I’d be really interested to know who the Nationals Texas area scouts are.
Whomever they are, they must have been pretty convincing in the draft room given the final composition of the draft class.
Of the 51 players selected by the Nationals over the three days of the draft, 13 of them come from the state of Texas.
The Nationals selected three college pitchers from the Lone Star state, RHP Nathan Karns (12th rounder from Texas Tech), RHP Frank Carolla (19th rounder from Houston), and LHP Evan Bronson (29th rounder from Trinity College).
But even more pronounced was the number of high schoolers, where the Nationals chose five pitchers and five hitters.
- La Joya HS LHP Miguel Pena (5th rd)
- Mary Carroll HS CA Gianison Boekhoudt (26th rd)
- Hays HS CA Nick de Santiago (33rd rd)
- Coppell HS OF Jacob Morris (35th rd)
- Home schooled LHP Josh Miller (36th rd)
- Round Rock HS CA Josh Elander (37th rd)
- St. Michaels Academy RHP Kyle Martin (39th rd)
- Lake Travis HS RHP Cohl Walla (43rd rd)
- Paschal HS LHP Hoby Milner (44th rd)
- Memorial HS SS Michael Ratterree (45th rd)
The conventional wisdom says that the Nationals will be fortunate to get any more than two of those ten signed. Nine of the players were drafted after the 25th round and the odds are they could improve their draft stock heading off to their respective college commitments and re-enter the 2012 draft.
But there is one thing that seems most certain, the Nationals Texas area scouts are quite persuasive.
#1 by Andrew Stebbins - June 12th, 2009 at 10:46
Where do you think the Nats’ central crosschecker lives? South Texas. It’s common knowledge in the scouting community….
#2 by cjrugger - June 12th, 2009 at 10:48
Pena better be signed, and I’d like to see us pony up for one of the other guys
#3 by Marcus - June 12th, 2009 at 11:10
Heres J. Mayo look at some 2010 draft prospects.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090611&content_id=5275136&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb
If B. Harpers not their Christian Colon definitely looks like a good prospect.
#4 by Mike - June 12th, 2009 at 12:12
The Texas HS imbalance isn’t significant in the first 25 rounds (2 TX, 4 others). It’s huge in the last 25 rounds (9 TX, 4 others by my count). This raises a worry about the persuasiveness explanation: Why weren’t TX scouts as persuasive in the first 25 rounds? Another possible explanation is that it’s a selection effect: Nats scouts focused relatively more of their resources on TX HSs than scouts from other teams, and so their draft board had a much deeper TX pool.
I have no idea if this is plausible, but I thought I’d throw it out there…
#5 by Zee - June 12th, 2009 at 13:52
It is interesting that this time around, it seems like the later rounds were used on the high school talents that we normally used the 1-20 picks on.
Perhaps this means that, Strasburg aside, we’ll get most of our early round picks slot or under slot deals and then have some extra cash to wave.
Very long shot though I admit.
#6 by Jeff E. - June 13th, 2009 at 06:41
Good to know that Dana has a nice set of eyes in Lone Star state. The lack of NCAA draftees from Texas proves the true realiity of draft content. After seeing the results the Reds had in Texas via their late (R.I.P.) lead scout Brian wilson, I am glad the diverse Nat scout staff can “dance the dance” each draft pool calls for…. we should remember that so many kids end up bouncing around teams via trades and Rule V. drafts in years to come…the only constant in life is change…
#7 by Jeff E. - June 13th, 2009 at 06:43
any word on who the scouts might target as non-drafted free agents? anybody pick up the released Dodger farmhand from Ole Miss, Garrett ______, LHP?????
#8 by Hendo - June 13th, 2009 at 09:28
They weren’t persuasive enough to convince Aaron Crow to kiss and make up. Which was probably just as well.
#9 by Chin Music - June 13th, 2009 at 12:59
I think another possibility to consider is that states such as Texas, California, and Florida consistently provide a high level of talent at a significantly greater quantity than other areas. I’m willing to bet a state by state breakdown would show that over the past 15-20 draft classes for every team.