR (2.2) but on a good team, this is probably an elite reliever we're talking about.
Anyway - outside of our closer and a couple relief arms/scrubs, we're not losing anyone important, so let's leave it here and we can take a look at the squad and the prospects on their way when we come back for the off-season.
The World Series goes a full seven, and this year, the Brooklyn Originals are the 1913 World Series champs.